NCJ Number
184736
Date Published
2000
Length
36 pages
Annotation
This is a guide to using The New York Times as a resource in an anti-drug education program.
Abstract
This educator's guide is intended as a resource for classroom teachers and other professionals working with young adolescents. It is designed primarily for youth 11 to 14 years old, the critical age for prevention of substance abuse. The document contains three main components. The first section, "Working with Texts," consists of nine excerpts from The New York Times accessible to this age group, with corresponding worksheets and exercises to enhance students' competencies and strengthen skills in critical thinking. The second component, "Working with Images and Sources," presents exercises to develop the skills that help youth resist the use of illicit drugs, alcohol, and tobacco. The third component, "Role Playing," includes guidelines on structuring this effective component in anti-drug education. The lessons are designed to reinforce the following major communication objectives outlined by the Office of National Drug Control Policy: (1) instill the belief that most young people do not use drugs; (2) enhance the perception that using drugs is likely to result in a variety of negatively valued consequences, while a drug-free lifestyle is more likely to have positively valued consequences; (3) enhance personal and social skills that promote positive lifestyle choices as well as resistance to drug use; and (4) Reinforce positive uses of time as behavioral alternatives to drug use. Figures, appendixes