Hi Reader,

At the recent MAHPERD Annual Convention, I attended a presentation called, "Choose Your Own Adventure: A Tool for Fostering Discussion in Health Education," presented by Dr. Susan Milstein of Springfield College and one of her students, Danielle Pantano. My first conference presentations were with my professors when I was an undergraduate student at Springfield, so I try to attend any sessions that current Springfield students are presenting whenever I can.

The session used the ABCDE decision-making model and a real-life scenario that we worked through in small groups to demonstrate a teaching tool we can use in our classrooms. The conversations were rich and detailed, and it seemed like everyone agreed that teenagers could really buy into this type of activity. I've used a similar activity in my classroom, but I have students create their own slide decks/stories as an extension activity within our decision-making unit. After attending this session, I want to create my own scenarios and have students work through them in small groups. This type of activity is perfect for skill practice, and students have the opportunity to think critically and reflect on the choices they make. I learned from watching Dr. Milstein and Danielle facilitate the discussions around various options and consequences without judgment. It was a great session!

Toward the end of the session, people expressed interest in a template for a "Choose Your Own Adventure" activity, and I happened to have one in my Google Drive. Today, I'm sharing it with you, and a second template, too. They're not Instagram-worthy or anything, but they get the job done. I took visual inspiration from Dr. Milstein and Danielle's presentation for the second template. They're going to be reworking their activity, and when it's ready to share, I hope they're able to do so. If I remember correctly, they're presenting at SHAPE Cleveland, too. At one point, it was mentioned that this could be an activity to give to caregivers or to have students and caregivers walk through together at home. There are a lot of ways this can fit into your curriculum.

I want to note that the initial idea for this activity came from Andy Milne, and I modified it to fit my middle school health classes. The activity is aligned with the DECIDE Model for decision-making. In putting these resources together, I was thinking about the different decision-making models and how they do or do not align with the performance indicators from the National Health Education Standards. That might be a future post coming down the road.

Thanks for reading! Please reach out with any questions or to let me know what type of information you want to see in this newsletter.

Jeff B.

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