Family Structures, Roles and Responsibilities - Grade 8

Family Structures, Roles, and Responsibilities

Foundational Objectives and Learning Objectives

Level A - Extend Knowledge Base

Foundational Objectives

Students will understand that, while there are many different kinds of families, they all experience similar stages of change and development.

Students will realize that adolescents have specific roles and corresponding responsibilities within their families that change throughout the life cycle.

Students will recognize that gender stereotyping limits choices and makes unfair assumptions about people's skills, abilities, and behaviours.

Learning Objectives

Students will:

• identify and describe the various life stages
• explore the changes that occur in families throughout the life cycle
• seek out information from people who may be knowledgeable (i.e., parents, grandparents, older siblings, elders, trusted adults) (IL)
• describe a variety of family structures
• identify their roles and how they change throughout the life cycle
• explore the responsibilities associated with roles
• explore the expectations parents and teens have of one another
• identify selection criteria and use them to evaluate sources of information about expectations parents and teens have of one another
• identify what is meant by gender stereotyping (PSVS)
• realize that real-life problems often have more than one solution (CCT)
• assess their current level of responsibility and role congruency
• identify ways to perform family roles and assume corresponding responsibilities.

Level B - Make an Informed Decision

Foundational Objective

Students will decide how to support a friend as he or she assumes the responsibilities that correspond to particular roles in families.

Learning Objectives

Students will:

• identify a challenge connected to supporting a peer who is performing a role within the family and assuming its corresponding responsibilities
• list ways to support peers as they perform family roles and assume corresponding responsibilities
• explore the consequences of various strategies to support a peer (CCT)
• establish a goal to assume the responsibilities that correspond to a particular role in the family and support a peer who is doing the same.

Level C - Carry Out Action Plan

Foundational Objective

Students will practise planning to support peers in responsible health action.

Learning Objectives

Students will:

• design and carry out action plans to perform roles within families and assume corresponding responsibilities
• design and carry out action plans to support peers who are performing roles within families and assuming corresponding responsibilities
• evaluate action plans and redesign them as necessary (IL).

