Before the students arrive, prepare for the Inside/ Outside activity: Clear an area of room near the back, away from you. This area should have enough free space so that most of the students in your class can stand in a circle, comfortably. Have your alphabetical list of students available to you but not visible to the class.

• Follow up: Moments of Weakness [2 minutes]
  Refer to the 'things that make you feel good about yourself' list from the end of last class. Share some things that you do that help you feel good about yourself when life beats you down. Tell them: "We all need to lean on something from time to time. It's what we lean on that is important." Recommend that each student keep his own personal list and add to it often (look for other health-promoting activities that build self respect and confidence).
  
  
• Activity: Inside/ Outside [10 minutes]
  Produce the hacky sack you brought or ask the student if he brought his. Inform the class that this is the last day for the program and, since they have spent a lot of time sitting recently, you will let some students relax with a game of hacky sack in the back of the room. (Give proper warnings about staying in the back of the room away from furniture, keeping noise level down, etc.). Let the student who brought the hacky sack (or another student you designate) choose three other students to go into the back of the room to play. Make it clear to the class that you "can't have everyone taking a break at once so only the designated 'chooser' student may invite others into the group" Make it clear that no one may leave their seat unless invited by the 'chooser' into the group.
  
  Assign the rest of the students a task: Have them write about their 'personality strengths.' After a while secretly give the 'chooser' the class list and tell him, quietly, that you want him to invite back to the group, four students (or more depending upon your class size) from that list every 2 minutes. He is to invite students back in alphabetical order (being careful not to show the list to the 'working' group). Tell him that he is not to invite the last two people on the list back to the group.
  
  Keep monitoring the working group. After the playing group grows to include all but the last two people on the class list, wait a few minutes then call an end to the exercise and direct all students back to their seats.
  
  Inform the class that this was an exercise, that your instructed the 'chooser' to invite students alphabetically and that you purposely excluded the last two on the list. Ask the two excluded students how they felt during the first minutes of the exercise and how they felt as they saw more and more students joining the playing group until they were the only ones left outside.
  
  Note: You can treat this activity as a discussion instead: Describe the scenario and ask students how they would feel if they were not invited into the group playing hack sack.
  
  
• Discussion: Dodgin' Peer Pressure [5 minutes]
  Suggest to the students that one of the deepest needs in our lives is the need to 'belong' and that is why peer pressure is such a powerful force in our lives. No one likes to be left out, especially teens.
  
  Ask the class what this popular bit of wisdom means: "Show me your friends and I will show you your future." Discuss their responses then make the following points: "The most important defense against negative peer pressure is to choose your friends carefully. For example, if you surround yourself with smokers, you most likely will become a smoker. If you surround yourself with those who live well, you will probably take care of yourself, too."
  
  Continue with statements like these: "Many teens start smoking because it makes them feel they are a part of a special group. At times you will find yourself with smokers. Some of them might be your friends. It can be hard to resist that kind of pressure to smoke. Kids might not ask you to smoke but, just like those not in the hacky sack group, you might feel left out because you don't smoke. You might even feel that you're 'not cool' if you don't try it. In these types of situations you need to have a plan so you can turn down the tobacco and still know that you 'belong.' You need to be able to refuse the smoke and be cool about it."
  
  
• Activity: Whaddya Do? [15 minutes]
  Ask the students if they are able to tell the difference between what is cool and what is not. (Admit that you probably don't know much about this topic.) Tell them that this activity will test their ability to pick the healthiest and coolest way to handle each situation. Remind them that the best answer means 'maximum health' and 'maximum class.'
  
  Have students click on the Whaddya Do? link on their student page. Read through the first scenario and then read each of the options in the right hand column. For each option, ask the students to give you feedback on whether it is the healthiest and coolest way to handle the situation or not. Have them explain the reasons for their answers. After the students give their opinions for each option, use the chart below to give the correct answer and the explanation for that option. Do the same for all the other options. Then have the students click on the Next Situation link and move on to situation two.
  
  Answers for Whaddya Do exercise:
  

  Situation 1

  A Lose health points, big time. (On your way to nicotine addiction.) B Gain health points but loose coolness points. C Loose health points (inhaling second hand smoke at the table). D Loose health points (inhaling second hand smoke at the table). E Gain health points but loose coolness points. F Loose health points (second hand smoke). G Best answer: Gain health points and gain coolness points. H Gain health points but loose coolness points. I Gain health points but loose coolness points.

  Situation 2

  A Loose health points (inhaling second hand smoke) and loose coolness points (pretending you smoke). B Loose health points (inhaling second hand smoke) and loose coolness points (pretending you smoke). C Loose health points (inhaling second hand smoke). D Loose health points (inhaling second hand smoke) and loose coolness points (bragging). E Best answer: Gain health points (getting away from secondhand smoke) and gain coolness points. F Loose health points (inhaling second hand smoke) and loose coolness points (nagging). G Gain health points but loose coolness points (pretending you smoke). H Loose health points (inhaling second hand smoke) and loose coolness points (pretending you smoke). I Loose health points (inhaling second hand smoke) and loose coolness points (nagging).

  
  Ask students if they know any other good ways to turn down tobacco. Ask them what has worked for them in different situations. Write down any effective' refusal skills' the class comes up with. Remind them that when nothing else comes to mind, a plain old "no" works well enough.
  
  
• Activity: Play The Cut™ CD ROM Game [15 minutes]
  Have students use their headphones. Remind them to only double click ONCE on the game icon. (If they double click multiple times they will open multiple copies of the game and slow down their machines dramatically.)
  If any of your students reached the ship during the previous plays of the game they may choose one or more of the following options:
  • Play The Cut™ again but this time focus on dispatching all the Poseurs on level one
  • Do the Pretty Slick Activity (Shkwv, 630k) <--Note: your screen resolution must be 1024 x 768 or greater
  • Play Catchin' Air Game (Shkwv, 400k) <--Note: your screen resolution must be 1024 x 768 or greater
  • Work on Market a Poison visual arts or language arts project
    
    
• Discussion: Cash to Burn [5 minutes]
  Ask if any students in the class spend their own money on 'lifestyle extras' like movies and CDs. Ask some students to share with the class what their favorite 'lifestyle extras' are and what each item costs. Then ask how many students think that, in the coming years, they will be spending their own money on these and other lifestyle extras. (Ask for a show of hands.) Have students click on the Cash to Burn link on the student page. Ask students to imagine what they might add to this list and if they know the costs for each of the added items. Then have students click on the What about the cost of smoking? link at the bottom of the page.
  
  
• Wrap Up: The Costs [ 2 minutes]
  Suggest to the students: The financial cost of smoking is bad enough: Smoking teens have to do without many things that non smoking teens can afford. However, the financial cost is nothing compared to loss of health and loss of life.
  
  Continue making your point: "Probably no one in this room thinks smoking is a good idea. Probably most of you are convinced that you will never try smoking or chewing tobacco. But the odds are that some of you or you friends during the next few years will become addicted to tobacco. Each of you has the power to decide if you make the cut or not. It all comes down to whether you think you deserve it.
  
  Thank the students for their attendance and attention. Direct them to their student page and have them click on the post survey link.
  
  
• Activity: Post Survey [6 minutes]
  Have all participating students fill out the short post survey and submit it from their computer. (There is also a printable post survey available that must be printed and mailed to our postal address.)
  
  As students are completing the post survey, inform them that you would like to contact them for some follow up activities later in the year. Those who want to participate in that part of the program will be able to 'beta test' new games and online activities and help create game content for other middle school students to use. Interested students should put their real name in parentheses after their nick name on the post survey.