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Eric Zullo
HLTH 215 MONDAY
Dr. Joseph Donnelly
March 10, 2008
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Lesson Plan: Steroids
1. Rationale-When a student reaches 6-8th grade, they are faced with many new challenges
including school, drugs, alcohol, etc. Steroids, for the most part, are a high school and
college problem. Still, in order to prevent our youth from using them, it must be taught
early and often. By starting to teach this in middle school, students will already know
everything they need to when they are first pressured to use steroids. I plan to use a
number of different teaching methods to keep the students interested while giving them
important information throughout. Students don’t want boring a boring lecture; they
want to be involved and interested. By making things interactive and fun, the
information sticks. As I stated earlier, it would be a good time to teach it in 6-8th grade
because when students are pressured in high school about steroids, they’ll have good
information about them. I hope to discourage future athletes from using steroids.
2. Target Audience-My target audience consists of 6-8th graders at the middle school level.
This is a vital age to talk about steroids because high school and college are right around
the corner.
3. Core Curriculum Content Standards-At the 6th grade level, section B numbers 7 (Discuss
the relationship between injected drug use and diseases such as HIV/AIDS and hepatitis)
and 8 (Discuss the legal and financial consequences of the use, sale, and possession of
illegal substances) will be covered. In section C, I will also go over number 1 (Describe
the signs and symptoms of a substance abuse problem and the stages that lead to
dependency/addiction). For the 7-8th grades, section B numbers 7 (Analyze health risks
associated with injected drug use) and 8 (Investigate the legal and financial consequences
of the use, sale, and possession of illegal substances) will also be discussed. Section C
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numbers 1 (Analyze the physical, social, and emotional indicators and stages of
dependency) and 2 (Discuss ways to quit using substances and discuss factors that
support that ability to quit). These factors will all be discussed in my presentation. I will
also include for information to broaden the topic of steroids and to allow the students to
learn.
4. Time Required-My lesson plan will last anywhere from 25-35 minutes depending upon
how long the group activities last and how actively the students participate throughout the
presentation.
5. Goals-I want my students to learn everything they possibly can about steroids including
what they are, their effects on the body, their abuse and consequences, their financial
consequences, how to tell if someone is on steroids, dependency/addiction, how to quit,
steroids in sports, hear from an actual user, etc. I want this to be all in my lesson plan for
the students to be able to learn and comprehend. I want my students to not be pressured
into using steroids by saying “NO!”
6. Objectives

Students will be able to talk about what anabolic steroids are and what their
medical and non-medical uses are.

Students will work in groups and be given a worksheet which will help them
make the connections between steroid use and its effect on specific body parts.

Students will grasp the concept that anabolic steroids are illegal and carry
different consequences.
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
Students will be able to talk about dependency and addiction to anabolic steroids
as well as how to quit if they are using or know anybody using them and wants to
save their life.

Students will be able to list specific athletes caught using steroids that were
punished and learn how Major League Baseball is handling the high occurrence of
steroid abuse among its athletes.

Students will feel Gregg Valentino’s pain and the effects of steroid use through
his video.

Students will learn a program that they can participate in if they are athletes and
want to stay away from steroids.

High School and college statistics will show how many students try steroids.

Finally, students will answer a few trivia questions with their groups for prizes
and receive their homework assignment.
7. Content-I want to teach about anabolic steroids and the topics surrounding them. Those
topics include what are anabolic steroids, as well as their history, medical uses, nonmedical uses and consequences, uses, problems legally/financially, dependency/
addiction, quitting, steroids in sports, Gregg Valentino, ATLAS Program, and student
statistics.
8. Materials/Preparation

PowerPoint Presentation

PowerPoint equipment in classroom/Internet connection

Consequences (marking the body) worksheet
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Gregg Valentino Video in Windows Media Player
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
Air-Heads
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Wallet-size information sheets
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Steroids Crossword Puzzle
Students will need to take notes as they will be important for their homework assignment
as well as for their own knowledge of anabolic steroids. The PowerPoint must be set up
before class and the classroom must have the appropriate hook-ups. An internet
connection is necessary to show the prices of steroids website as well as for the Gregg
Valentino video (if you are using youtube.com to play it).
9. Activity/Procedure

2-3 minutes: Introduce the students to steroids (most won’t know much about
them) and talk about what they are, their specific components and effects, and a
brief history of steroids. Ask the students before the slides if they are familiar
with any of this information. Participation is always good to keep students
interested.

2 minutes: Talk about the medical uses and non-medical uses of steroids. Make
sure the students know that there are no good uses of anabolic steroids for healthy
individuals. Legal medical use is for ill patients.

3-5 minutes: Consequences of steroids. These include the risks and the long-term
consequences as well as the chart showing the effected parts and the pictures of
steroid users.

3-5 minutes: Quickly get the students into groups of five and have them mark the
corresponding consequences with the part of the body effected (worksheet).
Upon completion we will review it and move onto the next section.
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
3 minutes: Talk about how steroids are used and the legal/financial problems
associated with them. Show the website with the list of prices of steroids for
statistics and evidence.

2 minutes: Dependency and addiction of steroids as well as how to quit.

2 minutes: Teen statistics on steroids.

