Want an easy way to talk to your students about the dangers of smoking? Here’s a fun classroom activity to get you started! It’s simple—pin weekly questions onto your bulletin board, and pass out sticky notes for your students to jot down their answers. They’ll have fun seeing what each other writes. As the weeks go on, the questions will progress, and lead into a healthy discussion about staying tobacco free.
Other Helpful Resources
List of Characters and Their Roles
Situation: Older Sibling Using Tobacco at Home
The story takes place at Gabby and Elissa’s house during the summer. Gabby and Zoe are casually talking about going back to school because they are bored when Elissa pulls something from her bag and asks the girls to follow her to the side of the house. She tries to pressure Gabby and Zoe into trying a cigarette by telling them that the coolest girl in their class smokes. Zoe seems reluctantly willing to try a cigarette … just one … but Gabby does not want to.
Suggested Classroom Discussion Starters
The Decision: Gabby’s Decision-Making Process
Gabby must decide if she is going to give in to peer pressure from her older sister or resist the peer pressure and say no to tobacco. Gabby walks through the decision-making steps by discussing the peer pressure she is experiencing from her older sister, her desire not to try smoking, the options she has to consider, the health consequences of smoking and the decision she has made to say no to her sister and no to tobacco.
Refusal Skill: Gabby Uses the “Talk About the Consequences” Refusal Skill
Gabby makes a decision to Be Tobacco Free and say no to the peer pressure from her sister to try a cigarette by assessing the risks and talking about the consequences of tobacco use. Gabby knows that you do not have to smoke to “be cool.” Zoe is influenced by Gabby’s refusal and also says no to Elissa’s offer to try a cigarette.
Suggested Classroom Discussion Starters
List of Characters and Their Roles
Situation: Bullying on the Playground
The story takes place at a school playground where kids are performing dangerous tricks on their skateboards. Older kids Andy and Nate are bullying Benjamin as he thinks about trying out his new skateboard. The older boys grab his skateboard and tease him about not having the courage to try any of the skateboard tricks. He just received his new skateboard and is trying to learn some tricks, but is still a beginner and does not have the skills to attempt the more advanced, dangerous tricks.
Suggested Classroom Discussion Starters
The Decision: Benjamin’s Decision-Making Process
Benjamin must decide if he is going to give in to peer pressure and attempt a skateboarding trick that may hurt him, or resist the pressure from the bullies. Benjamin reviews the decision-making steps by discussing his desire to ease into tricks on the new board, the consequences of being pressured into doing something he is not ready to try, and how he will deal with the bullying through humor.
Refusal Skill: Benjamin Uses Both the “Add Some Humor” and “Walk Away” Refusal Skills
Benjamin makes the decision not to give into the pressure from the bullies and perform a trick that he is not skilled enough to accomplish. He walks through the possible options and assesses the consequences of performing a trick and decides that the pain it could cause is not worth the risk. Benjamin uses a little humor to get out of the situation and ends up using a trick to “split” from the bullies.
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List of Characters and Their Roles
Temptation to Cheat
The scenario takes place on a Monday during Miss Randolph’s social studies class. The class is about to begin when Miss Randolph announces the start of a big test. Zoe was out for a few days the previous week and did not know about the test so she did not study. She is considering cheating so she passes the test and does not risk failing the class.
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The Decision: Zoe’s Decision-Making Process
Zoe does not want to flunk the social studies test and look stupid in front of the whole class so she must decide if she is going to guess the answers, cheat off of Benjamin or ask Miss Randolph for help. Zoe reviews the decision-making process by discussing her options, the consequences of her cheating on a test (i.e., suspension), and how she will deal with the situation.
The Choice: Zoe Chooses to Ask the Teacher for Help
Zoe makes the decision to ask Miss Randolph if she can take the test later since she was unaware of the test because she was out sick. She took the chance of asking the teacher for an extension even though Miss Randolph could have declined her offer in front of the whole class. The risk of not passing the test or of getting caught cheating was higher than the embarrassment of being declined.
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List of Characters and Their Roles
Situation: Choosing Between a Girl and a Friend
The story takes place in Paul’s bedroom.
Paul chats online with Angela. She invites Paul to go hang out at the mall or her house with all the cool kids. He does not want to miss out on his chance to hang out with the cool kids, but has made plans to go camping with his best friend, Jay, who is celebrating his birthday.
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The Decision: Paul’s Decision-Making Process
Paul is excited that Angela has taken notice of him and invited him to hang out with her and the cool kids, but his best friend is counting on him to go on the camping trip. Jay had another friend that had to cancel his trip, leaving Paul as the sole person to go.
Paul reviews the decision-making process by discussing how he wants to spend time with both Angela and Jay, how Jay has always been there for him but this might be his only chance to hang out with the cool kids and how he will deal with the situation by honoring his friendship and walking away from Angela to celebrate his friend’s birthday.
The Choice: Paul Declines Angela’s Invitation
Paul chose to walk away from Angela’s invitation to hang out at the mall in order to go on the annual camping trip with Jay to celebrate his friend’s birthday. He really likes Angela and was disappointed not to be able to hang out with her, especially since he did not know she liked him. Paul decided to stick by his best friend and hopes that Angela will invite him to hang out another time.
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List of Characters and Their Roles
Situation: Peers Want Help to Vandalize Property
The situation occurs at Jay’s house.
Andy and Nate show up at Jay’s house dressed in dark clothing to invite Jay to go with them to egg houses. Nate thinks it is a bad idea because he thinks Jay is a dork. While Andy and Nate are the coolest guys in school and Jay wants them to like him, he doesn’t want to egg houses.
