Teaching to Standards in
Nutrition
California Healthy Kids Resource Center
(C.H.K.R.C.)
Partner: California Department of
Education, Nutrition Services Division
Hello, and welcome to the Teaching to Standards in Nutrition training. This
module was developed for nutrition education program coordinators and
staff, teachers, after school staff, and others providing programs that build
students’ skills and positive nutrition and physical activity behaviors. This
training was created with funding from the Network for a Healthy California
and adapted from a module developed by the California Department of
Education. It will take approximately 40 minutes to complete. Let's get
started!
1
Training Objectives
After this training, you will be able to:
• Define nutrition education instruction in the
school setting and describe its primary objective.
• Name and describe the eight overarching
standards.
• Describe how the overarching standards transfer
students’ learning into real-life behaviors.
• Access resources to support standards-based
nutrition instruction.
Let’s start by reviewing the training objectives. After this training, you will be
able to describe the primary objective of nutrition education for the school
setting, identify the overarching standards, explain how overarching
standards and nutrition instruction transfer to real-life student behaviors, and
access resources for standards-based nutrition instruction.
2
School-Based Nutrition
Education’s Primary Objective
To positively impact students’ real-life behaviors.
The primary objective of school-based nutrition education is to positively
contribute to students’ real-life positive behaviors—specifically, to increase
health-promoting behaviors and reduce risk-taking behaviors. An example of
a health-promoting behavior is eating fresh fruit instead of a fast-food fruit
pie; an example of a risk-taking behavior is eating or preparing food without
washing your hands. It is more than knowing the healthy thing to do.
School-based nutrition education includes multiple components including
classroom instruction, healthy school meals, positive teacher role models,
and establishing a healthy nutrition policy and environment. This module
focuses on one component of school-based nutrition education, standardsbased classroom instruction.
3
Components of Standards-based
Nutrition Education
Real-Life
Healthy Behaviors
Overarching
Standards
Grade-Level
Standards
Nutrition
Instruction
Nutrition and
Physical Activity
Content Area
What does it take for standards-based nutrition education to impact students’
real-life behaviors? Together, four components of nutrition education,
including the standards and instruction, provide students with the information
and skills for real-life healthy behaviors.
The overarching standards plus the Nutrition and Physical Activity health
content area are used to create grade-level standards. Grade-level
standards then guide the design of nutrition instruction that teaches students
knowledge and skills for real-life healthy habits.
4
Examples of Components of
Nutrition Education
Real-Life
Healthy Behaviors
Overarching
Standards
Example:
Interpersonal
Communication
Health
Content Area
Grade-Level
Standards
Example:
Practice how to
refuse lessnutritious
foods in
social settings
Nutrition
Instruction
Example:
Students
create
scenarios
and
role-play
refusal
techniques
Maybe next time,
this salad has what
I need right now.
Have some!
Come on, these
fries are so
good!
Nutrition and
Physical Activity
Taken together, the four components of standards-based nutrition education
provide the information, skills, and support for students to transfer learning to
real life. Overarching standards describe broad information or skill sets all
students should know, such as interpersonal communication skills. Health
content areas are health domains, such as Nutrition and Physical Activity.
The overarching standards are applied to each health content area to create
grade-level standards that specify what students should know and be able to
do at each grade level. For example, Interpersonal Communication in the
health content area of Nutrition and Physical Activity creates a high school
grade-level standard that students will be able to practice how to refuse lessnutritious foods in social settings. Grade-level standards guide nutrition
instruction in which students learn and practice the skills to achieve the
grade-level standard—in this case, learning and practicing refusal skills.
5
Overarching Standards
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Essential Health Concepts
Analyzing Health Influences
Accessing Valid Health Information
Interpersonal Communication
Decision Making
Goal Setting
Practicing Health-Enhancing
Behaviors
8. Health Promotion
Before we take a closer look at school-based nutrition education, let’s look at
the eight overarching standards that are the foundation for classroom
instruction. Together the overarching standards describe the essential
concepts and broad skill sets necessary for health-promoting behaviors.
