Standards
NYS module line
- HDR 3. Peer Influence and Stress Management a)Define the terms "pee" and "peer pressure" (quoted as the state PDF prints it; "peer" is meant)
- HDR 3. Peer Influence and Stress Management b)Compare the influence of family, peers, media, and others on decision-making
- HDR 3. Peer Influence and Stress Management c)Analyze positive and negative aspects of peer pressure and ways to assert individual choices within a peer group
CTE theme line
- CTE CIR 5. Peer Relationships d)Analyze the influence of peers on personal development, choices, and relationships
- CTE CIR 5. Peer Relationships e)Explain how individuals can assert personal choices within a peer group structure
NYS FACS learning standard
- NYS FACS Learning Standard 2 (Intermediate)Key Idea: Students will know the basic principles of home and community safety. They can demonstrate the skills necessary to maintain their homes and workplaces in a safe and comfortable condition. They can provide a safe and nurturing environment for themselves and others.
Performance Indicator: none of the three Standard 2 indicators fits; the key idea's "nurturing environment for themselves and others" is what a peer group with refusal skills becomes. The state assigns only Standard 2 to HDR.
CDOS
- CDOS Standard 3aInterpersonal Skills
National FCS 3.0
- National FCS 3.0 13.2.5Explain how personal standards and behavior affect relationships with others.
- National FCS 3.0 12.2.2Examine how social, economic, and technological forces shape individual growth and development.
(The task asked for a 13.x competency on peer relationships or refusal. None in the 3.0 text says "peer" or "refusal"; 13.2.5 on personal standards and behaviors is the closest confirmed line and is what asserting a choice is. 12.2.2 carries the family, peers, and media comparison.)
Enduring understanding and essential question
Big idea: Peers shape what you do more than almost anyone else at this age, and that can push you up or down. Refusing is a skill with steps, and a skill can be practiced until it is easy.
Essential question: When the people you like want you to do something you do not want to do, what exactly do you say?
Objectives
By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:
- (Low) Define peer pressure, distinguish positive from negative peer pressure and direct from indirect pressure, and list possible consequences of giving in to negative peer pressure.
- (Mid) Analyze a peer pressure scenario with the five-step decision model, compare how family, peers, and media would each push the decision, and demonstrate the four refusal steps in a short role play.
- (High) Design and perform a short skit that models an effective refusal, and evaluate a classmate's skit against the four steps with a reason for the rating.
(These are Sal's tiered Peer Pressure objectives from his FNES 538 notes, combined into the three-objective lesson format: his low level "define, identify examples, list consequences," his moderate level "analyze scenarios, demonstrate refusal strategies, classify direct and indirect," and his high level "evaluate best responses, design a skit modeling resistance strategies." His third high-level objective, a peer advice guide, is the grade 8 stretch.)
Vocabulary
Tier 2 (general academic): influence, consequence, assert, alternative
Tier 3 (FACS): peer, peer pressure, positive peer pressure, negative peer pressure, direct pressure, indirect pressure, refusal skills. See the unit vocabulary list (Vocabulary 03.md) for Turkish, Portuguese, and Spanish.
Materials and setup
Handout 03.06 - Peer Pressure Scenario Cards and Skit Planner.md: ten scenario cards (one set per team of three or four, cut before Day 1), the refusal steps sheet and skit planner (one per team), and the feedback slips (three per student, Day 2)- The five-step decision model poster from Unit 0 (name the choice, list options, weigh each against what matters, decide, look back)
- Slides:
Slides 03.06 - Peer Influence Pressure and Refusal Skills(slides 1 to 11 Day 1; slides 12 to 22 Day 2) - Timer visible to the class
- Setup notes: cut the scenario cards. Assign teams before Day 1 so skit teams are set (three or four; mix grades if the class is mixed). No props beyond what is in the room; a skit is 60 to 90 seconds.
Pre-assessment
The Day 1 do now asks for a private example of a time a friend talked someone into something good and a time a friend talked someone into something not good (no names, can be a made-up person). Whether students can produce the positive example tells you whether "positive peer pressure" is a new idea.
Do now and hook (Time: 4 min, Day 1)
On the board: "No names. Write one time a friend talked someone into something good (trying out, studying, apologizing). Write one time a friend talked someone into something not good. It can be a made-up person."
Debrief: hands for "I could think of a good one." Usually fewer than half. Then the hook, slide 2: "Peer pressure is not always the villain. Sometimes it is the only reason someone tries out for the team. Today you learn to tell the two apart, and tomorrow you learn exactly what to say to the bad kind."
