Peer Pressure & Today's Youth by Kelly Campbell - College of ...

portrayed in our texts?.” These questions will start the unit off by getting students
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interested in the theme of peer pressure and thinking about its effects. By asking these
questions again at the end of the unit, the students will be able to judge and discuss how
the texts and activities from the unit may have changed their answers or understanding of
the theme of peer pressure as a whole.
The main text of this unit is Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. The young adult
novel is told from the main character, Melinda’s, perspective. She is raped at a party in
the summer before ninth grade, and she calls the cops. This incident makes her an outcast
at school. She cannot fit into any clique and cannot manage the pressure she feels at
school and at home, so she resorts to isolation. Melinda deals with issues of peer
pressure, finding friends, fitting in, and telling her story. This book is a powerful first
person portrayal of what peer pressure can do to a student.
I have chosen to have the teacher of this unit read the majority of Speak in class. I
have done so because I want students to actually read and enjoy the novel. I want them to
be able to experience it and discuss it with their peers in a safe classroom community.
This is valuable to their “learning, resolving issues [and] investigating complexities”
(Beers, 45). I believe that students should enjoy reading, and often when too much of it is
issued as homework it is portrayed solely as a mandatory assignment rather than as an
experience to relate to and enjoy (Witte).
The students are asked to write hallways logs and find and discuss articles that
relate to peer pressure. The hallway logs ask them to record at least ten conversations or
situations in which they overhear any form of peer pressure taking place. These logs will
help them see that peer pressure surrounds them every day in their social climates.