Unit At a Glance

Instructional Strategies/Methods	Teaching Notes
Direct Instruction: structured overview	Provide students with an overview of what is to be included in this unit of study. Remind them that the focus for Health Education throughout grade 8 is 'supporting peers'. Use the wall chart of the Decision-making Process to indicate that they will be designing and carrying out an action plan to support a peer.
Direct Instruction: mini-lecture	Project an overhead transparency of the Sample Individual Life Cycle in Appendix 8-H. Explain that, although all people's lives begin with birth and end with death, their progression through the developmental stages may va ry somewhat according to individual choices (e.g., deciding whether to marry, deciding whether to have children).
Interactive Instruction: co-operative learning groups (Think-Pair-Share/1-2-4)	Provide students with handouts of the Sample Individual Life Cycle. Suggest that they indicate approximate ages for each stage to help them keep in mind the proportion of each stage compared to the whole lifetime. In pairs, have students discuss the development that occurs during the childhood years from birth to puberty. Encourage them to consider physical and social development and growth. They may note these ideas on the childhood slice of their life cycle pi e: babies grow rapidly babies learn to crawl, walk, and talk younger children grow taller children learn to play alone and with others children develop large and small muscle control. Have pairs join to become groups of four. The two pairs compare their notes regarding the childhood life stage and then discuss and list the changes that occur during adolescence. Encourage students to consider physical, social, and mental development. Their lists may include the following: Physical Growth Mental Changes Social Changes growth spurt thinking and reasoning skills mature spend more time with peers reproductive system matures stronger, more varied emotions strive for independence girls' breasts develop develop sense of self and identity still rely on family for support and guidance boys develop chest and facial hair, their voices deepen develop beliefs and principles Debrief the Think-Pair-Share activity by comparing the ideas generated by each group of four.
Interactive Instruction: interviewing	Each student selects one of the remaining life stages: early adulthood, middle adulthood, or later adulthood. The task is to interview a person whose age places them within the selected life stage and to find out the physical changes, mental changes, a nd social changes associated with that life stage. Note: Dividing life into five stages is one way of looking at the topic of a life cycle. Students may interview knowledgeable people who consider life to be divided into six or eight stages. The number of stages is not important. It is the progression from birt h to death that is important. As a class, create interview questions ahead of time. It will make it easier to compare students' findings. Also, establish together the criteria that will be used in assessing each student's findings. Encourage students to consider varying cultures for the purpose of investigating whether there are cultural differences in how the life cycle is interpreted. Arrange feedback sessions in such a fashion that students share findings about life stages with others.
Independent Study: research project	Present a variety of research projects from which students may choose. Allow them to choose a specific life stage to research as well as the way in which they may conduct the research and present their findings. Some examples are outlined below. Develop a time line: illustrate major developmental tasks or events with pictures or newspaper clippings illustrate the childhood stage and events such as learning to walk, riding a bike or going to school illustrate later adulthood and events such as retirement. Interview a parent: find out how their parents' middle adulthood is the same and also different from that of their parents Visit a senior citizens' drop-in or recreation centre: observe how active senior citizens keep themselves physically fit and mentally alert Collect newspaper clippings that deal with one stage of the life cycle: determine whether authors reveal a positive or negative attitude toward this stage of life determine whether the articles give accurate information about this age group.
Direct Instruction: mini-lecture and demonstration	Project the Sample Family Life Cycle (Appendix 8-I) as an overhead transparency. Key points of the mini-lecture include: for families with children, these stages generally correspond to the developmental stage of the oldest child as with the individual life cycle, different sources of information may divide the family life cycle into as many as 11 stages it is the progression from one stage to the next (the changes and adjustments) that is important. Place a coloured piece of acetate over segments 1, 2, and 3 on the transparency. These comprise the childhood phase of the individual life cycle. Ask students to recall, from their research or from their own experiences, what is happening in a househol d with a child up to 13 years of age. Add to the transparency another acetate wedge of a different colour to represent the adolescent stage of the individual life cycle. Orally present the changes and adjustments encountered throughout adolescence. Lastly, add a third coloured wedge of acetate to represent parents at the middle adulthood stage of the individual life cycle. Ask students to recall, from their research, the key changes and adjustments occurring at this stage of the life cycle. Summarize the mini-lecture by stating that the graphic illustrates a family of parents and two children, one an adolescent and the younger one not yet entering puberty. Within this variety, all these changes and adjustments are happening simultaneously .

Student Assessment Techniques Students can demonstrate their ability to explore the changes and influences that occur in families throughout the life cycle by developing a timeline of major events for a family described in a case study. Additional assessment data is obtained in st udents' research on a stage of the individual life cycle. Store the timelines in students' portfolios along with the interview questions and research. This assessment data will be used in assigning a mark for Level A.

