Connection and Relevance #physed E-learning week 2

Monday March 30 is the start of our second week of E-learning at the International School of Düsseldorf. When focusing on what comes next I would like to start of with sharing a reflection on the week that has past.

All 9th grade students have received a daily workout and reflection document. As a Google school the “Healthy Happy Student document” (https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vTALhw7iihRsPTrlExpES25KhgKP14r4pWQByOkfmgBXI8FTm5JkIDQm3lktnL4Lfk4SR7ZbNK2qvSQ/pub) was easily shared with our students. Students worked on their individual daily check ins while the Physical Health Educators (PHE) keep full access to their reflections. At the start of each scheduled class I posted a greeting on Google classroom to make the students aware that I was available for questions and answers. I asked them to just respond with Hi, if they were present and if they wanted to have a zoom conversation then they could respond with Hi+zoom. While I was available for immediate feedback I also looked at their reflection document and commented on each of their reflections. Sometimes with a question, sometimes with some words of encouragement and other times I shared some strategies of how to overcome the challenges they were facing. I find It important to show my students that I care about them. Their learning can only continue if they feel secure and cared for.

After the first couple of check-ins I realised that our students respond very well to this (non-graded) assignment. While setting up for the second week of E-learning I contacted the school counsellors to ask them for advise. They were extremely helpful and lots of resources were shared with me. I also reached out to Stuart Crouch, the School librarian, to ask for help with resourcing the Healthy Happy Student document. Both Keith Leyman (Counsellor) and Stuart Crouch have worked on creating documents for our students with further information in their respective areas of expertise. The links to these documents also appear in the Healthy Happy Student assignment allowing students for easy access.

A positive outcome of the daily reflection of our students, and the close monitoring of these by their PHE teachers, is that it allows us to detect certain patterns with our students. We can forward these to advisory teachers and counsellors for a possible early intervention. This week I was asked to share some insights of a student and how this student was coping with the transition into E-learning. By looking at the reflections I was able to share that the student seems to sleep and eat well, stays hydrated and enjoys time with family. They are going outside together and the student is grateful for the healthy meals that are provided in the family. The active time needs a bit of a boost but overall this student seems content. The advisory teacher was impressed by the data that I was able to provide him.

I notice that I gravitate more and more to their answer to the question “What I am grateful of”. I personally find it really important that my students try to find something that makes them happy or grateful and that they verbalise in this document. That they get to see their thinking on paper and that they need to consider how to construct that answer that expresses their thinking. When doing a bit of research for this document I came across an article published by Harvard Health: “Giving thanks can make you happier”. (https://www.health.harvard.edu/healthbeat/giving-thanks-can-make-you-happier) The part in the article that resonated most with me in relation to what I am trying to achieve with my students during these uncertain times is:

In positive psychology research, gratitude is strongly and consistently associated with greater happiness. Gratitude helps people feel more positive emotions, relish good experiences, improve their health, deal with adversity, and build strong relationships.

As a Physical Health Educator my job is to also educate students about their (physical) being. However, to only offer physical activities without having relevant dialogue with my students would make me a Physical Activity provider. Physical activities are tools to educate the whole person in all dimensions of their wellbeing. Through connection and offering relevant tasks I can provide the care that my student are in need of during these uncertain and stressful times.

Next week our focus will be on learning, (learning how to learn, learning a new skill) You can find the outline of Healthy Happy Students week 2 right here. (https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSsRv7qaRGsEWlirQXAhhKU4C13ELRAJzc6oLT7aSHJZm7b-PQDYW1MIYJgRDcp8DUrIaOE0n_ZhydD/pub)

Sources used:

https://www.health.harvard.edu/healthbeat/giving-thanks-can-make-you-happier