Gazing Into the Faces of AIDS
Creating Public Service Announcements to Help Educate Others about the AIDS Epidemic

Author(s):
Jackie Glasthal, The New York Times Learning Network
Andrea Perelman, The Bank Street College of Education in New York City

Grades: 6-12

Subjects: Health, Language Arts, Media Studies, Science

Overview of Lesson Plan: In this lesson, students consider whether or not there are generalizations that can be made about people who are infected with H.I.V. or who have the AIDS virus. They then create public service ad campaigns educating specific segments of the population about the disease. Finally, students consider what else can be done within their community to combat this epidemic.

Suggested Time Allowance: 1 hour

Objectives:
Students will:
1. Assess what, if anything, distinguishes people who have the H.I.V. virus or AIDS from other segments of the population.
2. Read the stories of individuals living with AIDS by reading and discussing "Voices of an Epidemic: One Disease, Lived Six Different Ways."
3. Create public service announcements educating particular segments of the population about H.I.V. and AIDS.
4. Identify what public service announcements can and cannot do in terms of educating the public; suggest a larger public service campaign that could be used to fight H.I.V. and AIDS within their own community.

Resources / Materials:
-copies of a public service message from AMFAR (http://208.178.40.192/cgi-bin/iowa/amfar/psm/photo.html?record=1&p=5) (one per student)
-student journals
-pens/pencils
-paper
-classroom blackboard
-copies of "Voices of an Epidemic: One Disease, Lived Six Different Ways" (one per student)
-large pieces of poster board or construction paper (ten pieces)
-markers
-reference materials with information about H.I.V. and AIDS (computers with Internet access, encyclopedias, health and science textbooks, related library references)

Activities / Procedures:
1. WARM-UP/DO NOW: Prior to class, print out and distribute on each student's desk a copy of an AMFAR (American Foundation for AIDS Research) public service message. Students respond to the following questions in their journals (written on the board prior to class): "Can you tell, just by looking at the picture in this public service message, that the person pictured in this ad has the H.I.V. virus? Do you know anyone personally who has this virus or who has AIDS? Are there any general statements you can make to describe people who are infected with H.I.V. or who have AIDS? If so, what are they?" After five minutes, discuss student responses as a class. In the course of this discussion, be sure to correct any stereotypes that students may have about people who are infected with H.I.V. or who have AIDS, such as that they are all gay, are all older people, all take drugs, and so on. [The New York Times' AIDS at 20 special index (http://www.nytimes.com/aids) and other sites provide graphs and offer other statistical information regarding the percentages of people by age, gender, race, sexual orientation and socioeconomic status of people who are now living with or have died of AIDS.)

2. In a round-table discussion format, read "Voices of an Epidemic: One Disease, Lived Six Different Ways," focusing on the following questions:
a. How was Dawn Averitt infected with the H.I.V. virus?
b. Why does Dawn Averitt refuse to be separated out from all of the other people living with AIDS?
c. Why does Dawn Averitt insist on telling people that she was sexually assaulted?
d. In what ways is La Toya Rodgers different from the other people interviewed in this article?
e. How, according to La Toya Rodgers, have other kids in her school treated her? How does she respond to these kids?
f. From what you can tell, does La Toya Rodgers see herself as different from the other kids in her school? What makes you think so?
g. How did Nick Metcalf get infected with H.I.V.?
h. What responsibility did Nick Metcalf take on after he became infected, and how has this changed his life?
i. Why does Denise Stokes describe herself as "living like an animal at best"?
j. When did she first find out she had the H.I.V. virus?
k. What steps did she finally take that helped her improve her outlook on life?
l. How has David Barr dealt with his illness?
m. David Barr refers to the F.D.A. and the N.I.H. in his interview. What do these acronyms stand for? What does each of these organizations do?
n. What worries David Barr most about the AIDS epidemic as he enters the 21st century?
o. What has been Timm Cameron's experience with drugs meant to help his body fight AIDS?
p. What angers Timm Cameron the most about ads that he has seen that are meant to give information about drugs used to fight AIDS?
q. Overall, how did these first-person accounts make you feel?
r. How was this piece similar to other articles that you have read in the New York Times about AIDS? In what ways was it different?

