In 2001 almost thirty percent of kids between the ages of twelve and seventeen reported using drugs.
That same year more than half of respondents between the ages of eighteen and twenty five reported recent drug use.
In a study done by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the following drug statistics were discovered:
In 2004 More than nineteen million Americans over the age of twelve were currently using drugs-including harder and illicit drugs.
There were more than sixteen million adult Americans (over the age of eighteen) using illicit drugs.
In 2004, almost twenty three million Americans had dependency problems with drugs. About an eighth of these abused alcohol and drugs and half of the total number of users abused alcohol but did not have abuse problems with illicit drugs.
Finally, consider the following statistics from the 2007 National Survey on Drug Use and Health done by the Office of Applied Studies at the United States Department of Health and Human Services.
In 2007 almost twenty percent of adults over eighteen that were polled admitted to using illicit drugs within a month of the poll taking place. Marijuana was the second highest drug used in this poll and came in at just over sixteen percent of users polled.
This same survey found that males were more likely to abuse illicit drugs and marijuana while all other drugs were about even with both genders.
Statistically speaking, most adult Americans have tried some type of drug at least once or twice in their lives. This means any family can be touched by someone who is addicted to drugs and/or alcohol. Families need to come together and seek the support and help to end the struggle of addiction so widely spread in our society.
In the WebQuest you will explore how to prevention, seeking treatment and support for families struggling with addiction. Reading A Million Little Pieces by James Frey will give you an embellished detail account of the life of a drug addicted. His story takes you on a journey where you meet and start to understand the families and addicts daily struggles.
All statistics were taken from Drug Addiction Statistics.
Your help is needed in fighting the war of drugs. You will research the topic and create a poster and power point presentation about what you learned.
After reading the book A Million Little Pieces by James Frey your class will identify major characters and write their reactions based upon the characters from the book. One person will be James, another student will be the clinical staff (treatment counselor), three students will represent the friends James meets in treatment and two students will represent family members. Each student, with the exception of the treatment counselor, will research support groups for families struggling with drug addiction. The research findings are to be written in a one-page journal entry detailing what she/he learned. As a class we will share our one page journal entries and compile a list of the support groups in the Austin area.
After reflecting as a group; take the list and start creating the introduction for your power point presentation. The power point presentation will include your reflections about the characters in the book. Additionally, your power point presentation will address the growing struggle of families affected by drug addiction and support groups for families within the Austin area.
In creating your poster, focus on treatment. Use illustrations from pamphlets, internet websites and/or any other resource you found during your research. Your poster should reflect a diverse culture and offer supportive guide for families seeking help.
The class will be divided into groups of seven that will research and examine ways to help and support families struggling with drug addiction. Prior to beginning this project, you group should have completed your literacy circle reading of James Frey A Million Little Pieces. After reading the book by James Frey you now have a embellished understanding of the life of a drug addicted and how drug addiction affects an entire family. Each group will select a specific character to research. Using the resources provided in this WebQuest and information gathered from local support groups, each group will create a power point presentation and poster about what they learned-individually and collectively.
Form groups of seven students. Select students who generally work well with each other but complete the assignments.
Each group member must select one of the following roles: James Frey, treatment counselor, 3 major characters from book and 2 family members.
Each group member is to research selected roles. While researching roles each group member is to keep a brief research log on key facts learned. After the research is completed a one page journal entry should be written that clearly shows that the student has learned a lot of useful information about his/her role.
Once each group member has completed his or her research about the selected role and has written his or her journal entry the groups will come together and share with one another the information they have learned. This will be an informal presentation only to group members.
Working together the group will then compile a list of the most important aspects of each role (what people should know). This list is what will be used when developing the power point presentation.
The group members will work together to make a power point presentation. The power point presentation should include relevant and useful information about support for families struggling with addiction, local resources and reflection of how each character was affected by drug addiction.
Along with the power point presentation the group members are to make a poster that has local support group pamphlets/fliers and diverse illustrations of families struggling with addiction. (Note: at least one flyer/pamphlet and one illustration must be included on the poster, but the poster must have a total of three useful resources.)
Each group will present their power point presentation and poster to the rest of the class. The group with the most detailed and organized presentation will receive a special prize.
You will need the following items to complete this WebQuest:
Computer
Internet Explorer
Paper
Pencil
Markers/Colored Pencils/Crayons
Scissors & Glue
Posterboard
A Million Little Pieces by James Frey
Word Processing Program such as Microsoft Word or Microsoft Publisher
Web sites listed under the Citation page
Poster elements |
The group’s poster contains all elements-pamphlet illustrations, (5pt.) |
The group’s poster has some of the elements-illustrations. (4pt.) |
The group’s poster has few of the elements- a support group names. (3pt.) |
The group’s poster has one of the elements- a pamphlet or illustration or support group name. (2pt.) |
The group’s poster is missing all of the elements. (1pt.) |
Poster clarity |
It contains useful information and is easy to read. (5pt.) |
It contains somewhat useful information and is easy to read. (4pt.) |
It contains information and is easy to read. (3pt.) |
It contains some information but is difficult to read. (2pt.) |
It does not contain information and it is hard to read. (1pt.) |
Mechanics of the poster |
There are no mistakes in capitalization, punctuation, or spelling. (5pt.) |
There are 1-2 mistakes in capitalization, punctuation, or spelling. (4pt.) |
There are 3-4 mistakes in capitalization, punctuation, or spelling. (3pt.) |
There are 5-6 mistakes in capitalization, punctuation, or spelling. (2pt.) |
There are so many mistakes that the poster is difficult to read. (1pt.) |
Presentation |
The presentation is well planned and organized. (5pt.) |
The presentation is pretty well planned and kind of organized. (4pt.) |
The presentation is planned but poorly organized. (3pt.) |
The presentation in not planned and not organized. (2pt.) |
The presentation is impossible to understand. (1pt.) |
Journal Entry #1 |
It is clear that the student learned a lot of useful information about his/her role. (5pt.) |
The student learned some useful information about his/her role. (4pt.) |
The student learned information about his/her role. (3pt.) |
The student did not learn useful information about his/her role. (2pt.) |
The student did not complete the entry. (1pt.) |
Team work |
All of the group members worked well together all of the time. (5pt.) |
All of the group member worked well together most of the time. (4pt.) |
Two of the group members worked well together all of the time. (3pt.) |
Two of the group members worked well together most of the time. (2pt.) |
The group did not work well together. (1pt.) |
Congratulations! You have completed this assignment. You have created a power point presentation, read an entire novel, worked as a collaborative team, created a poster for support and researched a topic on the internet. All of these skills will increase your reading and writing scores on your GED test.
Books
Frey, James. (2003). A Million Little Pieces. New York: Doubleday
Internet sources (start research here)
Non-internet sources (starting point)
Before the students complete this web quest have them read the book. Read the book daily in class as a group and discuss the characters. Tell students to write down information as you read daily.
Demonstrate to your students how to create a power point presentation by creating a 2 minute sample.
Allow the students class time to gather information from outside sources.
This web quest will take at least 6 weeks to complete. The reading is usually the longest portion.
After students complete the WebQuest you can present them a day off or some other prize.