Instructional Strategies/Methods	Teaching Notes
Direct Instruction: mini-lecture and guides for reading, listening, and viewing	Elicit definitions of different family structures from students. The variety of family structures can include: nuclear families single-parent families (headed by either a mother or a father) blended families extended families adoptive families foster families. Read the poem 'Step Son' in Families in Transition to describe a positive step-parent and step-son relationship. The book Model Families includes poems such as 'Life in the blender', 'Soccer game', 'Model families', 'Denial', and 'The nex t step'. Each of these poems offers readers and listeners an understanding of blended families from a variety of perspectives. Read 'The alphabet/backwards', a poem also found in Model Families, to provide a thought provoking glimpse into an extended family. 'Divorce', a short article in Stories from My Life, offers an excellent summary about types of families and acts as a transition from the learning objective about family structures to the next learning objective about roles played within familie s.
Direct Instruction: mini-lecture	At this point in the unit, use the wall chart of the Decision-making Process to review the content addressed in Steps 1 and 2 of Level A. So far, in the unit, students have: reviewed the stages individuals go through from birth to death learned that families go through a 'life cycle' similar to that of individuals clarified that families come in a variety of structures. Indicate that the next topics to be addressed in the unit have to do with the roles of families and the roles of individuals that make up families.
Interactive Instruction: small group activity	To introduce the topic of roles with families, refer to Differences and Similarities in Family Values in Appendix 8-J. Read a number of statements aloud. Students think about the statement and then indicate with a number b etween 1 and 10 whether the statement describes something that is valued in their family. The number 1 signifies 'not at all' and the number 10 signifies 'a lot'. Students record the numbers in their journals or notebooks. Explain that answers are private and the purpose of the activity is to get students thinking about family values. To close, explain that one role of the family is to pass along its values and beliefs from one generation to the next.
Direct Instruction: demonstration and Independent Study: assigned questions and Interactive Instruction: discussion	Distribute a variety of employment opportunity ads as collected from the Careers sections of local and national newspapers. Have students identify the common elements of employment ads. Invite each student to create an Employment Opportunity ad for the job of 'parent'. The following sample may be helpful: Wanted: Parent Duties:         Experience Required:       Working Conditions: Hours per week Salary of _____________ Arrange for students to exchange and discuss their job ads for a parent.
Direct Instruction: demonstration and Interactive Instruction: discussion	Link the job description of a parent to the concept of roles by examining the variety of roles each family member plays. Provide each student with a sheet of 8 ½ x 11' paper and orally present the following directions: Draw as many circles as there are members in your immediate family. In each circle, write the name of one family member. Draw a coloured line between the circle with your name on it and a parent, perhaps your mother to start. Using the same colour, print beside your name the word 'daughter' or 'son'. Beside your mother's name print her role as related to you, namely, 'mother'. Using a different coloured line, connect your circle to that of a sibling. In that colour, print your roles, as related to each other, beside your names. Complete all possible pairings. An example, Roles People Play, is included as Appendix 8-K. Debrief by discussing what students observe about roles within families. They are likely to comment on such observations as: each family member has more than one role the larger the family, the greater the number of possible roles for each person.
Interactive Instruction: co-operative learning groups	Divide the class into small groups. Each group is to list all the tasks which, in their opinion, are a mother's responsibility; the tasks that are a father's responsibility; and those that should be shared equally. Post the lists and facilitate a discussion that might include some or all of the following: asking the students to comment on the experience discussing terms such as 'women's work' or 'men's work', if they arise observing that all the tasks may be done by one adult in a single-parent family observing that the children, often the eldest, assume more responsibility in single-parent families discussing how some tasks are not shared, but rather are repeated, by mother and father in a separated or divorced family that features shared custody of the children.