3. By this point in the lesson, it should be quite clear to students that there is not just one "type" of person infected by the H.I.V. virus or AIDS. Remind students that, in addition to people who become infected, others (such as their family and friends) also suffer. Keeping this in mind, organize students into ten pairs or small groups, and assign each one of the following groups of people: teenagers, young children, gay women, gay men, intravenous drug users, parents, people in South Africa, church groups, straight women, and straight men. (You might also include other groups.) Explain to students that each group will be responsible for creating a public service announcement regarding the H.I.V. virus and AIDS that is geared toward educating the population that they were assigned.

In helping them create their public service announcements, suggest that students take a look at the Behavior Change Through Mass Communication Handbook (http://www.fhi.org/en/aids/aidscap/aidspubs/handbooks/bccmedia.html). Students should also use these questions to help guide them in creating their ads (written on the board for easier student access):
--What message do you want to get across to this particular population?
--Will your ad appear in print, on radio, or on television? (In order to decide, determine where you are most likely to reach this particular population.)
--How will you catch this population's attention?
--How will you make your message clear?
--What visual images, if any, will you use to communicate your message?
--What words or phrases do you think will help get your message across effectively?
Allow students 20-30 minutes to create their public service announcements. Each group should then present their public service announcement to the class. Allow students to constructively critique the messages and methods used for each of the assigned segments of the population.

4. WRAP-UP/HOMEWORK: Students respond to the following in their journals (written on the board for students to copy before leaving class): Fold a piece of paper in your journal in half vertically, forming two columns. In the left column, list all of the things that a public service announcement can do to help fight an epidemic such as H.I.V. and AIDS. In the right column, list other elements that you think need to be included in a large campaign to help fight H.I.V. and AIDS. Keep in mind the public service announcements that you and your classmates created, as well as the voices that you 'heard' in the New York Times article read in class." In a future class, students should share their lists and track responses in two columns on the board. Then, as a class, outline a plan for a broader local campaign that could be used to educate others about H.I.V. and AIDS within your own communities. (This can be done in small groups or as a class.) Note that although an ad campaign could (and should) be a part of this broader initiative, students will need to come up with other elements that would need to be included for a successful program and to explore the local resources they would need in order to launch a broad campaign against H.I.V. and AIDS within their community. The class might continue this lesson as a longer class activity, actually developing and carrying out the campaign they create together.

Further Questions For Discussion:
--From what you have seen, in what areas are public service announcements most helpful in dealing with an issue like H.I.V. and AIDS?
--In additional to advertising, what else is needed to fight a disease of this magnitude?
--What types of things did you find most difficult when trying to put together a local campaign for dealing with this epidemic? Why do you think that was?
--How do you think people facing the disease, such as those interviewed in the New York Times article, can be of help in "fine-tuning" a local campaign, such as the one that you have suggested?

Evaluation / Assessment:
Students will be evaluated based on written journal entries, participation in class discussions, group-created public service announcements, individual analysis about what else needs to be done to combat this epidemic, and participation in class development of an H.I.V./AIDS campaign to implement in their community.

Vocabulary:
dizzying, ethnicities, orientation, tumultuous, protease, inhibitors, lesions, contract, energized, camaraderie, sustaining, T-cells, viral, inordinately, vulnerable, dramatically

Extension Activities:
1. Research the distinctions that exist between the H.I.V. virus and AIDS. Find out more about how they affect the body to disable T-cells. Then, create a detailed poster diagram explaining what you have learned.

2. Compare an H.I.V.-infected cell, such as the one found at HSU AIDS (http://www.humboldt.edu/~aids/holdbay.htm), with a healthy cell. Then, in an article or a classroom poster, explain the ways by which various drugs help to temporarily foil the process.

3. To take part in an activity that simulates what scientists do to determine whether or not a person has been infected by the H.I.V. virus, go to the H.I.V. Testing Introduction (http://www.msichicago.org/ed/AIDS/hivtst1.htm). When you have finished the activity, write a paragraph reflecting on the activity.

4. With a partner, brainstorm a list of stereotypes that many people have about people who have contracted the H.I.V. virus or who have AIDS. Then, create an ad or series of ads that fight these stereotypes. For added inspiration for your ad, check out the ads found at the Day Without Art archives (http://www.visualaids.org/dwa_art_archive_posters.html).

5. Take another look at the article "Voices of an Epidemic: One Disease, Lived Six Different Ways," and select one of the six people interviewed whose message had a particularly strong impact on you. Write a letter to that person, describing how his or her comments made you feel and why. If you could interview this person, what questions would you ask?

