Drugs... wait, whats our topic?

When I imagined doing a PA project with the fifth graders at Bancroft Elementary, I was expecting to focus on cleaning up the neighborhood or creating larger awareness for sewer pollution... not the topic "drugs". When I found out that was my topic it made me a little nervous. It felt out of place. Who am I to discuss drugs with kids who I see 45 minutes a week?

We got into our groups. I have three boys, Micheal, Patrick and Tyree.  Unfortunately Micheal was absent on Wednesday which made putting our essential agreements together a little more difficult. I printed up a page with four spots for our agreements and we all signed it. I mentioned that we would need to run over them with Micheal next week and they agreed it was a good idea.

We did a similar exercise as I did the week before. I printed up some getting to know you questions and we all picked a couple to answer. It seemed to go okay but having a smaller group ( only two students), made it more difficult for the students to share. We worked through it and I think it ended up being a successful activity. Tyree was in my group last week and he exclaimed "yes!" when he found out he was in my group again. That was a pretty good feeling... and he is friends with Pat so that gave me a little credibility.

So next we tackled our topic, I handed out markers and paper and asked the boys to draw or write down some facts they know about "drugs". I figured leaving it open for interpretation because I really was curious how they viewed drugs at 11 years old. I remember having D.A.R.E.  in fifth grade... I don't think I knew a lot.

We took turns sharing what we wrote and drew. It was interesting to see how there opinions have been shaped about the topic. It came up that there are drugs that you can take to make you healthy. It came up that there are drugs that can make you "negative" which I found pretty interesting. Tyree drew a cigarette. He shared with me when Pat went to the restrooom that his parents are smokers and "I hate it!" he said he wants to tell them to quit. Wow! I was impressed that he was able to share something so personal and thanked him for letting me know. I asked if he might want to share with Pat when he got back and he said "no". I asked if me'd mind if I told Pat what he thought and he said "yah".

So we talked with Pat and mentioned maybe creating awareness (a word I needed to explain,) about programs that help you quit smoking might be a good topic. We also mentioned prevention as a possible topic. We hopped on to a computer and did some intial research on our topic. We were curious about what makes cigarettes addictive. Just when we got started we ran out of time.

I look forward to working with Pat, Ty and Micheal. It would have been nice to have our full group but that happens. I hope we can all find a topic to be worth while. Next period I think we will have to do a re-cap and get everyone on board with what ever we choose.