They are outlined in the California Health Education Content Standards
(CHECS). Select the CHECS handout link to print it now, or access it from
the resources section at the end of this module. The overarching standards
include:
1. Essential Health Concepts
2. Analyzing Health Influences
3. Accessing Valid Health Information
4. Interpersonal Communication
5. Decision Making
6. Goal Setting
7. Practicing Health-Enhancing Behaviors
8. Health Promotion
The first overarching standard represents the essential information students
need to know to reduce risk-taking and increase health-promoting behaviors.
The remaining seven overarching standards represent the skill sets needed
to apply this information in real-life situations.
6
Which Overarching Standards Would
Apply to This Real-Life Situation?
1. Essential Health Concepts
2. Analyzing Health
Influences
3. Accessing Valid Health
Information
4. Interpersonal
Communication
5. Decision Making
6. Goal Setting
7. Practicing HealthEnhancing Behaviors
8. Health Promotion
Imagine a student heading home after track practice. She is thirsty and is
checking out the beverage choices at the corner store. Instead of grabbing a
drink and heading home, which of these overarching standards might she
consider?
She might apply skill number three, Accessing Valid Health Information, to
compare the Nutrition Facts labels on a carton of juice and an energy drink. In
addition, she may use skills two and five, Analyzing Health Influences and
Decision Making, as she reflects on her coach’s recommendation to drink
enough water and the pros and cons of the contents of each drink choice.
Finally, she may use the goal-setting skill as she remembers the goal she set to
improve her track time and make healthier choices. For these skills to come
into play, she needs to be introduced to the skill steps and practice using the
steps so that recognizing and applying the skill becomes a habit in everyday
situations.
7
More About Overarching Standards
• Each skill set makes a unique contribution to
real-life behavior.
• In real life, the skill sets work together to
guide behavior.
• The skill sets apply to all health topics at all
grade levels.
It is important to note a couple of things about the overarching standards.
First, each represents a unique skill set that contributes to real-life
functioning: decision making is different than goal setting, which, in turn, is
different than interpersonal communication. Second, in real life these unique
skill sets work together to guide behavior. For example, when the alarm
rings and a person chooses to get up and exercise, all of the skill sets
represented in the overarching standards: accessing information, decision
making, goal setting, and so forth, come into play. So, in an interdependent
fashion, the overarching skills enable people to manage healthy behaviors in
real-life settings. And third, the skill sets apply to all health topics at all grade
levels. Whether it’s drug abuse prevention, nutrition, or physical activity, the
same broad overarching skill sets, such as decision making and goal setting,
enable people to manage real-life healthy behaviors in age-relevant
situations.
8
Does It Make a Difference?
Impact of Knowledge-based Nutrition Education vs.
Standards-based Nutrition Education Approach
6
5
4
3
means 06-07
means 07-08
2
1
0
-1
Knowledge
Self-efficacy
Consumption
Source: Monrovia Unified School District
In school year 2006 – 07, Monrovia Unified School District focused on
knowledge-based nutrition such as a bingo game about green bean nutrition
facts. During the 2007 – 08 school year they created a nutrition education
plan based on the CHECS. Their Impact Evaluation Results changed;
students’ knowledge stayed about the same, however their self-efficacy and
consumption of fruits and vegetables improved. The overarching skills
enabled students to better manage their healthy behaviors in real-life
settings.
9
A Closer Look: Accessing Valid
Health Information
Standard: All students will demonstrate the ability to
access and analyze health information, products, and
services.
In this module we will take a closer look at standards three and eight,
Accessing Valid Health Information and Health Promotion, in the Nutrition
and Physical Activity content area.
Let’s take a closer look at the standard Accessing Valid Health Information.
This standard is: All students will demonstrate the ability to access and
analyze health information, products, and services. Accessing Valid Health
Information in real-life settings helps students identify specific sources for
nutrition information, evaluate the validity of the source, and describe why it
is an accurate source of information. Students learn that information about
nutrition products and services may be accessed from the classroom or from
appropriate Internet and community resources.
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Rationale: Accessing Valid
Health Information
Rationale: Students are exposed to numerous sources
of information, products, and services. The ability to
access and analyze health information, products, and
services provides a foundation for practicing healthenhancing behaviors.
Accessing Valid Health Information builds competence and confidence to
obtain accurate information about nutrition services and products. The ability
to access and analyze health and nutrition information, products, and
services provides a foundation for managing health, making decisions, and
reducing risk-taking behaviors in a variety of settings and situations to
establish healthy habits throughout students’ lives.
