My Friend Joe

This is the diagram I created to help drive my lesson on childhood obesity. I needed my students to have a visual representation of the cause and effects of obesity in a child-friendly manner.

Once we completed our work around the food groups and why eating healthy is so important, I decided to move my students into the effects of unhealthy eating. Before the lesson began I told my students that I had a friend named Joe that was their age and requested their help. I explained to them that Joe had a very serious issue and that only serious students could help Joe. I explained that Joe was too shy to come in to the class so he sent in his picture. I warned the students that if any laughing or poking fun happened that they could not participate in the activity. I then presented my students with this poster and thankfully everyone responded in a mature matter. It's amazing to me how empathetic my students are and how concerned they were about Joe's health. I think the idea that Joe was their age really made them more engaged in the lesson. I know what a sensitive issue weight can be and I was hesitant to present it in this matter, but I felt that because I did not have any obese children in my class I did not have to worry about any of my students feeling uncomfortable. We had a group discussion around what it meant to be obese, how a person may become obese and the ways in which we can fight obesity. After our discussion, students went back to their seats and wrote a narrative about how they would help Joe. Some students provided more details then others, but on the whole, every student included healthy foods Joe could start eating and exercises he could start doing.