Welcome to the Teacher & Volunteer Corner of the Cool Spot!

This section contains innovative, interactive lessons to help you introduce and reinforce the key learning objectives about peer pressure, resistance skills, and other important topics presented in the Cool Spot.

(For additional information on the goals and content of the Cool Spot, please see About This Site on the homepage)

The lessons in this section are designed for use in middle-school classrooms or after-school programs for students ages 11 to 13. They can also serve as engaging, ready-made lessons for substitute teachers.

The Teacher & Volunteer Corner includes:

1) Interactive Quiz

"Whaddya Know?" is an interactive quiz built into The Cool Spot. It gives immediate feedback to 10 questions that reinforce the site's most important learning objectives for facts about alcohol, types of pressure to drink, and ways to recognize and resist that pressure. It will take students approximately 15-30 minutes to complete the activity. When an answer is incorrect, a link takes the student to the section where the correct answer can be found. As students find and click on the correct answers, the results update automatically. For credit, a printable version of the results page is provided.

Note: The quiz generally opens along with the home page. If it does not, click on "Sign in to the quiz" at the bottom of the home page.

2) Introductory Lesson and Answer Key

This Introductory Lesson is provided as a supplemental activity or for students who quickly finish the interactive "Whaddya Know" quiz. It will send them to specific pages of The Cool Spot and further reinforce the site's most important learning objectives. The lesson will take approximately 30-45 minutes. Students may work individually or in pairs to complete the 2-page set of simple cloze and selected response questions. An Answer Key is provided as well (the PDF is upside down, so it's a little harder for students to read should they discover it).

3) Role-Playing Lesson: The Peer Pressure Bag of Tricks

Students will role-play and discuss six scenarios of different types of spoken and unspoken peer pressure. Emphasis is on the forms peer pressure takes, why people give in to peer pressure, and the feelings peer pressure can generate. Time required is flexible, from one to three 45-minute class sessions. Follow-up activities are provided.

4) Role-Playing Lesson: Know Your NOs

Students and teacher will demonstrate the words and body language of four less effective and one more effective way to say no to drinking. Students will work in expert groups to discern why the different NOs do or do not work well. Time required is flexible, from one to three 45-minute class sessions with one 20-30 minute teacher prep session. Follow-up activities are provided.

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We welcome your feedback on these lessons. Please click here to let us know how they work for you and what we might do to improve them.