Suggested Classroom Discussion Starters
The Decision: Jay’s Decision-Making Process
Jay is excited that the cool guys have invited him to hang out with them, especially since he didn’t think they even knew his name. Now he needs to decide if he wants to participate in destructive behavior to hang out with Andy and Nate or to respect others’ property and say no to the chance he has to be around the popular kids.
Jay reviews the decision-making steps by discussing his desire to be liked by Andy and Nate, the consequences that his actions could have on his neighbors, his discomfort at potentially disappointing his parents and how he will refuse the invitation through reason.
Refusal Skill: Jay Uses the “Give Them a Reason” and “Explain Why You Said No” Refusal Skill
Jay made the decision not to go eggin’ with Nate and Andy and chose to tell them why going eggin’ was a bad idea. He realizes that this decision might lead to him being teased by the cool kids, but chose to stick to his values instead of going along with the crowd.
Suggested Classroom Discussion Starters:
List of Characters and Their Roles
Situation: Older Sibling and Friend Using Tobacco at Home
The story takes place in Jenny’s bedroom.
Jenny and Marla are hanging out in Jenny’s room when they take out a pack of cigarettes to smoke just as Shelley walks in. Shelley confronts Jenny about her smoking and shares with her some of the health consequences of smoking. She threatens to tell their parents if Jenny does not quit.
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The Decision: Shelley’s Decision-Making Process
Shelley is struggling whether to tell her parents that she caught Jenny and Marla with cigarettes or to give Jenny the opportunity to make the right choice.
Shelley reviews the decision-making steps by discussing her desire for her sister to quit smoking, her concern for her sister’s health, not wanting to get her sister in trouble, the health consequences of smoking and whether she should tell her parents that Jenny smokes.
Refusal Skill: Shelley Uses the “Reverse the Pressure” Refusal Skill
Shelley chooses to reverse the pressure on her sister Jenny by threatening to tell their parents that she smokes unless Jenny agrees to quit. She is conflicted with this choice but believes that what Jenny is doing is wrong and bad for her. Shelley provides Jenny with the opportunity to make the right decision and say no to tobacco, but leaves the option open of telling their parents if Jenny makes the wrong choice.
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List of Characters and Their Roles
Situation: Dealing with Stress
This situation takes place at Evan’s locker in the school hallway.
Evan gets frustrated by not being able to open his locker…and Carla laughs at him. Evan appears to be stressed about a lot of issues: math, parents, soccer practice, Felicia, locker, and a monster zit. He makes a statement to Carla about needing a cigarette, even though he does not smoke, but Carla tries to discourage him and states that she is trying to quit. When Carla walks away, her cigarettes fall out of her backpack and Evan considers picking them up.
Suggested Classroom Discussion Starters
The Decision: Evan’s Decision-Making Process
Evan must decide how he is going to deal with the stress he is experiencing in his life.
Evan reviews the decision-making process by thinking about trying a cigarette, the possibility of being suspended if caught on campus with a cigarette, how he might find more positive ways of coping, and how he will just walk away and leave the cigarettes.
The Choice: Evan Says No to Tobacco and Finds Another Way to Relieve Stress
Evan is stressed about many issues in his life, but realizes that tobacco is the one thing that he does not have to worry about right now. He makes the decision not to try tobacco and to find another way to relieve the stress he has in his life. Evan takes another look at the cigarettes Carla dropped on the floor and chooses to walk away.
Suggested Classroom Discussion Starters
List of Characters and Their Roles
Situation: Dealing with Stress
This situation takes place at Evan’s locker in the school hallway.
Evan gets frustrated by not being able to open his locker…and Carla laughs at him. Evan appears to be stressed about a lot of issues: math, parents, soccer practice, Felicia, locker, and a monster zit. He makes a statement to Carla about needing a cigarette, even though he does not smoke, but Carla tries to discourage him and states that she is trying to quit. When Carla walks away, her cigarettes fall out of her backpack and Evan considers picking them up.
Suggested Classroom Discussion Starters
The Decision: Evan’s Decision-Making Process
Evan must decide how he is going to deal with the stress he is experiencing in his life.
Evan reviews the decision-making process by thinking about trying a cigarette, the possibility of being suspended if caught on campus with a cigarette, how he might find more positive ways of coping, and how he will just walk away and leave the cigarettes.
The Choice: Evan Says No to Tobacco and Finds Another Way to Relieve Stress
Evan is stressed about many issues in his life, but realizes that tobacco is the one thing that he does not have to worry about right now. He makes the decision not to try tobacco and to find another way to relieve the stress he has in his life. Evan takes another look at the cigarettes Carla dropped on the floor and chooses to walk away.
Suggested Classroom Discussion Starters:
List of Characters and Their Roles
Situation: Friends Using Tobacco at Home
Connor and Bobby are at Ethan’s house playing video games while Ethan’s parents are out of town.
The friends are playing video games at Ethan’s house when Ethan pulls out an almost empty can of dip. He begins to look under the mattress and in the trash, pulling out empty cans until he finds a fresh can in his sock drawer. Ethan and Bobby are going to take some tobacco from the can…and they try to pressure Connor into trying some by calling him names and teasing him.
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The Decision: Connor’s Decision-Making Process
Connor must decide if he is going to try the smokeless tobacco like Bobby or if he is going to take a stand and say no to tobacco.
Connor reviews the decision-making steps by discussing how he has learned about addiction in school and talking about how he wants to get his friends to stop pressuring him to try dip.
Refusal Skills: Connor uses the “Give Them a Reason” and “Explain Why You Said No” Refusal Skill
Connor chooses to stay tobacco free and not to give in to the peer pressure from his friends. He does not want to try smokeless tobacco and does not want to get addicted, but he also does not want to lose his friendship with Ethan and Bobby. He says no to his friends and helps to educate Ethan about the risks of smokeless tobacco and then decides to re-focus his friend’s attention on their gaming contest.
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