Congratulations! You have
chosen one of the most effective drug abuse prevention programs
available. The LST program has been extensively tested and proven to
prevent adolescents from smoking, drinking, and using marijuana and
other illicit drugs.
1. The importance of proper implementation.
To work, the LST program must be properly taught. Research shows that
the closer you adhere to the teacher's manual and student guide, the
more effective you will be. Classes should be taught in sequence and as
completely as possible.
2. Use interactive teaching methods.
How you teach LST is also important. Some material involves stimulating
class discussion using facilitation. Other material requires teaching
LST skills and providing students with the opportunity to practice those
skills.
back to
top
Tips for Teachers 2: Self Image
and Self Improvement
The main purpose of this session is to help
students understand “self image” and how it is formed, to provide them
with an opportunity to assess their strengths and identify areas for
improvement, and to provide them with the tools to improve their self
images by improving themselves. A key feature of this session is that it
not only shows students a general approach to self improvement, but also
is the start of a self-improvement project for each student. Whether
students select a health-related, academic, or social goal, success in
achieving their goals can provide students with a profound sense of
accomplishment, confidence, and greater self esteem.
1. Start small and be realistic
The focus of the self-improvement project should be something that is
personally meaningful to each student. The keys to success with the
self-improvement project are to start small, pick a realistic goal, and
set a series of intermediate goals that lead to gradual change over
time.
2. Teaching methods
The session on Self Image and Self Improvement involves the facilitation
of student discussion and coaching to help them select an appropriate
goal for their self-improvement project.
back to
top
LST Tips for Teachers 3: Making
Decision
The central focus of this session is to (1) help
students become aware of the factors that affect their decisions and to
(2) teach an approach for making independent decisions.
1. Allocation of time
Class discussion is a useful vehicle for helping students better
understand the decisions they make and the factors that influence those
decisions. However, don’t get bogged down with too much discussion.
2. Leave plenty of time for practice
After discussing the factors affecting the decisions we make, spend most
of the class teaching students the “three C” decision-making approach.
Describe the approach and then leave plenty of time for students to
practice.
back to top
LST Tips for Teachers 4:
Smoking Myths and Realities
This session is intended to debunk a number of myths about cigarette
smoking and highlight the factors that influence adolescents to smoke
cigarettes. The purpose of session is to provide students with reasons
for not smoking.
1. The power of social influence
Research shows that many factors affect the decision to smoke. However,
social factors are by far the strongest source of influence. Recognizing
the critical role played by social factors (peers, family, and the
media) provides an important foundation for the skills for resisting
social influences to smoke that are taught later in the program.
2. Facilitate discussion
The primary teaching method for this session is facilitating student
discussion. Avoid lecturing or “preaching” to students about the dangers
of smoking.
back to top
LST Tips for Teachers 5:
Smoking and Biofeedback
Most people are well aware of the dangers of smoking cigarettes.
Unfortunately, knowledge about the health hazards of smoking does not
deter people from smoking. For adolescents, facts or health information
about the long-term health consequences of cigarette smoking are too
abstract, not personally meaningful, and too far in the future.
1. Overcoming “here and now” thinking
Psychologists have determined that adolescents live in the “here and
now” and have a present time orientation. This makes it difficult for
them to think about things in the distant future. But, showing students
that smoking cigarettes can have an impact on them in the present can be
both dramatic and meaningful, and can serve as a more powerful
motivation for not smoking than concerns for lung cancer, heart disease,
and other health problems that may take 20 years or more to fully
develop. This session is designed to overcome “here and now” thinking
and demonstrate the immediate effects of smoking.
2. Demonstration and discussion
The video material included with the LST program demonstrates several
biofeedback devices and how smoking affects you in a rather immediate
way. For example, it increases heart rate, decreases hand steadiness,
and affects skin temperature.
back to top
LST Tips for Teachers 6:
Alcohol Myths and Realities
This session is designed to provide general information about alcohol
including its role as a drug, patterns of drinking, and reasons why
people drink. As with the session on smoking, it is also intended to
debunk common myths about drinking promoted in the media and by
advertisers. It cannot make you smart, cute, sexy, powerful, more
sophisticated, etc. As with other drugs, use of alcohol over time can
lead to tolerance and dependency.
1. Decrease motivations to drink alcoholic beverages
The overall purpose of this session is to give students a more realistic
understanding of alcohol (what it can and cannot do), to decrease
motivations to drink, and to decrease susceptibility to social
influences to drink (from advertisers, the media, or friends).
