[Adult Roles and Responsibilities]

Strong Families
Overview:
Students will learn the characteristics of strong families through experience and working in groups. In groups the students will discuss what they have learned about strong families from their own observations. In groups the students will also analyze and synthesize the answers they came up with. Lastly, the students will discuss the different life stages and how families change and adjust during those specific times.

[Grades 11-12] [90 minute class]

Teaching Materials
worksheets Plain white paper White board and marker

Resources/Technology
Projector

Standards and Objectives: (Cognitive level 1 Knowledge)

Standard 6: Students will identify ways to develop meaningful relationships in the family unit. Objectives1 A, B, C: A. Identify the qualities of strong families
(commitment, appreciation, decision making, responsibility, problem solving, etc.) B. Share and explain the value of family traditions. C. Identify the family life cycles strengths and weaknesses of various family forms.

Introduction/Set Induction (10 minutes):

ALL HANDS IN: Ask for 8 volunteers to come to the front of the class. Everyone stands in a circle, closes their eyes, puts their hands into the middle and grabs another persons hand. Then they need to figure out how to get out of the big mess within 5 minutes.

Transition (16 minutes):

How can we apply this activity to strong families? What are some things they did that are qualities you want in a family? Get them brainstorming about qualities of a strong family so they are prepared for the next section of the lesson. BRAIN STORMING ACTIVITY: The teacher will go through the different family forms and the students will be given some time to predict different strengths or weaknesses they see in each of the family forms. See Strengths and Weaknesses Worksheet

Kristy Buswell FCSE 4400

Lesson Body (50 minutes)

Inductive Thinking: PHASE 1: Concept Formation (15 minutes): List (What have you seen in your family? Heard? Observed?): List qualities of a strong family. Group (What qualities go together?): Group those qualities together. Label (How would you label these groups?): Once the students have finished these three steps they will get into groups of two and continue on into phase 2. PHASE 2: Interpretation of Data (15 minutes): Students will be in partnerships and they will answer the three questions listed in phase 2. Then the class will come together and we will talk about what different groups talked about and why they think it is important. See list of Questions for Group Discussion This list is to be put up on the projector in sections so the students know what they should be talking about when they are in groups and as they go through the process of inductive thinking. Identify Critical Relationships: The partnerships will discuss the relationships they see in the qualities they have listed. They will also talk analyze the similarities and differences in those relationships. Explore & Explain Relationships between Categories: Is any group more important than another in creating a strong family? If so explain Make Inferences about Categories What conclusions can you make between the relationships of these groupings? Does this conclusion affect your life? If so why? PHASE 3: Application of Principles (20 minutes): Students will now be put into groups of 4. Predict Consequences What would happen in a different life cycle? Are the same qualities still important during all of these different stages? What are some strengths and weaknesses? Teacher hands out the spider web with a list of different life cycles the students can choose from. They will put the life cycle at the top of the spider then make their predictions of what they think could happen during this life cycle. There will be TWO scenarios. FIRST: what do you predict will happen if the family does not have any of the qualities previously talked about? SECOND: What do you think will happen if the family in that particular cycle has only three of the qualities talked about? (Students choose the top 3 qualities they think are most important) See spider graphic organizer. Support Predictions: After the students have finished the graphic organizer they will say why they think those predictions will come true. They write their reasoning on the back side of the paper. Verify Predictions: Students will then explain on the back of their paper why generally think that these predictions are true or probably true.

Kristy Buswell FCSE 4400

Transition (3 minutes): Team captain, from each team, brings the spider graphic organizer up to the
teacher and gets a plain white piece of paper for each of the group members and take them back to the group.

Summary/Closure (11 minutes): Group members each share the thing that they learned that day or
something that liked the most. The students will then draw what they learned that day.

Assessment/Evaluation: The students will be evaluated by the graphic organizer they fill out and by
participating the groups they are in. They will also be assessed by the picture exit pass they all drew at the end of class.

Kristy Buswell FCSE 4400

Question for Group Discussions

===============Phase 1==============
1. What qualities make a strong family? What have you seen, heard, and/or observed in your Family?

MAKE A LIST Group them together Label your groups

===========Phase 2==========
QUESTIONS TO DISCUSS AS A GROUP
1. What are the relationships between the qualities listed? 2. Is one group more important than the other in creating a strong family? 3. What conclusions can you make about these relationships? 4. How do these conclusions impact your life?

Kristy Buswell FCSE 4400

Strengths and Weaknesses

Name: Period: AMERICAN FAMILIES Strengths LIVING ALONE Weakness

POSSLQs

MARRYING LATER IN LIFE

COUPLES HAVING CHILDREN LATER IN LIFE COUPLES WITH FEWER CHILDREN

COUPLES WITH NO CHILDREN

DIVORCED ADULTS

SINGLE-PARENT FAMILIES

BLENDED FAMILIES

GRANDPARENTS LIVING WITH FAMILIES GROWN CHILDREN MOVING

BACK WITH THEIR PARENTS

WORKING MOTHERS

Kristy Buswell FCSE 4400

Stages and Developmental Tasks in the Family Life Cycle

****Family Life Cycle**** The family life cycle was developed by Evelyn Duvall, a sociologist. She compiled the average ages at which people complete normal life experiences: marriage, have their first child, have teenagers, have no more children at home and retire. She summarized the information as shown on the following pages:

Stage 1. Beginning Family: The married couple establish their home but do not yet have children. Developmental Tasks: Establishing a satisfying home and marriage relationship and preparing for childbirth. Stage 2. Childbearing Family: From the birth of the first child until that child is 2 1/2 years old. Developmental Tasks: Adjusting to increased family size; caring for an infant; providing a positive developmental environment. Stage 3. Family with Preschoolers: When the oldest child is between the ages of 2 1/2 and 6. Developmental Tasks: Satisfying the needs and interests of preschool children; coping with demands on energy and attention with less privacy at home. Stage 4. Family with School Children: When the oldest child is between the ages of 6 and 13. Developmental Tasks: Promoting educational achievement and fitting in with the community of families with school-age children. Stage 5. Family with Teenagers: When the oldest child is between the ages of 13 and 20. Developmental Tasks: Allowing and helping children to become more independent; coping with their independence; developing new interests beyond child care. Stage 6. Launching Center: From the time the oldest child leaves the family for independent adult life till the time the last child leaves. Developmental Tasks: Releasing young adults and accepting new ways of relating to them; maintaining a supportive home base; adapting to new living circumstances. Stage 7. Empty Nest: From the time the children are gone till the marital couple retires from employment. Developmental Tasks: Renewing and redefining the marriage relationship; maintaining ties with children and their families; preparing for retirement years. Stage 8: Aging Family: From retirement till the death of the surviving marriage partner. Developmental Tasks: Adjusting to retirement; coping with the death of the marriage partner and life alone.

Can be found on uen.org

Kristy Buswell FCSE 4400

Life Cycles and Predictions

Kristy Buswell FCSE 4400