Interdisciplinary Connections:
Fine Arts
-Find out what the NAMES Foundation does and how the squares that have been sewn into the AIDS Memorial Quilt celebrate the life of individuals who have died from an AIDS-related diseases. Then, design your own quilt patch that is meant to celebrate the life of someone you lost to AIDS or another fatal disease. Combine your class's quilt patches into a classroom memorial dedicated to fighting diseases of all sorts.
-Working with five classmates, perform a dramatic reading of the voices that are "heard" in the article "Voices of an Epidemic: One Disease, Lived Six Different Ways." After students have acted out the actual words of those inflicted with this dreaded disease, continue with an improvisational conversation of what these six people might say to one another if they happened to meet shortly after they were interviewed for this article. Alternately, create pieces of visual art representing the message of each of the six people included in the article.

Geography- Explore the campaigns that have been launched in countries around the world to help slow the spread of H.I.V. and deaths from AIDS. Choose one country that you think is particularly effective in doing this and one country that you think has been basically ineffective. Write a comparison essay exploring what a country needs to do to effectively fight H.I.V. and AIDS.

Mathematics- According to the New York Times article "AIDS at 20: The Voices of an Epidemic," 800,000 to 900,000 Americans are currently living with H.I.V. For others AIDS-related statistics, take a look at "Dying By the Numbers" (http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2000/aids/stories/overview/). Then, come up with a way to help you and your classmates visualize this huge amount. For example, you might create a short computer program that would allow you to print out 800,000 asterisks on your computer, or start a campaign to collect 800,000 band aids as a symbolic gesture to raise money to fight AIDS. Work with your classmates to come up with other ideas that could help you get a grasp of the huge numbers that these statistics actually represent. Also, for an experiment that helps to show how quickly the AIDS virus can spread among people, check out the AIDS lab (http://student.biology.arizona.edu/sciconn/immunology/immunology.html).

Teaching with The Times- Explore historic Times coverage of the AIDS epidemic dating back to 1981 [found online at AIDS at 20 (http://www.nytimes.com/aids).] Create a "headline timeline" that explores how attitudes and information about people with H.I.V. and AIDS have changed in the past 20 years.

The New York Times Learning Network Lesson Plan
Developed in Partnership with The Bank Street College of Education in New York City
http://www.nytimes.com/learning

References:

Additional Related Articles:
Visit The New York Times on the Web's AIDS at 20 special index (http://www.nytimes.com/aids) for recent and historic coverage, timelines, Web resources, videos and more.

Other Information on the Web
Inspiring Stories of People Living with AIDS (http://gbgm-umc.org/cam/stories.html) offers additional stories of people living with this terrible disease.

AIDS Education Global Information System, or AEGIS (http://www.aegis.com), is the world's largest H.I.V./AIDS knowledgebase.

Journal of American Medical Association's H.I.V./AIDS Information Center (http://www.ama-assn.org/special/HIV/HIVhome.htm) provides the most up-to-date information about AIDS and H.I.V. research.

The CDC, or Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (http://www.cdc.gov), provides news and statistics about various diseases.

The objective of the World Health Organization (http://www.who.int) is the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health.

Anatomy of an Epidemic (http://library.advanced.org/11170) provides a wealth of information about a wide variety of epidemics that have ravaged various populations of people throughout history.

Academic Content Standards:
This lesson plan may be used to address the academic standards listed below. These standards are drawn from Content Knowledge: A Compendium of Standards and Benchmarks for K-12 Education: 2nd Edition and have been provided courtesy of the Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning in Aurora, Colorado.

In addition, this lesson plan may be used to address the academic standards of a specific state. Links are provided where available from each McREL standard to the Achieve website containing state standards for over 40 states. The state standards are from Achieve's National Standards Clearinghouse and have been provided courtesy of Achieve, Inc. in Cambridge Massachusetts and Washington, DC.