11
What Does Access Valid Health
Information Mean?
To better understand the
standard, let’s look at some
examples of students
accessing health and
nutrition information in reallife settings.
To better understand the Accessing Valid Health Information standard, let’s
look at examples of students accessing valid nutrition information in real-life
settings.
12
Student Examples: Accessing
Valid Health Information
• Grade Two: Identify
resources for reliable
information about healthy
foods.
• Grade Four: Use food
labels to determine nutrient
and sugar content.
• High School: Access
sources of accurate
information about safe and
healthy weight
management.
Students learn that teachers and health care providers are valid sources of
information and they can stay correctly informed, find sources to stay
informed, and have the ability to access information from a variety of
sources in diverse settings. Examples of students accessing valid nutrition
information include different skills for each grade level. For example, second
grade students are able to identify reliable sources of information about
healthy foods, such as a teacher or a school nurse. A student in fourth grade
develops and applies the Accessing Valid Health Information skill by using
food labels to determine sugar and nutrient content in beverages. By high
school students are able to access sources of accurate information about
safe and healthy weight management. The important thing to remember is
that practicing to access valid nutrition information in real-life settings helps
to build students’ sense of self-efficacy in their skills so they will be more
likely to use them on their own when faced with nutrition choices.
13
Overview: Teaching to the
Standards
Teaching to the standards means we start by describing the outcome—that
is, the real-life behaviors we want students to achieve. Second, we
determine the standards that represent the desired student outcomes. And
third, we select health instruction that will best help students learn the skills
to achieve the grade-level standard and transfer to real-life behavior.
14
Detail: Teaching to the Standards
Desired Real-Life
Healthy Behaviors
1st
Nutrition Education
Overarching Standard
Example: Accessing Valid Health Information Health Content Area
Example:
Nutrition and Physical Activity
2nd
3rd
Grade‐Level Standard
Health Instruction
Example: Grades 9 to 12
Example:
Designed after determining desired student outcomes and relevant standards
Describe how to
use nutrition
information on
food labels to
compare
products.
Teaching to the standards is also called teaching with the end in mind, or
backward design, because we first start by describing the outcome—that is,
the real-life behaviors we want students to achieve. For example, we might
desire that students use the Nutrition Facts Label when they choose a
beverage. With the end, the student outcomes, in mind, we then work
backward and determine which standards represent the desired student
outcomes. In this example, an overarching standard for grades nine to
twelve in the health content area of Nutrition and Physical Activity includes
the following standard: Describe how to use nutrition information on food
labels to compare products. To teach to the standards or teach with the end
in mind using backward design, we select health instruction that will best
help students learn the skills to achieve the grade-level standard and
transfer to real-life behavior.
15
Steps for Teaching to the Standards
(ADAMS)
Step 1:
Assess students’ learning needs
Step 2:
Determine standards
Step 3:
Align instruction to standards
Step 4:
Monitor and assess students’ learning
Step 5:
Support transfer to real life
The ADAMS sequence outlines the steps involved in teaching to the
standards.
In step 1: assess student learning needs, you identify the desired student
behaviors. Usually these will be the healthy nutrition behaviors and habits
you would like students to develop and use in real-life settings.
In step 2: determine standards, you identify the grade-level standards that
represent the knowledge and skills students need to learn to carry out the
desired real-life behaviors.
In step 3: align instruction to standards, you select or design instructional
activities that provide students with opportunities to learn and practice the
skills to achieve the standards.
In step 4: monitor student learning, during and after instruction you check
that students understand the essential concepts and are competent in
performing the skills to achieve the standard. You provide students with
varied opportunities to demonstrate their learning.
In step 5: support transfer to real life, you help students use learned skills in
real-life situations and help them reflect on the effectiveness of their new
skills.
16
Using ADAMS to Teach to the Accessing
Valid Health Information (A.V.I.) Standard
Overarching Standard
Accessing Valid Health
Information
Teaching to the Nutrition
Standards
Content Area
Nutrition and Physical
Activity
First, we will apply the ADAMS steps to teaching to the Accessing Valid
Health Information standard in the health content area of Nutrition and
Physical Activity. Select the handout link to print the ADAMS handout now to
refer to as we apply each step to teach to the standards and impact real-life
student behavior.