Procedure
Day 1
| Step | Teacher will | Students will | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Direct instruction: peer, pressure, four kinds | Slides 3 to 6. Peer: someone about your age or in your position. Peer pressure: when peers push you to do, say, or think something. Positive (pushes you toward something good for you) vs negative. Direct (someone says it: "come on, just do it") vs indirect (nobody says it; you see everyone doing it and feel it). Consequences of giving in to the negative kind: trouble, a hurt friend, a lost trust, a thing you cannot take back, a self-concept dent (Lesson 3.5). | Copy the four definitions onto the planner sheet, Part 1. Write one example of each kind from the do now or from the slides. | 7 min |
| 2. Three pushes on one decision | Slide 7. One fictional decision: a group chat wants a student to share a photo of a classmate that the classmate did not want shared. Walk the five-step decision model on the board (name the choice, list options, weigh each against what matters, decide, look back). At "weigh," add three columns: what family would say, what peers are saying, what media (the feed, the trend) says. Show that the three pushes point different ways and that "what matters" is the student's, not the group's. | Fill the three-push grid on Part 2 for the model decision. Write which push was loudest and which one they would want to win. | 8 min |
| 3. Learning activity: scenario cards | Teams get ten cards. For each: is this positive or negative pressure, direct or indirect, and what are two possible outcomes? Then pick the two cards the team thinks are hardest. Circulate with the clipboard. | Classify ten cards on the Part 3 table. Write two outcomes per card. Star the two hardest. | 13 min |
| 4. Share | One team reads its hardest card and its two outcomes. Ask the room: "What would you say?" Take three answers. Write them on the board; tomorrow those become the four steps. | Listen. Offer a line. | 4 min |
Day 2
| Step | Teacher will | Students will | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Do now | On the board: "Finish this sentence three different ways: 'No thanks, I ___.'" | Write three. | 3 min |
| 1. Direct instruction: the four refusal steps | Slides 13 to 15. Say no clearly (short, no apology). Give a reason (yours; it can be simple: "not my thing"). Offer an alternative ("let's do this instead"). Walk away if the pressure keeps coming (leaving is a full sentence). Model each with one of yesterday's hardest cards; a volunteer plays the pusher with a script from the slide. Say the rule: the steps do not have to be in order and you do not need all four; two is often enough. | Copy the four steps onto Part 4. Watch the model. Note which step the model used first. | 6 min |
| 2. Skit prep | Slide 16. Teams take one of their two starred cards. The planner: who is the pusher, who refuses, which steps are used and in what order, one line for each step, and what the pusher does after. 60 to 90 seconds. No real names, no real people, no substances, nothing physical. Circulate; approve each plan with initials before the team may perform. | Plan the skit on Part 5. Rehearse once at the table, quietly. Get the plan initialed. | 10 min |
| 3. Performances | Run the skits, two minutes each including reset. The audience holds feedback slips: which steps did they see (check boxes), what was the strongest line, one suggestion. Keep the order moving; no applause rule until the end, then applause for everyone. | Perform. Watch. Fill one feedback slip per skit for three assigned skits. | 14 min |
| 4. Feedback and debrief | Collect the slips by team. Ask: "Which step showed up in the most skits? Which one was hardest to say out loud?" Land it: the hardest one to say in a skit is the hardest one to say in the hallway, so that is the one to practice. | Read one slip from another team. Answer. | 4 min |
Questions to ask
Monitor understanding:
- What makes pressure "indirect"? Give an example nobody said out loud.
- On the model decision, which push was family's, which was peers', and which was media's?
- Which refusal step did that skit use first?
Deepen learning:
- Positive peer pressure and negative peer pressure can come from the same friend on the same day. What decides which one you are getting?
- "Give a reason" can backfire if the reason invites an argument. What kind of reason is hard to argue with?
- Walking away ends the pressure but might change the friendship. Is that a cost or a signal?
Check for understanding
Day 1, clipboard during Step 3: for each team, a yes or no on "positive and negative labeled correctly on at least eight cards," "direct and indirect labeled on at least eight," and "outcomes are specific, not 'bad things.'" Day 2: the feedback slips. A skit where the audience checked at least two steps and named the strongest line is "got it." A skit where the audience could not tell which steps were used gets a 30-second redo at the end if time allows.
Closure (Time: 4 min Day 1; 3 min Day 2)
Day 1: 3-2-1 on the bottom of the planner: 3 kinds of peer pressure with one example each, 2 consequences of giving in to the negative kind, 1 push (family, peers, or media) that is loudest for most people your age and why. Two students read their "1" aloud. Day 2: one line on the bottom of the planner: "The refusal step I will practice this week is ___ because it was hardest to say." Not read aloud. Say what Lesson 3.7 is: "Tomorrow: stress, what it is, and where yours lives."