2. Provide a foundation for learning and using social resistance
skills
This session provides the foundation for learning and using skills to
resist social influences to drink.
3. Facilitate discussion
Don’t over-emphasize factual information about alcohol. Resist the
temptation to lecture or “preach” to students about the dangers of
drinking. Stimulate discussion and guide students to the key points and
objectives of the session.
back to top
LST Tips for Teachers 7:
Marijuana Myths and Realities
As with the preceding sessions on tobacco and alcohol, the overall
purpose of this session is to give students a more realistic
understanding of marijuana (what it can and cannot do), decrease
motivations to use marijuana and other drugs, and decrease
susceptibility to social influences to use marijuana or other illicit
drugs.
1. Provide a foundation for learning and using social resistance
skills
This session provides the foundation for learning and using skills to
resist social influences to use marijuana and other illicit drugs.
2. Facilitate discussion
Once again, don’t over-emphasize factual information. Resist the
temptation to lecture or “preach” to students. Stimulate discussion and
guide students to the key points and objectives of the session.
back to top
LST Tips for Teachers 8:
Advertising
Adolescents often have a naïve understanding of advertising and its
purpose. This session provides a degree of general consumer education
for students. Advertising is also a major social influence that can not
only shape consumer behavior, but can shape attitudes and motivations to
smoke, drink alcoholic beverages, and use drugs.
1. Teach your students to be better informed as consumers
Too many adolescents don’t realize that the purpose of advertising is to
sell products, that advertisers often exaggerate the claims they make
about their products, and that some advertising may be deliberately
deceptive. Teach your students the techniques used by advertisers to get
them to buy their products. Also, teach skills for critically evaluating
ads.
2. Critically evaluate tobacco and alcohol ads
Use current tobacco and alcohol ads to teach students the advertising
techniques that are being used to influence them to buy and use these
products. The emphasis of this session should be on teaching students to
critically evaluate tobacco and alcohol ads in order to decrease the
potential of these ads for influencing students to smoke or drink.
3. Use a combination of teaching methods
This session requires the use of a combination of teaching
methods—facilitation skills for promoting discussion, instruction and
demonstration to teach students how to critically evaluate advertising,
and class practice to enable students to use these skills.
back to top
LST Tips
for Teachers 9: Violence and the Media
This session is an extension of the session on
advertising. It is intended to make students aware of how the media
influences behavior in general and how it influences behavior
specifically with respect to aggression and violence.
1. Identifying how the media distorts ideas and attitudes about
violence
The media may be used in a deliberate attempt to shape our ideas and
attitudes in a particular direction. However, public views about a
particular subject (such as violence) may be distorted simply by
focusing on it. Focusing on statistically rare events (such as
homicides) can make them seem more prevalent than they really are. Many
TV shows and movies contain violence because violence sells. Violence is
often glamorized. And, because the media contains so much violence, it
often conveys the message that violence is normal and natural.
2. Facilitating class discussion and coaching
Use facilitation teaching methods to stimulate class discussion.
Coaching methods can be used to teach critical thinking and analysis of
violence in the media.
3. Leave sufficient time for practice
Make sure you allow enough time during class for students to practice
critical thinking and analysis skills related to the media and violence.
back to top
LST Tips for Teachers 10:
Coping with Anxiety
This session is designed to help students
understand what anxiety is and teach them some proven techniques for
dealing with it.
1. Guide students to an understanding of anxiety
Class discussion of the topics covered in this session and the class
experiment are designed to enable students to identify the signs and
symptoms of anxiety, identify common situations that produce anxiety,
and recognize that most people feel anxious (nervous) in some
situations.
2. Allow sufficient time for practice
Most of the class period should be spent teaching skills for coping with
anxiety and providing students with an opportunity to practice these
skills.
back to top
LST Tips for Teachers 11:
Coping with Anger
This session is an extension of the previous
session on Coping with Anxiety. It is intended to help students
understand the emotion of anger. But, the primary focus is on learning
adaptive and appropriate ways of dealing with anger.
1. Differentiate between the feeling (emotion) of anger and losing
control
Through class discussion help your students learn that anger is a normal
human emotion and that certain common situations may trigger feelings of
anger. Help your students to also recognize the reasons for keeping
anger under control.
2. Focus on techniques for controlling anger
As with the other sessions involving skills training, it’s important to
set aside enough class time for teaching techniques for dealing with
anger.
