"Steroids and Kids" Toxic Strength - Reading Comprehension

Hello. Welcome back from winter break. Our first few assignments of the semester are built around reading comprehension skills and gathering information from published texts to use in your own writing.

We are starting off with an article from Newsweek, "Steroids and Kids". In an effort to make it more manageable I have broken the article into three sections. If you work from the online copy you will not have these three sections, only the article as a whole.

1. Chart the changes that Chris Wash experienced from the time he went from being an average high school sophomore on the basketball team to who he had become after he began taking steroids in his junior year. Some answers are offered in the reading, some answers will need to be inferred.

TOPIC: SOPHOMORE YEAR: JUNIOR YEAR:

Weight

Personality

Sports Involvement

Muscle Mass and
Reason for developing Muscles

Form of Drugs


Emotional State


2. The article states the Dr. Jordan D. Metzl “calls steroid use ‘a burgeoning epidemic.’” Explain what you think the term "burgeoning epidemic" means in the context of this article.

3. According to this article, how many teens are using drugs? What kinds of teens are using them?


4. What is “muscle dysmorphia?”


5. What are eight possible side effects from taking steroids in your teen-age years?

a. e.
b. f.
c. g.
d. h.


6. Explain how the students who take steroids feel about them and how they feel when they are on them.


7. Why are steroids hard to give up, according to this article?

As a class we also gathered and constructed the following items that will be used when we work on writing great introductory paragraphs:
2 very short stories that could be used to grab a reader's attention;
1 factual statement that is interesting;
2 interesting pieces of information

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1. Complete the chart below: Anabolic Steroids

ANABOLIC STERIODS: DETAILS & EXPLANATIONS:

What is it?


What do they do to the body?


How are the effects on the body amplified?


2. What is “androstenedione?’

3. How is “andro” similar to anabolic steroids?

4. How is “andro” different from anabolic steroids?

5. What is creatine phosphate?

6. Write 3 subtitles that could be used with this section of the text:

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1. What is “Hypermasculinity”?



 How is Hypermasculinity manifested in males?



 How is Hypermasculinity manifested in females?



2. Feminizing effects can the drugs have on males?



3. This section of the article discusses a wide variety of risks to the human body as a result of taking steroids. Use the list of risks below and the information in the article to make a completed graphic organizer that displays the information. Do this on the back of this sheet.

Risks:
Skeletal growth Muscles Cholesterol
Aggressiveness Emotional Response


4. Explain how and/or why this use of steroids has been ignored or not noticed by the people who support high school athletes (parents, siblings & coaches)


5. What is “dysmorphia” and how does it compare to anorexia?


6. Who do you think was the intended audience for this article – teens, adults, educators, athletes, etc? Support your answer with at least two specific reasons (evidence).