Grades 6-8
Science Standard 6- Knows the general structure and functions of cells in organisms. Benchmarks: Knows that multicellular organisms have a variety of specialized cells, tissues, organs, and organ systems that perform specialized functions; Knows that disease in organisms can be caused by intrinsic failures of the system or infection by other organisms
Connect to State Standard
Science Standard 16- Understands the scientific enterprise. Benchmarks: Understands ethics associated with scientific study; Knows that throughout history, many scientific innovators have had difficulty breaking through accepted ideas of their time to read conclusions that are now considered to be common knowledge; Knows ways in which science and society influence one another
Connect to State Standard
Health Standard 2- Knows environmental and external factors that affect individual and community health. Benchmark: Knows cultural beliefs, socioeconomic considerations, and other environmental factors within a community that influence the health of its members
Health Standard 8- Knows essential concepts about the prevention and control of disease. Benchmarks: Understands how lifestyle, pathogens, family history, and other risk factors are related to the cause or prevention of disease and other health problems; Knows communicable, chronic, and degenerative disease processes and the differences between them
Language Arts Standard 1- Demonstrates competence in the general skills and strategies of the writing process. Benchmarks: Uses style and structure appropriate for specific audiences and purposes; Writes expository compositions; Writes compositions that speculate on problems/solutions
Connect to State Standard
Language Arts Standard 8- Demonstrates competence in speaking and listening as tools for learning. Benchmarks: Plays a variety of roles in group discussions; Asks questions to seek elaboration and clarification of ideas; Listens in order to understand a speaker's topic, purpose, and perspective; Conveys a clear main point when speaking to others and stays on the topic being discussed; Listens to and understands the impact of nonprint media on media consumers
Connect to State Standard

Grades 9-12
Science Standard 16- Understands the scientific enterprise. Benchmarks: Understands the ethical traditions associated with the scientific enterprise and that scientists who violate those traditions are censored by their peers; Knows that science and technology are essential social enterprises, but alone they can only indicate what can happen, not what should happen; Knows that creativity, imagination, and a good knowledge base are all required in the work of science and engineering
Connect to State Standard
Health Standard 2- Knows environmental and external factors that affect individual and community health. Benchmarks: Knows how the health of individuals can be influenced by the community; Understands how the environment influences the health of the community; Understands how the prevention and control of health problems are influenced by research and medical advances
Health Standard 8- Knows essential concepts about the prevention and control of disease. Benchmarks: Understands how the immune system functions to prevent or combat disease; Understands the importance of prenatal and perinatal care to both the mother and the child; Understands the social, economic, and political effects of disease on individuals, families, and communities
Language Arts Standard 1- Demonstrates competence in the general skills and strategies of the writing process. Benchmarks: Uses a variety of prewriting strategies (e.g., develops a focus, plans a sequence of ideas, uses structured overviews, uses speed writing, creates diagrams); Writes compositions that are focused for different audiences; Writes compositions that fulfill different purposes; Writes expository compositions; Writes persuasive compositions that evaluate, interpret, and speculate about problems/solutions and causes and effects; Makes informed judgments about nonprint media
Connect to State Standard
Language Arts Standard 8- Demonstrates competence in speaking and listening as tools for learning. Benchmarks: Plays a variety of roles in group discussions; Asks questions to seek elaboration and clarification of ideas; Listens in order to understand a speaker's topic, purpose, and perspective; Conveys a clear main point when speaking to others and stays on the topic being discussed; Listens to and understands the impact of nonprint media on media consumers

Related New York Times Article " Voices of an Epidemic: One Disease, Lived Six Different Ways", By LINDA VILLAROSA, June 5, 2001
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/featured_articles/010605tuesday.html

Copyright (c) 2001 by The New York Times Co.

Voices of an Epidemic: One Disease, Lived Six Different Ways

By LINDA VILLAROSA

"Anyone can get this disease, even someone who looks like me - everybody's daughter, sister, wife, mistress or the girl next door."

I was diagnosed with H.I.V. on June 28, 1988. It was a complete shock. I was your basic middle-class white girl from the sunny South, incredibly square with no drug history and not much sexual experience; I didn't even smoke. My doctor asked me, "Do you know how you got infected?" and I realized that I had first developed swollen lymph nodes, a high fever and chest pain six or seven weeks after I had been raped while overseas.

But, at this point in my life, I don't even like to mention the rape because people are quick to say, oh, you didn't deserve this; you were a victim. But I refuse to be separated out from all of the other people living with AIDS; we are all part of the H.I.V. community. I know that no one deserves this. I only speak about the sexual assault to drive home the point that it only takes one time to contract the disease. I talk and write about my own experience to make it clear that anyone can get this disease, even someone who looks like me - everybody's daughter, sister, wife, mistress or the girl next door.

La Toya Rodgers
Gary, Ind., student

"I told the kids at school that you couldn't get AIDS from touching me or hugging me or being my friend."

When I was about 6, my great aunt, who I now call my mother, told me that my mother had AIDS and that she passed it on to me. She told me to come back and ask her if I had any questions and tell her if any kids teased me.

That didn't happen until I was in second grade. Many of the teachers and kids at school knew I had it, and some girls wouldn't sit by me or slide down the slide after me. They called me AIDS girl. I was sad and went home to ask my mother why did this happen to me, why did kids do this to me. She told me I wasn't different from anybody else.