17
A.V.I. Step 1: Assess Students
Learning Needs
Imagine a middle school that is surrounded by fast-food restaurants and
convenience stores. Hannah is an eighth grade student and sees how
students are constantly buying huge sodas, energy drinks, and chips before
and after school. She knows there are many families with parents and
grandparents who have diabetes and other health problems. Her
grandmother talks all the time about how sugary drinks make her sugar go
out of control. Hannah is worried and wants to stay healthy, so she tries to
stay away from students who always stop for snacks after school, but they
always pressure her to go with them. Other students are also concerned
about eating healthier and sometimes they feel that there aren’t any other
options.
Of course, we all understand that reaching the goal of healthier student
eating habits requires comprehensive solutions, including providing a
healthier food environment. Nutrition instruction to teach students skills is
another component. For the purposes of this training, we will focus on just
the nutrition instruction part of a school’s comprehensive approach to
building healthier student eating habits.
Let’s think about step 1 in ADAMS. What are the students’ learning needs?
Think for a moment about the kinds of real-life behaviors you want Hannah
and other students to know, be able to do, and carry out to make healthier
choices.
18
A.V.I. Step 2: Determine Standards
Overarching Standard:
Accessing Valid
Information
Content Area:
Grade-Level Standard:
Describe how to access
nutrition information about
foods offered in
restaurants in one’s
community. (Grades 7-8)
Nutrition and Physical
Activity
Many of us would want Hannah and other students to be able to access
information about the food choices at restaurants, choose healthy options
when they go to neighborhood stores, and promote healthier options in the
school and community.
In step 2 of ADAMS, we determine the appropriate grade-level standards
that represent the knowledge and skills students need to learn to carry out
the desired real-life behaviors. A middle school grade-level Accessing Valid
Health Information standard in Nutrition and Physical Activity states that all
students will be able to: Describe how to access nutrition information about
foods offered in restaurants in one’s community. Having the skills to find
accurate information about foods in fast-food restaurants and use it to
compare food and beverage options would certainly help prepare Hannah
and other students to deal more effectively with the food choices in their
school neighborhood.
19
A.V.I. Step 3: Align Instruction to
Standards
Grade-Level Standard
Describe how to access nutrition
information about foods offered
in restaurants in one’s
community. (Grades 7-8)
Lesson Objective
Access nutrition information,
determine fats and sugars in
typical fast-food meals, explain
how to eat more fruits,
vegetables, and low-fat foods at
fast-food places.
Nutrition Instruction
Now it’s time to explore one nutrition-instruction strategy we could use to
help students achieve this grade-level standard. Remember that you do not
need to create your own nutrition-instruction strategies. You can select
strategies from high-quality resources. Later in this training, you will learn
how to access free instructional resources from the California Healthy Kids
Resource Center. The strategy we will explore is from the curriculum The
Power of Choice.
The grade-level standard we want to teach Hannah and other students is:
Describe how to access nutrition information about foods offered in
restaurants in one’s community. The objectives of the Your Fast Food
Order? lesson from The Power of Choice support the standard by enabling
students to access nutrition information, determine fats and sugars in typical
fast-food meals, and explain how to eat more fruits, vegetables, and low-fat
foods at fast-food places. So this is a good lesson to consider for this
standard.
20
A.V.I. Step 4: Monitor Student
Learning
In the Your Fast-Food Order? lesson:
• Students learn to access nutrition information
from local fast-food restaurants and compare the
amount of calories, fat, and calcium.
• Students practice making real-life fast-food
restaurant food and beverage choices to balance
their intake.
• Students use percent Daily Value to compare
food items and encourage smarter fast-food
choices.
Select the Your Fast-Food Order? lesson handout link to print it now. Notice
the instructional activities focus on developing skills and providing practice
opportunities for real life. Think about Hannah. If we only asked her to
identify fast foods and not fast-food choices in local restaurants, she may
identify foods and restaurants from commercials, and this would not help
identify healthier fast foods in her own life. In small groups, students
compare nutrients in fast-food items from local restaurants. They discuss
portions available and ways to change meals to include less fat and sugar,
and to add more fruits and vegetables and calcium-rich foods. Students use
percent Daily Value to compare food items and to make smarter fast-food
choices.
