Caring for Student Wellness

Wellness is often described as the measure of a person’s mental and physical health to characterize their overall well-being (GoodTherapy, 2015).  This means that to keep the health and wellness of our students in the forefront of our minds and actions will be important in our classrooms.  How could we expect to educate a whole student if their overall well-being is not attended to first?  We know from decades of research that a student cannot even engage in learning if some basic and psychological needs are not met (Burton, 2012).  A focus on wellness can allow learners to have these deficiency needs met and real learning to occur.

Depending upon the source there are six to nine types or dimensions of wellness that we can consider when designing our classrooms and the lessons we teach.  According to Madeline Weilgus (2016) there are eight that we can use to guide our strategies for keeping students healthy and well.  To help she has created the great Wellness Wheel infographic below.

Here are some ideas for each of the dimensions of wellness that we could use in our classrooms.

Physical Wellness 

Take time often in class to do short physical brain breaks or movement videos.  There is a strong connection between movement and cognition (Jensen, 2005).  You can have students set their smart goals by miming or acting them out to a recorder or even just take a walk.  You can also include drama or role play into your class day to connect movement to material or play small games like tossing a ball to practice spelling or vocabulary (Jensen, 2005).   Also consider taking time for snacks and make sure all your students are getting the food they need.

Emotional Wellness

The key to emotional wellness is naming your feelings.  Naming and expressing your feelings tends to diffuse their power and lessen the burden they can create for you.  In other words “Name it to tame it” (Schwartz, 2015, para. 11).  Taking time in class to talk about emotions and work through them may be tough, but worth it in the long run.  Maybe a chart can help for students that have a hard time with this or are constantly angry or upset.  Teachers can also model the behavior by telling students when they are feeling something as well.

Spiritual Wellness

A great way to support your student’s spiritual wellness is to ask them big questions.  Wiggins and McTighe (2006) would probably call them essential questions, but helping students to contemplate big subjects with no real answer can be invaluable.  Also, including project based learning in connection to volunteering would be a great step for students (Weilgus, 2016).

Social Wellness

In general this means forming and cultivating healthy relationships (Weilgus, 2016).  Allowing students time to make connections and friendships will be of great importance for this to happen.  In addition, consider using classroom covenants to set ground rules and restorative justice techniques to teach students how to repair relationships.

Intellectual Wellness

This is what teachers do best!  Making students into life-long learners by differentiating material so that each student can find their zone of proximal development or their Goldilocks Zone should be incorporated into our lessons (Anderson, 2016).  Keep challenging students to do just a little more than they thought they could do.

Environmental Wellness

We can live sustainably in our classrooms as well.  Make your space a place your students want to be to increase their environmental wellness. When you are setting up your room, consider how and where students will sit and participate.  In fact Jennifer Gonzales (2018) gives several great ways to design your classroom in her article 12 Ways to Upgrade Your Classroom Design.   Also consider learning outside or in the spaces you're learning about if possible.

Occupational Wellness

Although this is more geared toward adult wellness, exploring your likes, dislikes, talents, and downfalls through trying new jobs is something you can do in your classroom.  Have students try out new jobs or institute a classroom economy where students get paid for cleaning or even teaching.  Try producing a video each month and editing it with online video software like WeVideo.  Some students can write, some can act, and some can be backstage.  Trying new jobs will be fun and help students to be curious about future life and goals.

Helping our students be safe, secure, thoughtful, and kind will be big steps in keeping them healthy and well.  It will also make your classroom a more calm and wondrous place for your students and you.

References

Anderson, M. (2016). Chapter 1. The Key Benefits of Choice. In Learning to Choose, Choosing to Learn. Alexandria, Virginia: ASCD. Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/116015/chapters/The-Key-Benefits-of-Choice.aspx

Burton, N., M.D. (2012, May 23). Our Hierarchy of Needs. Psychology Today. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/hide-and-seek/201205/our-hierarchy-needs

Gonzalez, J. (2018, March 18). 12 Ways to Upgrade Your Classroom Design [Web log post]. Retrieved from https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/upgrade-classroom-design/

GoodTherapy. (2015, August 28). Wellness [Web log post]. Retrieved from https://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/psychpedia/what-is-wellness

Jensen, E. (2005). Chapter 4. Movement and Learning. In Teaching with the Brain in Mind, 2nd Edition. ASCD. Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/104013/chapters/Movement-and-Learning.aspx

Schwartz, T. (2015, April 3). The Importance of Naming Your Emotions. New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/04/business/dealbook/the-importance-of-naming-your-emotions.html#:~:text=Noticing and naming emotions gives,even the most difficult emotions.

Wielgus, M. (2016, October 5). The Types of Wellness. Seattle Pacific University Blog. Retrieved from https://digitalobby.spu.edu/wellness/2016/10/05/the-types-of-wellness/

Wiggins, G., & McTighe, J. (2006). Understanding by design (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.