Direct Instruction: guides for reading, listening, and viewing	Show one or more of the following videos from the series Your Choice, Our Chance: Sister, Sister; Decision; and Fitting In. These can all be viewed to observe the roles that young people play in their families and, in some cases, t he roles they have acquired in their families. Fitting In features a family of divorce where an older sister has acquired the roles of guide and sharer of family values. Sister, Sister features a single-parent family where a younger sister plays the role of leader, planner, and responsible child, while the older sister plays the role of a difficult-to-raise follower. Decisions features a recently separated family where the eldest son acquires roles of responsibility, some of which he does not want. Note: The series Your Choice, Our Chance features videos, a teacher's guide, and a facilitator's guide. All are available from Media Group for a small fee. To connect the roles demonstrated in the videos to roles played in their own families, distribute copies of the handout Roles in My Family located in Appendix 8-L. Ask students to complete the form, anonymously if they wis h. Facilitate a discussion of such questions as the following: Can only one person in a family be a thinker? Hot tempered? Worried? What do you think happens when we label a family member according to the role(s) we think he or she plays? Would you like to change a role you play in your family? What would be the first step in making such a change? Bring closure to the topic of multiple roles by reading a short four-line letter, 'Dear Cassandra', and its powerful two-paragraph reply, to Sharon, on pages 142-143 of Stories from My Life. A one-page entry, 'Sibling Rivalry', from Becoming Myself also provides an effective conclusion to the topic of roles in families.
Indirect Instruction: personal reflection	Move into the concept of roles and how they change as we progress throughout the life cycle. Distribute to each student a copy of the handout Sample Individual Life Cycle, Appendix 8-H. Ask each student to list, in the chi ldhood portion of the circle, the roles they played as pre-school and Elementary Level children. Roles that might apply to them include: self daughter or son (possibly step-child) granddaughter or grandson sister or brother (possibly step-sibling) student. Next, ask students to insert, in the adolescent segment of the circle, the roles that are added at that time of the life cycle. Possible additions include: part-time employee (e.g., babysitter) friend boyfriend or girlfriend team member (e.g., goalie, gymnast). Some students, due to the death of grandparents, may delete the role of grandchild.
Interactive Instruction: co-operative learning groups (Think-Pair-Share/1-2-4)	Individually, ask students to enter, in the young adulthood segment of the circle, the roles they predict for themselves at that stage of their life cycles. They might include such roles as: spouse parent employee daughter-in-law or son-in-law aunt or uncle coach colleague neighbour consumer. Arrange students in pairs to compare their projected roles in young adulthood and to predict the possible additions and/or deletions to roles in middle adulthood. Ask pairs of students to form small groups of four. In their small groups, have students compare middle adulthood roles and predict roles of senior adulthood.
Interactive Instruction: panels	Arrange for a panel discussion to present the changing roles of children, parents, grandchildren, and grandparents throughout the life cycle. For example, a child, a parent, and a grandparent may be invited as panelists to present their roles at the ag es of 10, 35, and 60 (childhood, middle adulthood, and later adulthood). Another threesome may be invited as panelists to present their roles at the ages of 20, 45, and 70 (young adulthood, middle adulthood, and later adulthood). If possible, have panelis ts talk about multiple roles. For example, a 30-year-old might be both a daughter and a parent. A 55-year-old might be a parent, grandparent, and a caregiver for a parent with failing health.
Interactive Instruction: panels	It may be very helpful for all students to hear from panelists who are able to describe how the roles of mothers and fathers change from situations of dual parenting, to single-parenting, or from single-parenting to step-parenting. Connecting with comm unity agencies such as Parents Without Partners may be a starting point for such a panel discussion. Bring the topic back to the student's day-to-day life by reading the short story 'Vacations', found in Stories from My Life.
Direct Instruction: review and overview	Advise students that, in the next Health Education lesson or two, they are going to build on their understanding of roles and how they change throughout the life cycle. They will now explore the rights and responsibilities that accompany roles.
Direct Instruction: mini-lecture and Interactive Instruction: discussion	Explain some of the rights that adolescents can expect to have in accordance with their age. Also present some of the responsibilities adolescents might assume, connected with roles in their families (e.g., the role of daughter or son). Roles Rights Responsibilities Daughter or son Food Help prepare some meals Clothing Early adolescence — help care for your own clothes Later adolescence — do your own laundry Shelter Assist with house and yard work Clean your own room Privacy Respect your parents' and siblings' need for privacy Love, affection, and understanding Reciprocate by expressing love, affection, and understanding Following the discussion of one role, discuss and record the rights and responsibilities that accompany other roles of adolescents. To ensure that this process remains manageable, it is recommended that one role be discussed at a time. To personalize this discussion, ask students to develop their own lists of current roles and responsibilities, and to analyze the lists to identify roles and responsibilities they have now that they did not have two years ago. Using their lists, have s tudents privately respond to the following questions. Inform them, at the outset, that their answers will be assessed for thoroughness and thoughtfulness, but not for specific content. How have my roles changed in the last two years? How have my responsibilities changed in the last two years? If I have more responsibilities, do I have more rights/privileges than I did two years ago? If I have more rights/privileges, am I accepting more responsibility? If so, in what way? If not, in what ways can I demonstrate responsibility to match my rights/privileges? How do I feel about all of this? How do I accept the changes? What do I do for others, willingly and free of charge, just to be a contributing member of the family or community?