21
A.V.I. Step 4: Monitor Student
Learning—Your Turn
Identify places during and after
the lesson in which the teacher
can check that the students
know how to access valid
information and are competent
in performing the skills to
achieve the standard.
Before you go to the next slide, review the lesson plan to identify places
during and after the lesson in which the teacher can check that the students
know how to access valid information and are competent in performing the
skills to achieve the standard. What different ways can students demonstrate
their learning? When you have identified several opportunities in the lesson,
go on to the next slide.
22
A.V.I. Step 4: Monitor Student
Learning—How Did You Do?
The teacher has opportunities to monitor students’
learning of the standard when students:
• Discuss where to get nutrition information
• Explore nutrients in fast foods
• Respond to questions about
portion size and ways to
improve fast-food meals
• Plan and balance intake
with a fast-food meal
Did you note that students’ learning of the standard can be monitored at
multiple points throughout the lesson? For example, when students:
•
Discuss where to get nutrient information;
•
Explore and compare calories, fat, and calcium in fast foods;
•
Respond to questions about reducing portion sizes and other ways to
improve fast-food meals;
•
Plan and balance intake for a day with and without a fast-food meal.
23
A.V.I. Step 5: Support for Transfer to
Real Life
In the Your Fast-Food Order? lesson,
students participate in activities that could
apply to real-life situations. Students:
• Discuss how they can eat
fast foods with less fat and
added sugar and more
fruits and vegetables.
• Create menus with and
without fast foods.
• Write a goal and three action
steps to transfer skills to their own lives.
Once students have learned how to access information about fast-food
choices and compare nutrients in different items, it is time for the final step of
this instructional strategy. By balancing menus with and without fast foods
and writing goals and action steps, students start to think ahead and plan
healthful changes to their fast-food choices. Students are encouraged to talk
about their goals and actions and ways that friends can help them continue
to make positive changes.
24
Hannah’s Goals and Actions Turn
into Real-Life Behavior
Hannah learned skills to access nutrient information
from fast-food restaurants and to make choices that
are lower in fat and sugar. Which of the following is a
real-life behavior that Hannah could implement
based on the skills we just taught her?
1. Do nothing. There aren’t any healthy fast-food options.
2. Order a healthier fast-food choice.
3. Write in her journal about her frustration.
If the Your Fast-Food Order? lesson was purposefully selected and taught,
Hannah and the other students would likely learn the skills needed to access
nutrient information for fast-food restaurants and to make food and beverage
choices that are lower in fat and sugar. Remember that the purpose of
teaching to nutrition standards is for students to learn the skills for healthenhancing real-life behavior.
Let’s check in on Hannah in a real situation. Hannah is feeling pressure from
her friends to go to fast-food restaurants every day after school. Based on
the skills she learned in the lesson, which of the following represents a reallife behavior that Hannah could implement to address this situation?
1. Do nothing. There aren’t any healthy fast-food options.
2. Ask for nutrition information and order a healthier fast-food choice.
3. Write in her journal about her frustration.
25
Hannah Has Skills: She Orders a
Healthier Fast-Food Option
I am going for the
salad, it has what I
need right now!
Did you choose number two, ask for nutrition information and select a
healthier option? Before the lesson, Hannah may have felt there was no
point in going with her friends and even looking for a healthy option. Now,
the skills she learned have made her feel confident and comfortable asking
for more information and looking for better choices or thinking about how she
can balance her day. While writing in a journal about how she is feeling is a
good strategy to deal, in part, with anxiety, the best answer based on the
skills Hannah has learned is asking for more information and comparing her
choices.
26
Distinguishing Between Valid and
Invalid Sources of Nutrition Information
• Think about how you might
support students in
distinguishing between valid
and invalid sources of
nutrition information.
• What nutrition information
sources do students turn to
for information? How can you
guide them to use more
reliable sources?
Take a moment to think about how you might support students to distinguish
between valid and invalid sources of information. Think about where they
usually get their information about nutrition and health. Is it their friends?
Family? Magazines? The Internet? Write down several ways you can guide
them to use more valid sources. When you are ready, compare your list to
the suggestions on the next slide.
