Objectives

After completing this lesson, students will be able to:

• Describe effective coping strategies for dealing with personal loss.
• Explain how a strong system of values can help you cope with problems that occur during the teen years and later in life.
• Identify resources within the school and community that teens can turn to when they need help with a problem.

Introducing the Lesson

On the board, write the words "A friend of mine has this problem." Ask students if they have ever seen or heard these words. Challenge students to paraphrase the hidden message behind the words (e.g., I need help with a problem, but I'm too embarrassed to admit I have the problem). Note that problems of this kind are common during the teen years.

Ask students to identify a variety of topics teens may be faced with. Discuss resources within the school or community that they could turn to for help with these types of problems, and note several on the board. (Possibilities might include a parent, another close adult relative or friend, a teacher, a pastoral counselor, a guidance counselor, telephone help lines.) Explain that students are about to experience excerpts from a collection of dramatic poems that deal with these kinds of problems and their solutions.

Teaching Strategies

This unique selection, which is a cross between poetry and drama, can be read silently, though it is best performed aloud. If there are students in the class with dramatic aptitude, ask for four volunteers. Assign one character each to three of these students, and have the fourth read the stage directions, which appear in italics at various intervals within the excerpt. Allow performers time to read through their parts and prepare to deliver their lines. Then have the entire class read the short introduction, followed by an oral recitation of the three learned parts as the rest of the class follows along silently.

After students have completed the reading, you may either use the following as class discussion questions or assign them as individual or group work.

Follow Up

1. Analyzing. In the short introduction to the poems, you learned that many of the students call Mr. Candler "Mr. C." What does this reveal about their relationship with him? What does it tell you about his communication skills?
2. Synthesizing. Each of the three teens has suffered a loss. Identify the specific loss in each case.
3. Evaluating. What does Anthony Ricci's final statement reveal about his relationship with his father? What do these lines reveal about Anthony as a person and about his system of values?
4. Extending. What coping strategy does Ramona Castillo learn to deal with her loss?
5. Evaluating. Decide which of the three dramatic poems had the most profound effect on you. Write three or four sentences summarizing why the particular selection had this impact.

Integrating Literature and Health

In this excerpt from a collection of dramatic poems, we hear three of Mr. Candler's students pour their hearts out. Yet we never hear from Mr. Candler himself. Imagine that you are Mr. Candler. Choose one of the three poems, and write a response from the point of view of who you would consider to be a good guidance counselor.

Back to Top