Interactive Instruction: interviewing	Next, have students arrange to interview their parents using the same seven questions, with adaptations to elicit parents' points of view. The purpose of the interview is to encourage students to compare their own responses to those of their parents. Advise students that they are expected to submit their own answers to questions one to seven and to compare their answers with those of their parents.
Interactive Instruction: brainstorming	Facilitate a brainstorming session to review ways in which grade 8 students can support peers who are striving to accept more responsibility as a way of demonstrating their readiness for additional privileges in adolescence. See Level B of the Decision -making Unit for grade 8. Record student responses on the chalkboard or flipchart paper.
Direct Instruction: demonstration and Interactive Instruction: peer practice and Independent Study: homework	Advise students that they are going to add the dimension of peer support to their understandings of roles, rights, and responsibilities. Use one of the Case Studies for Peer Support of Roles and Responsibilities found in Appen dix 8-M to demonstrate expectations for the responses to the questions that accompany each case study. When all students are certain of the task, arrange them in pairs and give them a case study. Remind them that their responses, as a pair, to the case study will be used in assessing their Level A achievements. Assign one case study to be completed individually as homework. Advise students that the homework assignment will be used as part of each person's Level A assessment data.
Interactive Instruction: discussion	Advise students that the next topic to be addressed in this unit has to do with parents' expectations of youth and youth's expectations of parents. Use the Sample Checklist for Evaluating Health-related Sources of Information (Grade 8) in Appendix 8-A to review the criteria used to evaluate print, electronic, and video sources of information. Facilitate a discussion t o generate criteria that the class might use to identify people who can talk about the topic of parents' expectations of adolescents and vice versa. Students may suggest gathering information from: guest speakers from professional health or social services organizations parents who reflect the variety of families (i.e., single-parent mother, single-parent father, nuclear family parents, adoptive parent, foster parent, step-parent, and so on) adolescents who live in different family structures (i.e., blended family, nuclear family, extended family, and so on). For this topic, a guest speaker might be someone who conducts effective parenting workshops (e.g., Systematic Training for Effective Parenting, Parent Effectiveness Training, Ready or Not, How to Talk so Kids Will Listen) or a psychologist or a human r esources consultant who works with families (e.g., in an Employee Assistance Program). When students have established their criteria, they need to gather multiple sources of reliable information about adolescents' expectations of parents and vice versa. Assign students the task of arranging a panel discussion that features both adolescents and parents from a variety of family structures.
Interactive Instruction: panels	Request that panelists prepare answers to the following questions: What rights do parents have within a family? What responsibilities do parents have within a family? What do adolescents expect of parents? What rights do adolescents (grade 8) have within a family? What responsibilities do adolescents (grade 8) have within a family? What do parents expect of adolescents (grade 8)? Summarize the panel discussion by suggesting factors that might affect roles and responsibilities. These might include: size of family, age of parent(s), age of children, spacing of children, and cultural heritage.
Interactive Instruction: role playing	Role Playing Expectations (see Appendix 8-N) features two sample role plays that offer an opportunity for students to apply what they have learned about expectations from the panel discussion. Seek out several pairs of stu dents who may be willing to enact role plays that focus on expectations. Debrief the role plays by posing such questions as: What feelings are involved for each character? What expectations are being met? Using what you have learned about roles, responsibilities, and expectations, what 'health-enhancing' strategies might you suggest? How might you support these young people if they were friends of yours?
Direct Instruction: guides for reading, listening, and viewing	Read 'Comparisons' in Becoming Myself and 'Running Away' in Stories from My Life to learn of parental expectations of adolescents and what both parents and adolescents can do to change some expectations that do not work out. 'Dear Cassandra from Marcus' and 'Dear Cassandra from Tricia' in Stories from My Life provide an expert's advice to teens who have questions about what parents expect of them and what they expect of parents. Tricia's letter features the concept of support, which i s the emphasis of Health Education throughout grade 8.