3. Allow sufficient time for practice in and out of class
Make sure that you allow enough time for students to practice the skills
for dealing with anger. One way to do this is to encourage students to
practice these skills outside of class through what we call “behavioral
homework” assignments.
back to top
LST Tips for Teachers 12:
Communication Skills
This session is designed to help students learn
how to communicate effectively.
1. Teach the essentials of communication
Use facilitation and class discussion to teach the essentials of
communications--understanding how communication occurs, the channels of
communication, the importance of consistency in both channels of
communication, how misunderstandings arise, and how to avoid
misunderstandings.
2. Teach effective communication skills
Through coaching and skills training, teach students how to communicate
effectively. Explain and demonstrate how to communicate effectively by
being specific, asking questions, and through the use of paraphrasing
(repeating back) a message or communication.
3. Remember to allow time for practice
Spending too much time on class discussion during the beginning of the
session will mean that you will not have adequate time for students to
practice effective communication skills.
back to top
LST Tips for Teachers 13:
Social Skills (A)
The acquisition of social skills is an important part of social
development. Adolescence is a time during which individuals become
increasingly involved in social situations, particularly within their
peer group. This session and the one that follows are designed to
facilitate the development of a set of general social skills that
adolescents need to function effectively as adolescents and later as
adults.
1. Teach your students how to overcome shyness
Many people are shy to some extent in social situations. Left unchecked,
shyness can become a major barrier to a satisfying social life. Helping
your students realize that most people feel shy as well as teaching them
specific techniques for overcoming shyness are major goals of this
session.
2. Place the emphasis on skills training
Use facilitation to stimulate class discussion about shyness. But, don’t
spend too much time on discussion. Instead, use the class discussion of
shyness to serve as the foundation for the skills training exercises
that follow.
3. Use behavioral homework assignments to promote practice
Skills practice during class helps students learn new skills in the
relative safety of the classroom. However, behavioral homework
assignments are an important vehicle for not only providing
opportunities for additional practice outside of class, but are
necessary to promote the use of these new skills in students everyday
life.
back to top
LST Tips for Teachers 14:
Social Skills (B)
This session expands on the material in the previous session and focuses
on making friends and developing healthy social relationships. An
important set of skills concerns identifying appropriate social
activities, inviting others to participate in those activities with you,
and asking someone out on a date.
1. Explore the nature of attraction
Use group facilitation skills to stimulate class discussion regarding
the nature of attraction, including both physical and non-physical
factors. Use group discussion to also identify appropriate (and fun)
social activities.
2. Use skills training teaching methods
Once again, the core of this session involves skills training. Explain
and demonstrate approaches for asking someone to go with you to social
activities, including asking someone out on a date. Remember, to allow
sufficient time for students to practice.
3. Use scripts and verbal prompts to guide skills practice
Some students will have difficulty knowing what to say. Show students
how to develop “scripts” of what to say when inviting someone to a
social activity. During practice, it is often helpful to guide students
through the practice of these skills by providing them with verbal
prompts—that is, prompting them during the behavioral rehearsal by
providing them with things to say that the student can then repeat
during the practice scenarios.
back to top
LST Tips for Teachers 15:
Assertiveness
The purpose of this session is to teach
students (1) the difference between assertive and aggressive behavior,
(2) to identify situations warranting an assertive response, and (3) the
appropriate use of verbal and non-verbal assertive skills.
1. Augment the assertive situations
provided in the LST program with situations identified by your students
It is helpful to elicit from your
students a list of situations warranting an assertive response. This has
the benefit of not only expanding on the list of assertive situations
provided in the LST teacher’s manual and student guides. It is also a
good mechanism for engaging your students and ensuring that they will
use these assertive skills in their everyday lives.
2. Develop a set of verbal assertive
responses
Students may avoid responding
assertively because they don’t know what to say. Therefore, it is
helpful to develop a repertoire of assertive responses that they are
prepared to use when the situation warrants. Draw these assertive
statements from your students, write them on the board, and have the
students write them down.
3. Allow sufficient time for practice
Set aside at least 20 minutes for
practice of verbal and non-verbal assertive responses. During in-class
practice sessions, provide students with verbal prompts when necessary
(i.e., provide them with assertive statements if they don’t know what to
say) and give them suggestions concerning how to improve their assertive
response. Pay special attention to the non-verbal dimension of assertive
responses (such as, eye contact, tone of voice, facial expressions, and
body posture).
4. Encourage out-of-class practice
Use behavioral "homework" assignments to
provide further opportunities for students to practice, develop, and
apply assertive skills to their everyday lives.
back to top
