Rationale
After working for two years at an inner city high school, I've found the students have a strong desire for valid health knowledge. For their lifetime, their understanding of good health has come from television, parents, and friends. On a rare occasion, one of my students does recite something they learned while attending a primary care physician visit. Unfortunately, these visits are far too infrequent to make any impact on the students' lives. Fortunately, I have the opportunity to make a major impact on the health knowledge of my students. At my school, I am the only Anatomy and Physiology teacher. I am also an active Nationally Registered Paramedic. Likewise, I have the opportunity (and often the responsibility) of dispensing reliable health knowledge in such a way that is interesting, impacting, and memorable. While most of my students have a strong will to learn and be healthy, I have found three main components that prevent them from utilizing this knowledge. The first and biggest roadblock is a general lack of understanding. In general, my students have a lack of content knowledge that prevents their understanding of health. Many of them have an understanding that is based on incorrect information, and many of them are adamant when I refute their believed truths. Second, my students have a lack of drive when it comes to taking action in their own health. They don't know how to effectively motivate themselves. Lastly, a lack of quick results prevents further time spent and dedication to completing their goals. While these roadblocks can be said as the cause for most of America's health problems, I feel it is my responsibility, as an educator, to address these three inhibitors when I teach my students.
I teach approximately 110 students each year at Armstrong High School. During my time at Armstrong, my student population has been 99.4% African American. Out of the over 700 students in my school, 97% receive free and reduced lunch. Unfortunately, these two statistics correlate to a more serious statistic: my students are at a higher risk of developing high blood pressure (hypertension) 1. My goal is to create a curriculum that focuses on the pathophysiology, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of this disease. Furthermore, I intend to touch on the three inhibitors that I mentioned earlier. I believe hypertension can be taught and eventually prevented by breaking through the above three components that prevent true student learning.
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