Do I have acne? (ages 11-13)

Time: 45 min

Students will be able to:

At the end of the Introduction to New Material, check for questions and clarifications.
At the end of the Introduction to New Material, evaluate the discussion regarding the material covered to see if students understand the challenges of having acne.
At the end of the Guided Practice, evaluate whether students changed their perspective on those with acne, or gained an understanding of the challenges by looking at the before and after responses on the Acne 5 Words slips and assessing the discussion.
During the Closing, check for understanding by asking review questions.

3-5 minutes

Materials: Acne 5 Words slips, pencils

Hand out Acne 5 Words slips to students and explains that s/he wants them to write down the first five words that come to their minds when they think of or see someone with acne.
Tell students to NOT to put their names on the sheet and that they have about 1 minute for this activity. They shouldn’t think too much about it and just write.
After 30 seconds to a minute, ask them to flip the sheet over and put it at the top of their desk.
Explain to students that they will be learning about acne and also about whether or not we can really control if we have it.

20-25 minutes

Materials: Do I Have Acne handout

Ask students if they had the choice between having pimples and not having pimples, which they would choose. Why?
- If students are not responsive, try rewording the question to simply ask, “Do you want acne? Why or why not?”
- Discussion should be about 5 minutes.
- Bring up questions/topics regarding how people are treated for their complexion and how those people may feel.
Pass out Do I Have Acne handout.
Have students read through handout together as class.
Explain that it is very common for people to think they can’t do anything about their acne, but they can. It’s important to see a dermatologist.
Check for questions/clarifications.
“If you had the choice, you probably wouldn’t choose acne. It’s not a choice, so why do people get picked on for something they have no control over? Did you know that people with acne could feel those ways?”

10 minutes

Materials: Acne 5 Words slips, pencils, any type of bag/bowl/folder/envelope

Tell students that s/he wants them to keep that sheet of paper with the five words they wrote when they thought of someone with acne face-down on their desks.
On the back of the paper, ask students to write the first five words they think of when they think of someone with acne, now that they’ve discussed some different perspectives and introduced some new information during the lesson.
Give students 1-2 minutes to do this part of the exercise.
Collect the sheets and puts them in a bag or folder. Look at some of the “before” words and “after” words and sees how they have changed. Read some of them out loud to show the change (reminding students it is completely anonymous—hence the lack of names on the sheets). If there has not been much change, point that out and says, “A lot of the words are the same. Why do you think that is? Is it because that is still your gut reaction? Did you learn anything new? Do you think about how people with acne feel or are treated differently now? Did you realize how challenging acne could be?”

5 minutes

Materials: Stickers (optional)

Ask students some closing questions: Who can get acne? Does it have to do with someone being dirty? What are symptoms of acne?
Give students stickers for when they answer correctly.