Before You Start

• Set aside time to select and train peer discussion leaders for the units that require them. (See Guidelines for Peer-Led Discussion Groups, in the sidebar.)
• Ask your students to start taking more notice of how they are affected by smokers and images of smokers. Do they have friends who smoke? Relatives? Do they see cigarette ads in the magazines they read? Do people smoke on the TV shows, movies and rock videos they watch? What is their image of a "typical smoker?" Does that image appeal to them in certain ways? If so, how?
• Ask your students to begin collecting cigarette ads from magazines at home. You will probably need to supplement these with your own collection. (Tip: the waiting room of your dentist's or doctor's office is a great place to collect ads. Most health professionals will not object to your removing cigarette ads.)

What to avoid when teaching these lessons

• Implying that kids are "bad" if they smoke. Although this may work with some teens, research shows that this approach generally backfires, especially with high-risk students. The more smoking is labelled "bad" by authority figures, the more it becomes a vehicle for rebellion.
• Suggesting that smoking is "dumb." Children need to respect their parents and elders in life, whether or not they smoke.
• Encouraging children, even indirectly, to denounce smoking at home. Smoking remains a personal choice. If the school appears to be intruding into the home-life, parents may become alienated from the school's smoking-prevention efforts.
• Telling young children that smoking leads to fatal diseases. This can provoke intense anxiety in children whose parents or relatives smoke. This information should be saved for later elementary grades, when children can understand that these risks are generally long-term, and that quitting can reverse the trend.
• Warning older students that they will die an early death if they smoke. Research shows that this "threat" approach is not very effective, and even can be counterproductive. It is far more effective to focus on immediate consequences - such as impaired performance, addiction, bad breath, smelly clothes, financial costs, decreased resistance to colds, etc.
• Giving mixed messages. If you smoke yourself, don't try to hide this fact from your students. Use this position as an advantage, by letting them know that you want to help them to avoid some of the unhealthy decisions you've made. (In any case, it is never a good idea to smoke in front of your students, because you are a powerful role model.)

Reaching out to the high-risk student

Tobacco companies identify certain youth sectors that are more likely to smoke, and design marketing campaigns to appeal to this high-risk group. Risk factors include lower economic status, poor academic record, low self-esteem, peers or parents who smoke, and rebellious or "deviant" behaviour patterns.

In order to reach these students:

• include units that don't depend on literacy skills
• involve students as peer discussion leaders in Grade 6 and up
• offer a variety of provocative, student-centred activities
• encourage students to recognize and critically examine the psychosocial factors that may predispose them to smoke
• redirect rebelliousness towards the exploitative and manipulative marketing strategies of the tobacco industry