Student Assessment Techniques Students' abilities to describe a variety of family structures can be assessed through a verbal description, a written description, or a picture. Asking students to list roles of childhood, roles of adolescence, and roles of early adulthood is an appropriate way to assess students' abilities to identify their roles and how they change throughout the life cycle. Providing students with several sc enarios, that feature young people exhibiting specific behaviours, and asking students to identify which scenario matches which stage of the life cycle is an appropriate assessment strategy. Having students identify, in written or spoken format, how roles change from one life stage to the other is an appropriate way of assessing students' understanding. Students' responses to the seven questions about roles, rights, and responsibilities are located in their portfolios. Those responses can be used to assess the degree to which the student has explored the responsibilities associated with rights. The wo rk students produced in comparing their responses to those of their parents is also contained in the portfolio. Additional assessment data is contained in the peer-partner responses to a case study and in the individual homework assignment. All of these d ata are located in students' portfolios. In class, students explored the expectations that parents and teens have of one another through a panel discussion, role plays, readings, and letters. An appropriate assessment technique that matches the way in which students spent their time in class might be to use a scenario similar to those found in Role Playing Expectations (Appendix 8-N). Provide each student with a scenario and ask the same four questions that were used to debrief the role plays.

Instructional Strategies/Methods	Teaching Notes
Direct Instruction: guides for reading, listening, and viewing and Interactive Instruction: discussion	Read the following as a discussion starter. A child and his father were both seriously injured in a car accident and were rushed to a hospital by ambulance. The child needed immediate brain surgery or he would die. Luckily, Dr. Gibb, a world famous neurosurgeon, was available to oper ate. The child was quickly prepared for surgery and rushed to the operating room. Dr. Gibb looked at the child and said, 'I cannot operate, this is my son'. Who is Dr. Gibb? Usually the response to this question is that Dr. Gibb is the child's father. Remember that the child's father was also seriously injured. Who is Dr. Gibb? The child's mother. Discussion questions: Why do some students assume Dr. Gibb was a man? What is that called? (gender role stereotyping) Does anyone know a female doctor? Male nurse? Female lawyer? Male secretary? Female carpenter?
Interactive Instruction: co-operative learning groups and Direct Instruction: mini-lecture	Divide the class into groups of four or five. Distribute copies of Stereotypes, located in Appendix 8-O. Ask students to indicate whether they think the statements are true and false. Have students discuss their answers in their groups. To debrief the small group discussion, discuss the statements as a class and record terms that arise, such as sexist, stereotype, gender, sexism, and so on.
Direct Instruction: guides for reading, listening, and viewing and Interactive Instruction: discussion	Read the poem 'Nature/nurture' in Model Families. Discussion surrounding this poem can serve several purposes at this stage of the unit: review the idea that one person can play several roles (i.e., the poet) review the fact that roles need not be defined by gender (i.e., daughter plays with trucks and dolls) review parents' expectations of children (i.e., poet 'swore she'd wear overalls and jeans').
Interactive Instruction: co-operative learning groups and discussion	Divide the class into small groups of three or four. Have them complete the Family Responsibilities activity included in Appendix 8-P, which is designed to identify some sex role biases and stereotyping. Review family role s and responsibilities, if necessary. Debrief the small group activity by highlighting similarities of gender roles that were observed in small groups as students worked to complete the task. Without mentioning names, provide examples of sex role or gender stereotyping that were observed. Provide an opportunity for small groups to share the weekly responsibilities chart they prepared for the Sanders family. It is valuable for students to observe the different ways in which groups assigned responsibilities, and how each group determined 'fairness'. Take the time needed to assess the degree of fairness and shared responsibility evident in each group's weekly chart. Through such assessment, students attain the Critical and Creative Thinking learning objective about multiple solutions to real-life p roblems.
Indirect Instruction: personal reflection	This is an opportune time for students to assess the degree of responsibility they demonstrate in connection with their roles. One way to structure the personal assessment is through journal writing. Advise students, from the outset, that their journal s will be read and then assessed based upon the thoughtfulness and thoroughness with which they are completed. Their roles will not be assessed. Their ratings will not be assessed. Clarify that it is the reasons evident in justifying the ratings that are being assessed. Ask each student to make a list of ten roles they perform. The list will likely include such roles as: son/daughter grandchild sibling student aunt/uncle teammate friend neighbour consumer babysitter or other part-time employee. When the list is complete, ask the students to put beside each role an S representing satisfied or N representing not satisfied with that role, and how they fulfil the responsibilities that accompany it. Ask students to explain their assessments by listing the responsibilities that accompany each role and identifying those responsibilities they fulfil and those they do not. Lastly, ask students to identify one role for which they need to accept more of the responsibilities that correspond to that role.
Interactive Instruction: co-operative learning group (Think-Pair-Share/1-2-4)	Ask each student to create a brief list of ways in which they might fulfil responsibilities that correspond to the role they identified in the personal reflection activity above. Invite students to form pairs for purposes of helping one another add to or refine their list. Lastly, arrange pairs to form small groups of four. The task of each foursome is to help each student prioritize his or her list to include only two or three ways of fulfilling responsibilities that are: age appropriate in keeping with the role realistic manageable. Ask each group of four to compile a folder or envelope for assessment purposes that includes the following items: the individual lists with which they each started a paragraph written by each pair describing how they helped one another refine their lists four paragraphs that outline how the small group of four helped each member prioritize her or his list and select two or three ways of fulfilling responsibilities.

