Freifeld

Hannah Freifeld
Dr. Hall
ENG391
01 Dec. 2015
Mental Health Lesson Plan
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Lesson title: Mental Health: The Power of the Mind

Content area/grade/SES: ELA/8th grade/upper-middle class (Lower Moreland S.D.)
Objectives: SWBAT identify and define what mental health is
Standards:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.8.2

Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the
text, including its relationship to supporting ideas; provide an objective summary of
the text.
5. Procedures
a. Activate prior knowledge
Students will respond to the following prompt in their writers notebooks: Describe a time
that you were embarrassed or did not feel normal (ex. within the family, school cafeteria,
within themselves). Was it difficult to communicate what happened? What helped you talk
about it or what stopped you from talking about it?
Personal example:
My sophomore year in college was very overwhelming. I felt like I had no control
over my thoughts, I was just going through the motions to get by. I would become so
anxious over any assignment due, to the point where I physically could not think about
anything else. I wondered why I always worried about things that werent worth worrying
about. No one else seemed to be dealing with what I was going through. It took me a year
to even mention what was going on to my mom. It was not easy admitting that there was
something wrong. Eventually, I went to talk to a therapist because I couldnt take the
way I was feeling anymore. It was the most uncomfortable experience of my life, but it
made me realize a lot that I was blocking out for so long.
Key Points:
Avoid the silence
External vs. Internal challenges
o Mental health is part out of our control
o Small part that we can control
If its not normal, its SCARY
b. Introduce new material
Introduce big ideas:
What is the big idea about mental health?
Why is it difficult to talk about?
Why is it important to talk about?
c. Guided practice
Group activity: Students will break up into five groups and will read the following
segments from http://walkinourshoes.org/what-is-mental-health:

Freifeld

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What does mental health mean? / What is a mental illness?

What kinds of people get mental illnesses? / What does it mean to be
diagnosed?
What is stigma?
Living with mental illness
How to act
Each group will read the text and come up with the main ideas/concepts that are
essential for the audience to know. Afterward, the students will write their main
points on the board and share their idea with the class.
d. Independent practice
Students will create a bumper sticker (informational text) to communicate
understanding to an audience.
Closure
Throughout our unit on mental illness, we are going to read the novel Kissing
Doorknobs by Terry Spencer Hesser. The main character, Tara, is diagnosed with
obsessive compulsive disorder, a mental illness that causes uncontrollable actions or
behaviors. Through her story, we will explore the true affects of mental illness on the
person, family, and everyones life.
Assessments
Formative assessment:
Teacher will observe the students big ideas on the mentor text
Look at information students put in the bumper sticker to assess understanding of the
content in the mentor text
Materials
Group articles
Blank bumper stickers
Coloring utensils
Integration of technology
PowerPoint to guide the lesson
Differentiation
Lower-level students can be grouped together for the group activity and the teacher
will facilitate the group discussion to make sure they stay on track. Students who
need more time to comprehend can have a text that is shorter to allow more time for
thought. Vice versa, higher-level students can have larger texts to work with.