5th Grade and 6th grade Lesson 2: Successful Treatment

Summary

In this lesson, students watch videos and discuss how cancer affects a person and what people can do to support cancer survivors in their community.

National Academic Standards (DEVELOPED BY THE MID-CONTINENT REGIONAL EDUCATIONAL LABORATORY-MCREL)

Health

• knows the availability and effective use of health services, products, and information 
• knows how to maintain mental and emotional health

Language Arts

• demonstrates competence in speaking and listening as tools for learning

Civics

• understands the roles of voluntarism and organized groups in American social and political life
  

Student Learning Objectives

Students will demonstrate the ability to:

• identify ways that cancer treatment can affect an individual and 
• identify ways that they can help support cancer survivors in their own community

Resources

On the Site:

• Teacher Sheet, Questions and Answers about Cancer
• Video, Successful Treatment (download full screen version)
• Video, Advocacy (download full screen version)
• Extension Activity, When Someone Close to You Gets Cancer
• Extension Activity Video, When Someone Close to You Gets Cancer

On Your Own:

• video player

Preparation

1. Read the teacher sheet, "Questions and Answers about Cancer." Use the content as background for the lessons and for answering questions from students.
2. Download the videos "Successful Treatment" and "Advocacy" and set them up on a computer or TV for viewing by the students.  (If you have trouble downloading the video, make sure you have the latest version of QuickTime.)

The Lesson

1. Remind students that today they will be talking about cancer and how it affects the life of the person diagnosed with the disease and the lives of their loved ones.
2. Explain to students that today they're going to imagine what it feels like to experience some of the side effects of treating cancer. Add that they're going to do that first by listening to two people who have experienced cancer. Emphasize the point that while the video they are going to watch include stories of two children who were diagnosed with cancer, it is very rare for children to be diagnosed with cancer. 
3. Write the following questions on the board, and tell students that they will be answering questions in groups after watching the video.
   
   "What were some of the things that Lindsay and Jacqueline had to endure as a result of being treated for cancer?"
   "What were some things Jacqueline's mom did to help her?"
   "What were some of the ways that Lindsay dealt with the side effects that she experienced?"
   "At the Make-A-Wish party, why was it important for Jacqueline's mom to talk to the parent of the other child?" 
   "What could you do to help either of these cancer survivors if they were your friends?"
   
   
4. Show the video, "Successful Treatment."
5. Divide students into small groups and have them answer the questions you wrote on the board either orally or written on paper.
6. Bring students back together as a class to discuss their answers to each of the questions.
7. Explain to students that they will now see a video about people who have done things to help other people who are affected by cancer.
8. Show the video, Advocacy (Grade 5 and 6). Focus the discussion on the following questions:
   
    "What do you think were the obstacles in the way of the people in the video becoming advocates?"
    "If you were to attempt to do something like this, what do you think your challenges would be?"
    "What are the benefits of doing something like this?"
    "What could you tell someone who doesn't think that one person has any chance to make a difference?"
   
   
9. Remind students that they previously wrote about how they could support someone they cared about who was going through cancer treatment. Ask them now to reconsider, based on what they learned from the video:
   
     "Could any of the activities in the video help to support people in our community who are affected by cancer?"
     "What could you do to help people become more aware of issues relating to cancer?"
     "How could you help improve our community?"
   
   Have students work as individuals or in small groups to identify what they could do and then try to implement those ideas.

Check for Understanding

Have students come up with a list of at least 5 things that the people in the video did to cope with the treatment for cancer and 5 things that the students could do to support people in their own community who are affected by cancer.

Extension Activities:  If you would like to emphasize this lesson with students, you can implement the extension activity When Someone Close to You Gets Cancerto teach students how cancer can impact the lives of friends and family. You can also review the "Get Involved" booklet to learn more about how your students and your school can become advocates for people affected by cancer by participating in LIVESTRONG events in your community, raising funds for cancer research, accessing information about people living with cancer, or increasing cancer awareness.