Differentiation and supports
- ELL: the four refusal steps have a picture cue each (a hand up, a speech bubble, an arrow, a door); the scenario cards are short and read aloud once by a teammate; word bank on the handout for peer, pressure, no, reason, and walk away in Turkish, Portuguese, and Spanish; sentence starters for the skit: "No thanks, I ___." "How about we ___ instead?" A student may perform a refusal line in their first language with a teammate saying it in English.
- IEP and 504 (general): a student who does not want to perform is the team's director or the narrator who reads the card; six scenario cards instead of ten; the feedback slip is check boxes plus one line; a student who needs a fixed script uses the slide script word for word.
- Grade 6 support: six cards; the three-push grid has a word bank for each column; the skit uses two steps.
- Grade 8 stretch: Sal's third high-level objective: after the skits, draft a one-page peer advice guide, "What to say when," with the four steps, three of the class's best lines, and one line on how to be the friend who applies positive pressure. The best guides go on the room wall.
- UDL checkpoint used: multiple means of action and expression (perform, direct, narrate, or write) and multiple means of engagement (team skits with a class feedback loop; scenarios are fictional so nobody is exposed).
- No-kitchen or no-machine alternative: not needed.
Assessment
| Objective | Standards met | Learning task | Assessment (formative or summative; tool) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Define the terms, distinguish the kinds, list consequences | HDR 3. a) and c); CIR 5. d); National FCS 12.2.2 | Part 1, Day 1 Step 1; scenario table, Step 3 | Formative; clipboard checklist, exit card; the definitions return on the Unit 3 test |
| 2. Analyze a scenario with the decision model, compare three pushes, demonstrate refusal | HDR 3. b) and c); CIR 5. e); CDOS 3a Interpersonal Skills | Three-push grid, Day 1 Step 2; skit, Day 2 Step 3 | Formative; grid scored complete, partial, or missing; skit rated on the feedback slips (steps seen, strongest line) |
| 3. Design a skit and evaluate a classmate's | HDR 3. c); CIR 5. e); National FCS 13.2.5; Std 2 KI | Skit planner and performance, Day 2 Steps 2 and 3; feedback slips, Step 4 | Formative; the planner is daily work; the feedback slips are checked for a specific reason on the rating; the refusal steps are one of the tools that can appear in the Stress Plan (Lesson 3.9) |
Homework
None on Day 1 beyond finishing the scenario table. None on Day 2. Optional: use one refusal step this week and write down how it went (private).
Connections
Inside the building: the health teacher, who owns the substance and sexual pressure content, gets the four refusal steps so both courses teach the same steps in the same order. The drama or ELA teacher can lend a two-minute lesson on projecting to the back of the room before Day 2. The counselor may want the skits for an advisory period. [Sal: ask which refusal steps the health course already teaches; match the wording if they have one.]
Sources
- NYS Middle Level CTE FACS Content Module 02, Human Development and Relationships (nyctecenter.org, June 2018), lines 3. a), 3. b), and 3. c). Copy in
02 Standards/NYS Module PDFs/. Line 3. a) is quoted with the state's typo. - NYS Middle Level CTE Theme Module, Communication and Interpersonal Relationships, lines 5. d) and 5. e). Same folder.
- NYS Learning Standards for Health, Physical Education, and Family and Consumer Sciences (1996), Standard 2, Intermediate, FACS strand. Wording per
02 Standards/STANDARDS SOURCES - web research.md, section 2. - National Standards for Family and Consumer Sciences Education 3.0 (LEAD FCS Education, 2018), competencies 13.2.5 and 12.2.2.
- Sal's own materials: the tiered Peer Pressure objectives from
FNES538_notes_NextWeek-NutritionLabels-Tiered_2026-03.docx(Queens College, March 2026), rewritten into the three-objective format above; the five-step decision model from Unit 0.
Teacher notes
- Day 1 Step 3 is the long one and it is where the thinking happens. If time is short, cut Step 2 to the "weigh" step only. Never cut the scenario cards.
- Day 2: initial every plan before a team performs. It takes ten seconds per team and it stops the one skit you would regret.
- Common mistake: skits where the refuser gives a long apology ("sorry, sorry, I really wish I could but"). Point it out kindly in the debrief: an apology invites a second push. "No thanks" is complete.
- Set the no-applause-until-the-end rule before the first skit, or the first team gets a big hand and the last team gets nothing.
- [Sal: your students' hardest cards will not be the ones on the handout; they will be the ones they add. If a team writes its own card, read it before they use it.]