Five Words I Love to Hear

Being thrown into a school setting for a year, I have discovered one of the main agents of the teen obesity crisis is apathy. Teens find it very difficult to care about something that is not affecting them in the immediate present. We tell students not to focus on the past or future and focus on being here in the NOW, but in this case, understanding future consequences is the only way to grasp the need to make significant changes in their lives. In order to break these apathetic attitudes, it's important for students to see connections to their own lives. If they say they have low energy or are overweight or drink 4 cans of soda per day, I must make the information relevant to those students and have students take those messages home and say "Wow, I guess I can make a difference by making a little change". Now, besides that utopian example, I must understand that kids want things fast, easy, and fun. The fun is what I focus on the most because students would have no idea they are actually learning something and doing something great for their bodies while doing an entertaining demonstration. Making points quick and specific also generates the most "I tried that at home" responses later. I know that what I am doing is helping when multiple students come back to me and say those 5 words. They just have to keep spreading those words.