That's true. The only thing different about me is that I take 15 pills a day. The best thing for me to do was just be honest with them, so I did. I told the kids at school that you couldn't get AIDS from touching me or hugging me or being my friend. They asked me if I was going to die, and I told them when it's my turn, my time will come.

Nick Metcalf
Minneapolis, nonprofit administrator

"I want to give my son enough love now so that if I'm not there when he grows older there will be enough to carry him through."

Even though I knew what the risks were, I engaged in unprotected sex to save my relationship.

I grew up on the Rosebud reservation in South Dakota in an abusive environment, so I was in a very vulnerable place. Somewhere in my unconscious I wanted my partner to protect me, to say don't do this. Even so, when I found out I was positive three years ago, I fell apart, and shortly afterward, so did the relationship.

But a year later, my life changed even more dramatically: my sister decided she couldn't take care of her baby and asked me to raise him. Because I was gay and positive, I decided this was my last chance to be a parent, so I said yes.

Sonny has given my life a sense of hope and of purpose. Still, sometimes the thought crosses my mind that I want to give my son enough love now so that if I'm not there when he grows older there will be enough to carry him through.

Denise Stokes
Atlanta, writer and speaker

"I was living like an animal at best because I was trying desperately not to deal with the virus."

I found out I had H.I.V. in 1986, and it was already a tumultuous time in my life. I had a lot of problems at home, and eventually my mother kicked me out. Over the next several years, I started drinking, then smoking weed, then using cocaine, crack and heroin. I was homeless off and on, and sometimes I lived in a crack house. Eventually, I became suicidal. I traded some drugs for a gun and planned to shoot myself. Looking back, I realize that I was living like an animal at best because I was trying desperately not to deal with the virus. It took a while for me to learn that part of the reason I had so much trouble staying clean was because I had this big, scary secret.

Now my life is more stable and my health is more stable, thanks to the protease inhibitors. But I still tend to take each day as it comes. I've had many side effects with the drugs, including kidney problems, diarrhea, vomiting and severe allergic reactions that left open lesions all over my body. It's hard but I'm happy.

David Barr
New York, lawyer

"I didn't have a sense of personal crisis, because I was so energized by what we were doing in Act- Up."

I went to my first Act-Up meeting in June 1987. I had already been involved in AIDS work, but with Act-Up, I immediately felt a sense of camaraderie and community that had been missing from the gay community. I was excited by all of the energy and anger, by people coming together for a purpose and a cause.

In October 1988, when we staged the demonstration in front of the F.D.A. office building in Rockville, Md., it was a turning point in Act-Up's history. It was very theatrical Ñ 1,000 people saying the government red tape is killing us can't help but get attention. After that, doors opened at the F.D.A. as far as treatment is concerned and also at the N.I.H. By 1989, when I found out I was infected with H.I.V., I was working at Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund and still deeply involved with Act-Up. The work was sustaining for me; I didn't have a sense of personal crisis because I was so energized by what we were doing in Act-Up. I left the group in 1991 to work solely on research and treatment issues.

Now, even though I feel very fortunate to be alive, I'm worried. So many young gay men don't know the history. They think they can just take a pill and be O.K. But engagement in organizations is down, and infection rates are up, and the AIDS epidemic is nowhere near over in the gay community.

Timm Cameron
Seattle, social worker

"Every protease inhibitor works for me for a while, and then stops. It's been very frustrating."

I found out I was infected with H.I.V. in 1992, 25 days before my 30th birthday, when AIDS was still a death sentence. I brought together 50 friends and took them out to dinner to say goodbye. But somehow, even though I was sick off and on and living with few T-cells, I made it to 1996 when Crixivan came out.

I enrolled in the drug trial, and very quickly my viral load dropped from somewhere in the hundred thousands to 1,000. But then it stopped working, and my viral load started to rise again, doubling about every six to eight weeks. Since then, though the companies have put out many new drugs, I've been resistant to them all. Every protease inhibitor works for me for a while, and then stops. It's been very frustrating.

Though I'm happy for people who have been able to take the drugs and have success, I also get angry at the drug companies when I see ads showing healthy, beautiful models who are supposedly H.I.V. positive. Even when the drugs worked for me, my body has changed inordinately. I've had damage to my liver, I've had head-to-toe rashes, headaches, vomiting and diarrhea.

But I try to remain hopeful; my goal is to stay around long enough until there is some way to get rid of the virus for good.