Summary
In this lesson, students look through the lens of nursing to think about what it means to overcome adversity. Students will read Civil War-era memoirs from Walt Whitman and Louisa May Alcott. They will then compare and contrast the descriptions of nursing in those texts with an account of modern nursing as told from the perspective of a practicing nurse. Using a hands-on activity, students will experience nursing triage and then reflect on what they have learned—both about themselves and the profession of nursing.
Essential Question(s)
How do we, as humans, overcome adversity? How has the field of nursing changed from the Civil War to the present?
Snapshot
Engage
Students create their own definitions of “resilience” and “adversity,” including examples, and engage in a Think, Pair, Share activity with a partner and with the whole class.
Explore
Students devise questions about nursing for the ICAP professional using Padlet, and they read and analyze the Alcott and Whitman historical memoirs about nursing.
Explain
Students interview a nurse using the Padlet questions they developed.
Extend
Students collaborate as they experience a triage activity led by the school nurse and answer one of the essential questions by writing an informative One-Pager using the Senses of War chart, the excerpts, and their experience during the nurse interview and triage activity.
Evaluate
Students reflect on the lesson using the Mirror, Microscope, Binoculars questions.
Materials
Devices with Internet access
Lesson Slides (attached)
Hospital Sketches excerpt (attached; one per student)
Specimen Days excerpt (optional; attached; one per student)
“The Wound-Dresser” (optional; attached; one per student)
One-Pager Rubric (attached; one per student)
Sticky notes for students (purple, yellow, and blue recommended)
Highlighters for students
Poster board
Pens or pencils
Notebook paper
Chart paper
Triage Activity Instructions (two copies, for the teacher and the nurse)
Gauze (optional)
Rubber gloves (optional)
Stethoscopes (optional)
Medical tape (optional)
Penlights (optional)
Automated blood pressure cuff (optional)
Eye chart (optional)
Band-Aids (optional)
Medical tape (optional)
Telfa dressings (optional)
ABD gauze pads (optional)
Fabric sling (optional)
Alcohol swabs (optional)
Engage
15 Minute(s)
Introduce the lesson by displaying the title on slide 2 in the attached Lesson Slides.
Display slides 3-4. Take a couple of minutes to review the essential questions and the learning objectives with your students.
Display slide 5. Share the Think, Pair, Share strategy with the students. Instruct the students to take out a piece of notebook paper and write their own definitions of “resilience” and “adversity.”
Pair the students to share their answers and devise a common definition. Ask pairs to share their answers with the class.
Explore
60 Minute(s)
Display slide 6. Have students go to the ICAP Nursing Questions Padlet using the QR code or Bitly on the slide. Instruct students to write at least two questions they would like to ask a nurse. Remind the students to ask higher-order thinking questions by creating open-ended questions.
Display slide 7. Distribute copies of the Specimen Days Excerpt and Hospital Sketches Excerpt, along with highlighters. As you are reading the first text aloud to the students, as a class, complete a Looks Like, Sounds Like, Feels Like chart entitled “Senses of War.” Repeat these actions with the second text on the same chart.
Display slide 8. Direct students to read the text on their own using the Why-Lighting strategy. Students should highlight the parts of the text that remind them of “adversity” and “resilience.” Remind students to include why they highlighted passages in the margin of the paper.
Display slide 9. Return to the Padlet, and instruct the students to write one or two more questions they would ask a nurse after reading the two texts.
Explain
20 Minute(s)
Display slide 10. Welcome and introduce the visiting nurse. Ask students to introduce themselves to the nurse. Share the ICAP Nursing Questions Padlet with the students. Call on each student to read one question for the visiting nurse. Continue to let students ask questions for half of the class period.
Extend
60 Minute(s)
Display slide 11. Ask the nurse to give directions for the triage activity.
Display slides 12–13. Direct the students to complete a One-Pager on a piece of notebook paper, answering one of the essential questions by reflecting on what they have learned about nursing over the past few class periods. Students should reflect upon the following as they are writing:
Senses of War chart
Why-Lighted articles
Their experience during the interview and triage activity
Provide the students with the One-Pager Rubric to guide their writing expectations.
Evaluate
15 Minute(s)
Display slide 14. On pieces of notebook paper, have your students complete the Mirror, Microscope, Binoculars strategy by reflecting on what they have learned about nursing over the past few class periods. Ask students to reflect on the following prompt:
Mirror: How has your thinking changed about the adversity and resilience of nursing professionals over time?
Microscope: Now I can see that nursing…
Binoculars: How is nursing impacted by what is going on in society? What could be done to change the field of nursing?
Collect both the Mirror, Microscope, Binoculars responses and the One-Pagers, and use them to assess student learning.
Resources
Beers, K., and Odell, L. (2008). Holt Elements of Literature: Essentials of American Literature, 5th Course – Oklahoma Teacher’s Edition. Holt Rinehart Winston.
K20 Center. (n.d.). Looks like, sounds like, feels like. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/88
K20 Center. (n.d.). Mirror, microscope, binoculars. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/3020
K20 Center. (n.d.). One-pager. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/72
K20 Center. (n.d.). Padlet. Tech Tools. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/tech-tool/1077
K20 Center. (n.d.). Think-pair-share. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/139
K20 Center. (n.d.). Why-lighting. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/128
Whitman, W. (1865). The wound-dresser. CommonLit. https://www.commonlit.org/en/texts/the-wound-dresser