Student Assessment Techniques An assessment technique that is appropriate is to provide students with two or three scenarios and request that they 'identify' where gender stereotyping is evident. Use students' journal entries to assess the degree to which students fulfil the responsibilities that accompany family roles. The contents of the folder or envelope submitted by each small group of the Think-Pair-Share activity provide data to use in assessing students' abilities to demonstrate responsibilities that correspond with roles. Student Evaluation Techniques for Level A of the Decision-making Process All of the assessment data gathered throughout Level A reflect the degree to which a student has achieved the learning objectives in Level A - Extend Knowledge Base. Students' marks for the Family Structures, Roles, and Responsibilities Unit consists of one third for extending knowledge, one third for making a decision, and one third for designing and carrying out an action plan. Take the assessment data gathered throughout Level A and assign a mark to it that will constitute one third of the students ' overall unit marks.

Decision-making Process Level B - Make an Informed Decision 3. State the challenge. Explore alternatives and consequences. 4. Make a decision. Set a personal goal. Learning Objectives Students will identify a challenge connected to supporting a peer who is performing a role within the family and assuming its corresponding responsibilities. Students will list ways to support peers as they perform family roles and assume corresponding responsibilities. Students will explore the consequences of various strategies to support a peer (CCT). Students will establish a goal to assume the responsibilities that correspond to a particular role in the family and support a peer who is doing the same.

