Sassy questions like this one from middle schoolers during a lesson are like adding hot sauce to almost any food. They add flavor to a lesson. They are student centered teachable moments and one of my favorite parts of teaching. The context is usually a chess move to get more information than they need, an attempt to push boundaries to see if vaping nicotine is less dangerous than smoking cigarettes or cannabis is less dangerous than alcohol. Regardless of the motive, students who are brave enough to ask these questions do so because they feel safe and comfortable and they actually care what the teacher says.

Here’s my quick question protocol for tricky but fun questions from students: Affirm, Confirm, Turn, and Return.

1. Affirm the student and validate the question. This gives me a chance to take a deep breath and think about how my best self would respond. I also take this time to assure them that I do have a response but I want to make sure I understand the question a little more. At this point, I usually sit down because as much as I want to teach at that moment, I really want to listen. Sometimes, I take more time to talk about the question itself and the importance of asking questions, analyzing influences and accessing valid and reliable health resources.
   1. “That’s a great question, thank you for asking. I will give you my answer but first I want to make sure I understand what specific information you need so that I answer your question accurately”.  
2. Confirm the question. This allows me to determine what type of question is being asked and for what purpose. Advocates for Youth has a great resource on how to answer tough questions while teaching sexual health education that also helps educators understand how to categorize questions. Each type informs a different approach. Questions can be categorized into:
   • Knowledge/Skill seeking
   • Values seeking
   • Affirmation seeking (Am I normal?)
   • Personal or Advice Seeking
   • Heart or Feeling Questions
   • Shock-value questions
   2. “When you asked, ‘What is the worst drug’ what did you mean?”
   3. AND/OR “When you asked, ‘What is the worst drug’, are you interested in which one causes the most harm, which is the most addicting, etc.? Can you give me more information?”
   4. AND “Also does anyone else have any similar questions that they would like to add to this one to help us all understand more?”
3. Turn it back to the students, not THE student, with genuine curiosity, give them the opportunity to be the experts. Depending on the student, I might ask them about their purpose in asking the question.
   1. “I’m curious, because you all are experts on being a 7th grader right now, what do you think students would say to answer this question?” 
   2. AND/OR “How often is this talked about among 7th graders?” 
   3. AND/OR “If 7th graders don’t feel comfortable talking to an adult about alcohol, nicotine and other drugs, where are they getting their information?”
4. Return back to the question and give them your answer or a commitment to follow up with more information.
   1. “It’s hard to say which drug is the worst because each body is unique and every person’s experiences as well as social and environmental influences are different”.
   2. “There is a common theme among substance misuse and dependency on risk behaviors and that is power, which one might think is actually the worst ‘drug’. What do you think about that answer? How does power lead to dangerous behaviors in your environments?”

When I ask students to look at substance misuse and engagement in risk behaviors through the lens of power or abuse of power, the demonizing of people with substance use disorder is eliminated. Most students can relate to wanting power, giving up power, or being the target of someone else’s need for power. This opportunity can help students analyze influences on collective well begin and healthy equity which are emphasized in the latest National Health Education Standards (New National Health Education Standards, 2024).

Dr. Gabor Maté identifies examining common attributes that support risk behaviors like fulfilling the indeed for power as an essential approach to treating his patients in recovery with compassionate inquiry (When Science Meets Compassion, 2024). This also allows students to find relevance in the susceptibility of substance misuse disorder and thus more available to learn in a judgment free zone.

In Skills Based Health Education, we practice examining power differentials and their impact throughout our curriculum. Here are just a few examples:

• Analyzing Influences:
  • The power to implement strategies to manage influences
• Communication:
  • Passive, aggressive and assertive communication
  • Consent and power over our own bodies
  • Refusal Skills and the power to say no when our boundaries are threatened
  • Conflict resolution and negotiating by leveling the positions
  • Collaborating to recognize when to give and take space in a dynamic working situation
  • Upstanding in bullying situations takes back the power in the relationships
• Decision Making
  • Power of our choices
  • Influence of power over when we evaluate options. 
  • Power of developed parts of the teen brain like the amygdala to influence choices
• Goal Setting
  • The power to manage barriers in one’s goal setting process

Skills Based Health Education is a better approach to empower students to develop health literacy as their brains are not fully developed enough to efficiently manage power. Isn’t that what the invincibility complex of the underdeveloped prefrontal cortex of the tween brain is all about? The power over immortality? The power to seek immediate reward even if it means vaping because our friends are doing it? 

Teaching students to examine the influence of power is an essential skill. Dr. Nayef Al-Rodhan, Philosopher, Neuroscientist and Geostrategist, wrote that, “Power activates the very same reward circuitry in the brain and creates an addictive “high” in much the same way as drug addiction” (Al-Rodhan, 2014) and goes on to say that people will engage in dopamine reward seeking behaviors at all costs. There are examples of abuse of intrapersonal and interpersonal power constantly in the media and other environments in which students are immersed. The question may not be “which drug is the worst” but rather “what has the most power and for whom?”. How would you respond?

References

Al-Rodhan, N. (2014, February 28). The neurochemistry of power has implications for political change. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/the-neurochemistry-of-power-has-implications-for-political-change-23844

New National Health Education Standards. (2024). SHAPE America. Retrieved April 14, 2024, from https://shapeamerica.org/standards/health/new-he-standards.aspx

Walton, M. (2022). Power Addiction and its Perils. Research Gate, 11, 46-48.

When Science Meets Compassion. (2024). Addiction Expert, Speaker and Best-selling Author Dr. Gabor Maté. Retrieved April 14, 2024, from https://drgabormate.com/

This microblog post was a featured post in #slowchathealth’s #microblogmonth event. You can search for all of the featured posts here. Please do follow each of the outstanding contributors on social media (including Michelle Rawcliffe, the author of this post) and consider writing a microblog post of your own to be shared with the global audience of slowchathealth.com

Pair this blog post with the following:

Getting #SexuallySmarter One Classroom Word at a Time by Lindsay Fram

What Divides Us, Becomes Us by  Michelle Rawcliffe

The Importance of Creating a Full Value Contract with Your Students by Michelle Rawcliffe

Ubuntu in Education: Conflict & Compromise by Tom Hobbs

Have you read the latest Book of the Month recommendation?