Healthy Heart Lessons Collaborating with Encore Teachers MASL 2010 Velda McMorris North Kansas City

Why heart health? Heart disease is the leading killer of all people, men and women. Many risk factors such as eating habits, weight and exercise can be addressed in the teen years. Teens influence their families. This fits the health curriculum and follows the nutrition and body systems units.

Heart statistics Cardiovascular diseases include heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, heart failure and several other conditions. CVD has been the leading cause of death in the United States every year since 1900 except during the 1918 flu epidemic. CVD (the No. 1 overall cause of death) was listed as the underlying cause of death in 869,724 deaths Coronary heart disease, even when considered separately from other cardiovascular diseases, was still by far the nation’s single leading cause of death (451,326). Cancer was the second-leading cause of death, responsible for 553,888 lives lost. (from AHA website)

Background in Heart Health I am a WomenHeart Champion. I have heart disease I also volunteer with American Heart Association I am a lay person who knows her limits! I do not offer medical advice.

Objectives of this unit Provide heart health information Provide nutrition information Address obesity in teens Give practice in using online resources Allow students to compare and contrast health information from a variety of sources

Reinforces skills Students have practice navigating several web pages. They are NOT using Google. They read text, charts and graphs. They do some application level work and can choose the healthiest foods.

How can you use this? Use this lesson with your students. Change the emphasis to any other health topic such as autism, cancer, diabetes, safety, etc. Use this lesson as a model for any other issue and possibly change the class. Collaborate with your encore teacher to decide what you need to emphasize

Sample discussion Day 1 How many of you know someone affected by heart disease? Data and statistics for all heart disease and specifically for women are given Discussion of risk factors and prevention Discussion of nutrition with emphasis on school lunch choices and fast food Heart disease and attack symptoms First aid—911, CPR, AEDs

Day 2 Demo of online resources We talk about what students may find in.org,.edu,.gov and.com. We do a Google search to show the vast numbers of hits. Searching known websites is more manageable in terms of numbers. Showing examples and using different sites teaches students to navigate different web pages.

Day 2 Womenheart.org

Webpage questions Go to Gale and click on Opposing Viewpoints. Look for information about fast food and obesity. Go to American Heart Association: look for information about Healthy Lifestyles. Go to National Heart Blood and Lung Institute: surgery. We discuss the different information found in each webpage.

Day 3 Fast food discussion Searching web pages gives information that may not be readily available at a restaurant. Taking time to compare menus at home or school creates an awareness of food choices. Choosing healthier foods, not avoiding fast food is the emphasis.

Sample searches Go to Sonicdrivein.com and compare the calorie count for 2 drinks. For example a medium limeade and a medium slush. Go to Subway.com and compare calories, fat and sodium in 2 sandwiches. Add chips, cookie and a drink (refill the drink). Compare hamburgers at 2 restaurants.

McDonalds Bag A Meal

Subway—the health teachers’ fav!

Health teacher The health teachers talk about how many calories are needed per day. One fast food meal can use all daily calories for a teen. They tie the fast food discussion to the consumption of fat and sodium. They offer meal suggestions for athletes. Exercise in encouraged.

Encore teachers They see all students at all levels so be prepared to modify lessons. Health teachers can be great partners in teaching library skills. My health teachers want brand new information so online resources are good.

Encore teachers cont. Tech teachers like to have someone talk about intellectual property and online research. This is a good chance to share materials students can use in other classes. I have moved lessons I used to teach with CA teachers to tech and speech because of test requirements in CA.

Think, Pair and Share Talk to the person next to you about how you can work with encore teachers. What are you already doing? Is there a cause you would like to address with your students? How does it fit the curriculum? What can you do to liven up an old lesson you teach?

Contact info Velda McMorris Antioch Middle School, North KC Please me and I will send the student Powerpoint and lessons.

For more information, please contact me. Velda McMorris