program outlines

Virtuous Reality uses Choosing the Best WAY in the 6th grade - It grabs the attention of 6th graders struggling to understand what's happening to their bodies and to their relationships. Six highly active sessions answer questions this age group hesitates to ask, as they separate myths and facts. Entertaining video clips introduce each session, as students learn that abstinence until marriage is the best WAY.

Lesson One, Deciding on your Future:
Making the best decisions, what is a goal, building character: determination.

Lesson Two, Figuring out Friendships and Relationships:
Qualities of a good friend, getting to know guys and girls, are relationships crushes, infatuation or love?, building character: respect.

Lesson Three, Avoiding Unhealthy Relationships:
Preventing sexual abuse, identifying emotional needs, I am totally unique and one of a kind, building character: self-respect.

Lesson Four, Identifying the risks:
Risks: teen pregnancy, emotional effects, STDs; building character: compassion.

Lesson Five, Choosing the Best Way:
Marriage – the benefits of waiting, being abstinent until marriage, choosing the abstinence pledge, building character: making healthy choices.

Lesson Six, Learning how to say NO:
The dangers of alcohol, setting boundaries, building character: courage.

 

WAIT (Why Am I Tempted?) Training—7th, 8th and 9th grade: WAIT is based on a relationship model of sexuality education. Though the abstracts and objectives stay the same per grade level, the lesson plan, filled with eye and brain catching visuals, interactive lessons and stories, encourages students to embrace the value of abstinence until marriage. 

Day 1: Rapport Building
This first day is crucial in establishing a rapport with the students. Presenters avoid jumping into the curriculum on the first day. Students will receive an introduction to the program—a list of content and expectations that establishes the necessary classroom climate. Along with that, students will be led in an object lesson, masquerading as a get-to-know-you game. The basic goal of this day is to let the kids know that this will be unlike any guest-speaker presentation they have ever attended and to whet their appetites for more.

Students are given a set of multi-colored "money" at the beginning of the hour. Each color also has a different symbol. The students are told that each piece of money has a different value— $1, $100, $500, $1000, or $1,000,000. The object of the game is to collect the most of the highest denomination of money in 2 minutes. The person who has the highest amount of money at the end gets candy. The students are not told which value goes with which piece of money. It is up to each of them to decide.

Days 2 & 3: STDs
During this lesson, students will develop a better understanding of what sexual activity is, how STDs are transmitted, and how diseases move through a population, as well as information on 7 specific STDs—chlamydia, gonorrhea, human papillomavirus, herpes, syphilis, hepatitis B and HIV. In order to keep the lesson age-appropriate, no slides will be shown. Instead, students will view visual aids that give them the basic idea without exposing them to unsightly pictures of diseased genitalia. Students will also discuss the myth of safe sex and the drawbacks of condoms as a barrier method for pregnancy and std prevention.

Day 4: Emotional Consequences
During this lesson, students will discuss the myth of casual sex. Students will also explore the media's affect on their ideas about sex and relationships.

Day 5: Intimacy/Sexual Boundaries
During this presentation, students will gain tools to avoiding sexual temptation, showing that abstinence until marriage has practical applications. Students will also explore the idea that true intimacy cannot be manufactured by physical expression, buy that it takes time to build intimacy.

Day 6: Dating
Students will explore different dating styles (single, double, and group), as well as their personal expectations of someone with whom they choose to spend time.

Day 7: Love and Marriage
Students will discuss the idea that abstinence and all it entails are all for the end result of a marriage built on love and trust. They will recognize that the choices they make now will determine the type of climate set when and if they get married. They will discuss how all decisions have consequences and how to best reach the personal goals they have set for their marriages/relationships.

Day 8: Assertiveness Training
Students will discuss the importance of setting boundaries and dealing with face-to-face sexual temptation and pressure. Students will role-play different scenarios to help them practice saying no to pressures.

Day 9: Abstinence until Marriage
Students will discuss the benefits of delaying sex until they are in a mutually monogamous marriage relationship. They will define abstinence as a lifestyle choice and discuss what strategies are necessary to maintain the choice. Students also will be offered the opportunity to take an abstinence pledge.

Day 10: The Wrap-Up
On this day, students will take an exit survey, and will receive an opportunity to ask questions pertaining to the previous discussion. They will be encouraged to maintain their sexual health through regular reevaluation of their abstinence choice, through STD testing and screening if they have already been sexually active, and to maintain a support system that supports their individual decisions.