27
Guiding Students to Valid Sources
of Nutrition Information
• Model accessing valid nutrition information—
show how you choose reliable Internet sites
developed by colleges or the United States
Department of Agriculture.
• Create a Nutrition Fast Facts bulletin board with
articles or brochures from the school nurse or
nutrition facts from the school nutrition
department.
• Have a Truth in Nutrition Day, and give students
practice analyzing nutrition information for new
food products.
Here are just a few ways that you can provide opportunities every day to
connect with youths, reinforce skill development, and be a source for valid
nutrition information that young people can turn to. Did you think of any
others?
Congratulations! You have applied the ADAMS steps to teaching to the
Accessing Valid Health Information standard.
28
Another Look: Overarching
Standards
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Essential Health Concepts
Analyzing Health Influences
Accessing Valid Health Information
Interpersonal Communication
Decision Making
Goal Setting
Practicing Health-Enhancing Behaviors
Health Promotion
As you remember, the overarching standards describe essential concepts
and broad skill sets related to health. There are eight overarching standards.
29
A Closer Look: Health Promotion
Standard: All students will demonstrate the ability to
promote and support personal, family, and community
health.
The Health Promotion standard is: all students will demonstrate the ability to
promote and support personal, family, and community health. This standard
addresses the principle that our health is linked to the health of those around
us, as individuals, communities, and even as organisms and regions on a
planet. Students can learn to embody this principle by choosing healthy
behaviors for themselves and by encouraging and supporting others to
choose healthy behaviors.
30
Rationale: Health Promotion
Rationale: Personal, family, and community health are
interdependent and mutually supporting. The ability to
promote the health of oneself and others reflects a wellrounded development and expression of health.
The rationale for the Health Promotion standard states that personal, family,
and community health are interdependent and mutually supporting. The
ability to promote the health of oneself and others reflects a well-rounded
development and expression of health. This standard focuses on helping
students appreciate the value of supporting the health and safety of others
and practice the skills that enable them to advocate for the health of others
as well as help others make healthy choices.
31
What does Health Promotion Mean?
To better understand the
standard, let’s look at
some examples of
students advocating for
health and promoting the
health of others, their
communities, and their
environment.
To better understand the Health Promotion standard, let’s look at examples
of students advocating for health and promoting the health of others, their
communities, and their environment.
32
Student Examples: Health
Promotion
• Grade Two: Practice
making healthy eating
choices with friends and
family.
• Grade Four: Support
others in making positive
food and physical activity
choices.
• Middle School: Encourage
nutrient-dense food choices
in school.
Student examples of health-promoting skills include second grade students
practicing making healthy eating choices with friends and family, fourth
grade students supporting others in making positive food and physical
activity choices, and middle school students encouraging school food
choices that are rich in nutrients.
33
Using ADAMS to Teach to the Health
Promotion (H.P.) Standard
Overarching Standard:
Teaching to the Nutrition
Standards
Health Promotion
Content Area:
Nutrition and Physical
Activity
Let’s apply the ADAMS steps to teaching to the Health Promotion standard
in the health content area of Nutrition and Physical Activity. Refer to the
ADAMS handout as we apply each of the ADAMS steps to a real-life student
scenario.
34
H.P. Step 1: Assess Student
Learning Needs
Remember Hannah’s situation? As an eighth grade student she sees her
friends buying huge sodas, energy drinks, and chips before and after school.
She’s learned skills to access valid information and compare these options
to make better choices. But she is still concerned about her friends’ choices.
On step one of the ADAMS handout, write Hannah’s learning needs or the
behavioral outcomes you would like her to achieve. Think for a moment
about the kinds of real-life behaviors you want Hannah and other students to
know, be able to do, and carry out to promote healthier choices.
35
H.P. Step 2: Selecting an Appropriate
Grade-Level Standard
Overarching Standard:
Health Promotion
Grade-Level Standard:
Grades 7 and 8
Content Area:
Nutrition and Physical
Activity
You may have written that Hannah will need to be able to promote the health
of others by taking a stand for healthy choices, explaining why making
healthy choices is important, and delivering information in a persuasive way
that her friends will heed.