Instructional Strategies/Methods	Teaching Notes
Direct Instruction: structured overview	Refer to the wall chart of the Decision-making Process to review the expectations of Level B - Make an Informed Decision. Inform students that in the remainder of the Family Structures, Roles, and Responsibilities Unit, each student is to assume two or three responsibilities that correspond to one of the roles that he or she plays in the family. Each student is to support a peer who is doing the same.
Direct Instruction: mini-lecture or Interactive Instruction: brainstorming	Review, from the Decision-Making Unit, some of the ways in which students can demonstrate support to a peer. Identify some of the many challenges students need to consider when supporting peers. Some of them are: How can I support a peer who is trying to fulfil two or three responsibilities that correspond to one of the roles that he or she plays? What kind of support do I want as I try to fulfil two or three responsibilities that accompany one of the roles I play? How do I figure out who to request as my support person? Chapter four of Creating Your Own Support System includes information to help students decide on the type of support they may need and who might provide such support.
Interactive Instruction: discussion	Facilitate a discussion about students' responses to the first question above, regarding ways of demonstrating support for a peer. Students might suggest the following: helping my friend list times and places when he or she might fulfil the two or three responsibilities selected being with my peer when he or she tells family members of his or her intentions checking in with my peer on a daily basis being with my peer when he or she carries out his or her first demonstration of responsibilities helping my peer develop a log or journal to track progress helping my peer think of obstacles and how to overcome them
Independent Study: learning contract	Students now need to initiate their own action plans for fulfilling the two or three responsibilities they have selected. Request that each student write a goal statement that includes one role, one right, and two or three ways of fulfilling the corres ponding responsibilities. The following are examples: In my role as son with its corresponding right of food, I have decided to demonstrate responsibility by preparing dinner for my family one evening a week and helping my Mom or Dad unpack the groceries on Saturday morning. In my role as brother with its corresponding right of privacy, I have decided to demonstrate responsibility by knocking on my older brother's bedroom door before entering, not interrupting my older sister's telephone conversations, and not touching my younger sister's belongings. In my role as daughter with its corresponding right of housing, I have decided to demonstrate responsibility by raking the front and back lawn and by moving my bike, roller-blades, and ball g love out of the garage and into the basement for the winter months.
Interactive Instruction: co-operative learning groups	Arrange students in pairs and provide each pair with a list of strategies to support peers. Ask each pair of students to consider their goal statements and to compare what kind of support they each would appreciate as they plan to meet their goals. Suggest that the pairs join to become small groups of four. Encourage students to compare the kind(s) of support they want and/or need. Some will want support in the planning stage while others will want support to carry out the actions. Also, ask stud ents to list criteria they might use in deciding whom to approach to act as their support person. They may list criteria such as: is dependable is punctual communicates suggestions offers encouragement.
Independent Study: assigned questions	Assign students the following questions, or other similar questions, as homework. The intent is to assist students as they work through the process of making a decision. What are the consequences of each of the support strategies you identified? Consider the consequences for you as you demonstrate the responsibilities that accompany a role you play in your family. Consider the consequences for the classmate acting as your support person. Based on the above, what type of support do you feel most comfortable offering to a peer? Based upon the above, what type of support will you request of a peer? Inform students that their responses to these questions will be used in Level B assessment. Establish a due date and appropriate format for responses.
Interactive Instruction: peer partner activity	Throughout grade 8, students are required to write two types of goal statements: one regarding their own responsibilities and roles in the family, and another regarding support for their peers. Before leaving Level B and moving into Level C, students n eed to prepare their peer support goal statement. Students can be paired so that A supports B and vice versa. However, some students might prefer to have the teacher and/or a family member as the support person. When support partnerships have been arranged, have each student write a goal statement clarifying how he or she will support a peer partner. Writing a separate sentence is the simplest. For example: If partner B indicates that he or she needs support during the planning stage of the action plan, partner A writes the goal statement, 'My goal is to help my partner write an effective action plan that features the design elements of 5WH.'. If partner A identifies daily check-ins as the support that he or she needs, partner B writes the goal statement, 'My goal is to call or visit my partner each day between 6:30 and 7:00 pm to provide encouragement.'. Remind the peer partners to assess their goal statements to ensure that they are realistic, measurable, practical, and so on. If students need to review information on establishing goals, refer to Healthwise 2. Ask students to submit the goal statements regarding their personal commitments to assuming responsibilities, as well as the goal statements that identify how they will support peers.

Student Assessment Techniques Students' abilities to define gender stereotyping and to understand that real-life problems have more than one solution can be assessed using case studies. The data to be used in determining students' abilities to assess their level of responsibility and role congruency is contained in the students' responses to the homework questions. Students' abilities to identify ways to perform family roles and corresponding responsibilities are best assessed by rating students' goal statements against the criter ia for measuring effective goals. Student Assessment Techniques for Level B of the Decision-making Process Gather the level B assessment data located in students' portfolios and use it in making an evaluation of their Level B progress. Students' marks for Level B represent one-third of their marks for the entire unit.

Student Assessment Techniques The rubric in Appendix 8-E can be used by the student, the support person, and the teacher to assess the design elements of each student's action plan. The rubric in Appendix 8-F can be used by the student, the support person, and the teacher to evaluate the degree to which the student implemented both portions of his or her action plan (committing self and supporting peers). Student Evaluation Techniques for Level C of the Decision-making Process Examine all of the data gathered for each student throughout Level C. Assign a mark based upon that data. A student's Level C mark contributes one-third to the total mark for the Family Structures, Roles, and Responsibilities Unit.