Teacher Helps Students Find Healthy Lifestyles
If Lisa Helle could, she would offer more health classes for her students at Glenbard South High School. "Students are highly motivated to learn things about themselves. We never have enough time to cover everything they would like to know," says Helle who has been teaching for more than 20 years. "Students have 82 days of health in all four years of high school and we expect them to be able to make good lifestyle choices. If we taught math that way, students wouldn't be able to balance a checkbook."
Lisa notes that students are more knowledgeable today than they were twenty years ago. "They get a lot of information from the Internet but it is not always accurate information. We talk about how to determine if websites are reliable so they become more critical consumers," she says.
The topic which generates the most interest in her class is the unit on human sexuality. "They have a lot of questions about fertility issues, the octo-mom and other current events," says Lisa.
Nutrition is also a topic of interest for teens. "They want to know what is in food and how it affects them," says Lisa.
Lisa also includes a death and dying unit in the course. "Students want to know what to say at a funeral and are curious about the emotions," she says. "They also want to talk about depression and suicide in terms of being able to help people who are having issues."
Parents will often comment on the topics covered in the class. "I have some parents who would like to take the class and want me to offer an evening session for them," says Lisa.
A recent addition to Lisa's classroom is a clicker system. Students are assigned a clicker for responding to teacher questions and directives. Their responses are anonymous and can be tabulated instantly allowing immediate feedback. "They can give their opinions more freely this way" says Lisa. "I can also track class participation and response. It is very interactive technology".
Lisa's goal is to help students get on a path towards a healthy lifestyle. "Bad habits can be developed very early in life so it is important to keep them from starting. People often worry about math, science and everything else until they have a heart attack. Then they start thinking about their health," notes Lisa. She hopes her students can see the importance of health as teens and avoid serious medical issues in their futures. -By Judy Buchenot