The next step of ADAMS is to determine the appropriate grade-level
standards that represent the knowledge and skills students need to learn to
carry out the desired real-life behaviors. Select the Overview of Health
Promotion Grade-Level Standards handout link to print it now. Next to step 2
on your ADAMS handout, write the grade-level Health Promotion standard
that you think relates to the skills Hannah will need to support her friends in
making better food and beverage choices.
36
H.P. Step 3: Align Instruction
to Standards
Grade-Level Standard
Encourage peers to eat healthy
foods and to be physically active.
(Grades 7-8)
Lesson Objective
Nutrition Instruction
Either the grade-level standard to encourage nutrient-dense food choices or
encourage peers to eat healthy foods and be physically active are
appropriate choices. Let’s use the latter standard because it specifically
addresses encouraging peers. In step 3: align instruction to standards, you
design or select instructional activities that provide students with
opportunities to learn and practice the skills to achieve the standard. Now
let’s explore one lesson we could use to help students achieve our gradelevel standard. The strategy we will explore is from the curriculum Teen
Health Course 3.
Select the Eating for Your Health lesson handout link to print it now. Take a
minute to review and write down the lesson objective and the instructional
steps on step 3 of your ADAMS handout.
37
H.P. Step 3: Align Instruction to
Standards, continued
Grade-Level Standard
Encourage peers to eat healthy
foods and to be physically active.
(Grades 7-8)
Lesson Objective
To enable students to advocate for
healthful food choices.
Nutrition Instruction
1) Students read a role-play and
identify advocacy strategies.
2) Practice advocating for healthy
eating habits.
3) Create cartoons that
encourage healthier choices.
4) Check their work for effective
advocacy steps.
Did you notice that the lesson objective directly relates to the grade-level
standard? Also, the lesson focuses on developing skills and providing
practice opportunities for real life. During this lesson Hannah will learn to:
1. Read a role play and identify advocacy strategies for healthier food
choices.
2. Practice advocating for healthy eating habits.
3. Create cartoons that encourage teens to make healthier choices.
4. Check her work for effective advocacy steps, including taking a clear
stand, providing facts that could improve food choices, and being
persuasive and convincing.
Notice that all the steps in the lesson focus on developing skills and
providing practice opportunities for real life. Think about Hannah and the
students at her school. Before you go to the next slide, identify the varied
places during and after the lesson in which the teacher can check that the
students understand the essential concepts and are competent in performing
the skills to achieve the standard. Where are there opportunities for students
to demonstrate their learning? When you have identified several
opportunities in the lesson, go on to the next slide.
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H.P. Step 4: Monitor Students
Learning
Check in on students’ learning when students are:
•
•
•
•
Identifying advocacy strategies.
Listing facts to help understanding.
Writing convincing statements.
Developing and presenting
their cartoons.
• Completing the self-check to assess
use of effective advocacy strategies.
• Other ideas?
There are a variety of times during and after instruction to check students’
understanding and skill development, to re-teach, and to offer students
opportunities to demonstrate their achievement of the standard. In this
lesson you can check in on students’ learning when students are:
•
Working in pairs to identify advocacy strategies.
•
Listing facts to help with understanding.
•
Writing convincing statements.
•
Working in small groups to develop and present their cartoons.
•
Completing the self-check to assess for effective advocacy strategies.
Did you come up with any other ideas?
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H.P. Step 5: Support Students to
Be Advocates
Student skills: apply being an advocate.
• How could you and others be an
advocate?
• What would you say?
• What could you do if a person gets
defensive or
tells you to go away?
• What might get in your way of being an
advocate?
Now that Hanna knows what it means to be an advocate, give her and other
students the opportunity to practice what they’ve learned by applying their
Health Promotion skills to different real-life scenarios. Ask students for
examples of situations in which someone could use and advocate. For
example, Hannah could be an advocate and promote her friends’ health by
convincing them not to drink such large amounts of high-sugar drinks after
school every day. Ask students to work in pairs to answer the following
questions:
•
How could you and others be an advocate?
•
What could you do to encourage friends to make healthier choices?
•
What could you say if they get defensive or tell you to go away?
•
What might get in your way of being an advocate?
After the pair work, have the whole class discuss the questions. Extending the
learning by providing practice scenarios builds student confidence to extend the
learned skills to real life.