2 minutes: ATLAS Program for athletes that will be playing in high school and
college.

5 minutes: Gregg Valentino information and movie clip from his documentary
“The Man Who’s Arms Exploded.” Maybe have a small discussion about what
the students thought on that.
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2 minutes: Steroids in sports information. This includes the major sports banning
steroids, information about Ben Johnson, and other athletes caught using illegal
steroids.
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2 minutes: Mitchell Report and how steroids have affected MLB.
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3 minutes: Fun, group quiz for air-heads (get it, AIR HEADS!) This gets the kids
involved.

After the presentation, ask the students what they thought of the overall
presentation, what could be better, what they would like more information on,
what was missing…This is very important so you can improve future lesson plans
and maybe have another session talking about either anabolic steroids or another
type of drug the students would like to know more about. Teaching them at this
age is important because high school and college is where they will be tempted to
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use these drugs. As a teacher, you want to be a good influence in their decision
making process.

At end, hand out homework assignment and wallet-size information card so the
students will be reminded about the danger of steroids.
It is very IMPORTANT to use the slide setup as a way to get the students involved.
Many of the slides are custom characterized to make it so you can see the topic and ask
questions before displaying all the information that the students need. Use this as an
advantage to keep the students’ attention throughout the presentation. Have fun with it!
10. Evaluation-I will know if I was successful by first off, watching the students throughout
the presentation to see if they were sitting upright and interested in the information being
presented. The few group activities as well as the whole presentation are meant to be
interactive and encourage discussions in order for them to increase their knowledge. The
crossword puzzle will allow me to determine if they know all the information presented
and if they don’t encourage them to look it up so they do know it. I like students to be
involved and to talk throughout the presentation. The group activities aren’t just the
interactive parts, but the whole presentation. I will be asking questions about what they
know and what they don’t in many slides.
11. Alternative Plan-If the PowerPoint does not work out, I will have the slides previously
printed and use them in the document viewer to show the students. If that technology is
also not working, I will be holding them and showing them to the students, however, they
will just be a guide as the presentation will be discussion-based around the slides. If I do
not have enough worksheets, I will make larger groups or do it interactively as a full
class. If the video does not work, I will talk about it and the whole documentary for a
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few minutes and ask if anyone has even seen it. If I do not have enough wallet cards I
will make more for the following class and hand them out. I will make sure I have
enough crossword puzzles. These are my potential problems; if anything else were to
happen I would critically think about it for a few seconds and come up with something
that would work and keep the students interested.
12. Anticipated Questions-It is always hard to know what the students will ask because they
are all different and want to know about different things. Some questions I might expect
would be:
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Have you or do you know anyone who has even taken anabolic steroids?

I know someone who uses them and I want them to quit, can you help me to talk
to them?
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Why would people continually use steroids if they know the consequences and
what will happen to them?

Why would an athlete potentially ruin their careers by using steroids?
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Why did Gregg Valentino start using steroids?

Can we know more about the ATLAS Program and get it into our high schools?
Those are just a few potential questions. However, when you’re a teacher, you have to be
prepared for anything and be able to logically answer them with truthful information.
Always be ready to answer anything!
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My Questions:
1. Anabolic steroids are synthetic versions of _____________?
a. Estrogen
b. Progesterone
c. Androstenone
d. Testosterone
e. Bacteria
Answer: D-Testosterone
2. What is the process of slowly increasing doses then going back down to get the
body use to the steroid?
a. Stacking
b. Cycling
c. Shaping
d. Upping
e. Pyramiding
Answer: E-Pyramiding
3. All of these are withdrawal symptoms of steroids except ____________?
a. Mood swings
b. Reduced sex drive
c. Nausea
d. Suicide attempts
e. Loss of appetite
Answer: C-Nausea
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Works Cited
Association Against Steroid Abuse. (n.d.). Anabolic Steroid Use in Adolescents and High
Schools. Retrieved March 3, 2008, from Association Against Steroid Abuse:
http://www.steroidabuse.com/steroid-use-in-high-schools.html
Do You Know... Anabolic Steroids. (2006, December 6). Retrieved March 3, 2008, from Centre
for Addiction and Mental Health:
http://www.camh.net/About_Addiction_Mental_Health/Drug_and_Addiction_Information/anabo
lic_steroids_dyk.html
Iron Magazine. (2004, May 2). Anabolic Steroids - An Introduction. Retrieved March 3, 2008,
from IronMagazine.com: http://www.ironmagazine.com/article90.html
Legal Match. (n.d.). Steroids Possession Lawyers. Retrieved March 3, 2008, from
LegalMatch.com: http://www.legalmatch.com/law-library/article/steroids-possessionlawyers.html
NIDA For Teens. (n.d.). Anabolic Steroids. Retrieved March 3, 2008, from NIDA For Teens:
The Science Behind Drug Abuse: http://teens.drugabuse.gov/parents/parents_ster1.asp
Wikipedia. (2008, March 1). Anabolic steroid. Retrieved March 3, 2008, from Wikipedia, the
free encyclopedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anabolic_steroid#Anabolic_and_androgenic_effects
YouTube. (2007, August 3). Gregg Valentino. Retrieved March 3, 2008, from Youtube.com:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=rBBWMRRWOrM