Lesson 11.2: Influences and Alcohol

Overview

This lesson focuses on how friends, peers, family, and media can influence teens, positively or negatively, and the choices they make. Understanding how to use refusal skills if in a situation where alcohol is being used and the benefits of not consuming alcohol are also covered.

Learning Targets

  • LO6: Identify who and what influences your decisions about drinking.
  • LO7: Evaluate how media (e.g., movies and streaming shows) may affect your decisions about drinking.
  • LO8: Discuss how social media may influence your drinking decisions especially in regard to advertising and what your friends post.
  • LO9: Analyze how your values influence your decisions about whether or not to drink alcohol.
  • LO10: Plan for an alcohol-free lifestyle.

Preparation

For the Warm-Up Activity: Write the Journal Question on the board or identify (and copy as needed) the worksheets you plan to use:

For the Content Focus: Open the Lesson 11.2 PowerPoint slides or make copies of the Lesson 11.2 Note-Taking Guide.

For the Lesson Focus: Copy the Lesson 11.2 Skill-Building Challenge Worksheet: Who Influences Me?.

Warm-Up Activity

Select a warm-up activity to help get your class focused and on task.

  • Journal Question: Everyone has people in their lives who influence them. Who in your life has the most influence over you? Is their influence on you positive or negative?
    • Option: Write or project the question and have students respond in their journal or on their “bell ringer” sheet as they enter class.
    • Option: Have students discuss the question with a partner or in a small group.
  • Vocabulary Review: Have students work individually, in pairs, or in small groups to complete the Lesson 11.2 Vocabulary Review Worksheet.
  • Quiz: Have students complete the Lesson 11.2 Quiz to assess their prior knowledge.
    • Option: Collect the quiz and use it alongside a posttest to demonstrate student learning.
    • Option: Have students share their answers with a partner and then go over the answers together as a class.

Lesson Content

Review the content from the textbook lesson.

Lesson Focus: Analyzing Influences

  1. Provide each student with a copy of the Lesson 11.2 Skill-Building Challenge Worksheet: Who Influences Me?. Have students work individually to complete the worksheet.
  2. After the worksheet is complete, ask students to pair up and share their responses if they feel comfortable doing so.
  3. Create a T-chart on the board. Title one side “Positive influence; encourages you to not drink” and the other side “Negative influence; encourages you to drink.” Ask students to share their responses (if comfortable) and to explain which side of the T-chart their response should go on.
  4. You could also have students share their ideas in question 3 of the worksheet as to ways they could encourage people to change their way of thinking.

Challenge Activity

Have students needing an additional challenge work on the following Thinking Critically task.

Find a show or movie that depicts people drinking alcohol. As you watch it, make a list of which types of influences from this lesson (friends, peers, family, media, social media, values) are included in the show or movie. Then evaluate how movies, TV, or shows you stream may affect your decisions about drinking.

Reflection and Summary

Review the critical content from today’s lesson. Review the learning targets and ask students to answer each question posed.

Can you...

  • Identify who and what influences your decisions about drinking?

    Your friends, family, peers, and media influence your decisions about drinking alcohol and whether you view it as a negative or positive experience.

  • Evaluate how media (e.g., movies and streaming shows) may affect your decisions about drinking?

    Media broadcast messages about alcohol use through advertisements, streaming shows, and movies, depicting both positive and negative experiences that can affect your perspective on alcohol, especially whether you think it is harmful.

  • Discuss how social media may influence your drinking decisions especially in regard to advertising and what your friends post?

    Social media are filled with marketing ploys that suggest you can only have a good time if you’re drinking alcohol. Friends’ posts of pictures of themselves at parties having a good time or of people passed out, drunk, and acting inappropriate also contribute to social media’s influence on your decision making.

  • Analyze how your values influence your decisions about whether or not to drink alcohol?

    Your internal thoughts and feelings are your personal values that influence whether drinking alcohol is right or wrong for you.

  • Plan for an alcohol-free lifestyle?

    Finding alternatives to drinking alcohol could include going to a movie, finding a new hobby, and joining a club or sport team.

Assessment

Complete one or more of the following assessment tasks for this lesson.

Take It Home

Discuss with a family member or other significant adult about how your values will influence your decisions about alcohol. Ask the person how their values over their lifetime have influenced their own decisions about drinking.