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Hannah Turns Her Health Promotion
Skills into Real-Life Behavior
Hannah learned skills to support positive change
by becoming an advocate. Which of the following
represents a real-life behavior that Hannah could
implement to promote the health of her friend?
1. Pretend not to notice him drinking huge sodas.
2. Tell her friend that other students will stop teasing
him if he loses weight.
3. Walk with her friend to the store and show him
healthier options. Be persuasive and offer to share
water or a low-sugar drink.
Remember that the purpose of teaching students these skills is for them to
transfer them to real-life behavior. Hannah’s friend Hector gets teased about
being overweight and drinking sodas all the time. Based on the skills Hannah
has learned, which of the following represents a real-life behavior she could
implement to advocate for Hector and promote better nutrition choices?
1. Pretend not to notice him drinking sodas.
2. Tell Hector that other students will stop teasing him if he loses weight.
3. Walk with Hector to the corner store and talk with him about healthier
options. Be persuasive and offer to share a water or a drink that has
less sugar.
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Hannah Has Skills: She Becomes an
Advocate and Supports Her Friends
Did you choose walk with her friend to the store and show him healthier
options, be persuasive, and offer to share water or a drink lower in sugar?
Hannah lets Hector know that walking together could help reduce the teasing
and she explains that checking the food label for the serving size and
number of calories, and choosing a low-sugar option, could help him feel
healthier. Pretending not to notice him drinking sodas is not a quality of an
advocate and would not support better choices and positive change. An
advocate promotes accurate information and healthier choices; telling Hector
that losing weight would stop the teasing is misleading and unsupportive.
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Library of Reviewed Instructional
Resources
The C.H.K.R.C library:
• Connects library users with reviewed
resources for teaching to the
standards.
• Has an online, interactive,
searchable material catalog at
http://www.californiahealthykids.org.
• Provides resources for four-week
loan, with free delivery in California.
• Provides an opportunity to try out
different curricula, activity sets, and
materials.
Now Hannah knows how to access valid information to make healthier fast
food and beverage choices and she has skills to promote the health of her
friends and family. She is only one student, but imagine if we could teach 20,
50, or 100 students these skills. We could help students find information they
need to make better food and drink choices and create a positive nutrition
environment by teaching them to access valid information and promote the
health of others.
Remember, you do not need to create your own instructional strategies for
teaching students health skills that they can transfer to real life. There are
many existing instructional strategies you can use to teach students the
CHECS beyond the two we reviewed in this training. The California Healthy
Kids Resource Center’s free lending library has many effective, high-quality,
reviewed resources. You will be able to access The Power of Choice, Teen
Health Course 3, and other resources in the library after this training.
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Today You Learned To:
• Define nutrition education instruction in the
school setting and describe its primary objective.
• Name and describe the eight overarching
standards.
• Describe how the overarching standards transfer
students’ learning into real-life behaviors.
• Access resources to support standards-based
nutrition instruction.
Today you learned to describe the primary objective of nutrition education,
identify the overarching standards, explain how overarching standards and
nutrition instruction transfer to real-life student behaviors, and access
resources for standards-based nutrition instruction.
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Congratulations!
Partner: California Department of
Education, Nutrition Services Division
This program was developed by the California Department of Education’s Nutrition Services Division, with funding from The California
Endowment. Revisions were completed with funds from the California Department of Public Health, Network for a Healthy California,
funded by the United Sates Department of Agriculture’s Supplementary Nutrition Assistance Program (formerly the Food Stamp
Program). These institutions are equal opportunity providers and employers. In California, food stamps provide assistance to lowincome households, and can help buy nutritious foods for better health. For food stamp information, call 1-877-847-3663. For important
nutrition information visit www.cachampionsforchange.net
Congratulations! You have reached the end of the training on Teaching to
Standards in Nutrition. You will now have the opportunity to take a quiz to test
the knowledge you have acquired. If you receive a passing score, a completion
certificate will be e-mailed to you at the e-mail address you provided. If you
don’t receive a passing score, you will have the opportunity to take the test
again at any time. Following the quiz, you will be asked to complete a brief
feedback survey. After you complete the survey, you will be able to access
sample California Healthy Kids Resource Center library resources and
additional information about standards-based nutrition education. You may start
the quiz by selecting the quiz link. Thank you for your participation in this
training.
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