Date: June 24, 2016

School Name: McCloskey

School District: Delta

Contact Name: Sheldon Franken

Contact Information (optional):

Story Title: Adventures in Personal Health and Wellness

Did you receive an:

X Activity Grant

__ Inquiry Grant

  1. Tell us about your focus.Tell us about the context of your school, and why this topic was chosen (e.g. what was the need and how did you know this needed to be addressed?).

Our focus was getting students who typically have social, emotional, and/or behavioural challenges to participate in activities as a community across grades that benefit their physical and mental health. The goal was to have the students experience taking risks, leaving their comfort zones, getting outside and be given an opportunity to build trust amongst their school peers and the school staff.

We knew these goals needed to be addressed because so many of our students who have some challenges feel lost in the school, as if no one really values them. When they don’t feel valued by others then they tend to have a hard time valuing themselves. This often results in making poor choices around being physically and mentally health. We have experienced that when you give these students new opportunities to demonstrate and/or experience success they usually rise to the occasion.

  1. If you received an Inquiry Grant, what was your inquiry question?
  1. What did you do?What activities did you do? What key areas of health and learning did you focus on? What tools and resources did you use? How were students involved? Who else was involved?

We took some students on a field trip to an indoor rock-climbing Centre. We also took some students canoeing in a local park. Lastly, we reinforced our Eagle’s Nest program, creating a space where students who are having a hard time can go and get support and recharge or calm down. We have found that many of the Spot It games are great and helping students achieve both these purposes. Therefore, having more of these types of games in the Eagle’s Nest is incredibly worthwhile.

  1. What were the outcomes? Share evidence you gatheredin evaluation/assessment. What change was evident? How did you know? What new learning occurred? How did this influence the learning environment and students’ learning? What new areas of professional learning did you explore?

We were able to do directly observe students demonstrate resilience. For example, during rock climbing some students found it quite challenging and wanted to give up early on. However, with some intervention and watching their peers keep trying they gave it a second try, resulting in many more tries and a feeling of pride for their accomplishments. We also saw first hand insight by some students that they had some athletic ability, just not in the standard playground sports. For perhaps the first time some of theses students saw themselves as athletic. It is quite difficult to get a child who does not have confidence in the physical abilities to engage in a physically healthy lifestyle. This experience enabled the inertia for change in these perceptions and behaviours.

  1. School Connectedness.The heart of School Connectedness is the presence of caring relationships (e.g. students can identify two adults in the school who care about them). Did this activity/inquiry contribute to school connectedness, and if so, how and in what ways?

Absolutely! Many of the kids who went participated commonly have low self-esteem, often feel disconnected to their peers and the school and community overall. Participating in these activates demonstrated to these kids that people care about them and that they have the capacity to care about and enjoy developing relationships with others – both in terms of their peers and school staff.

  1. What are your reflections and how can you build on your efforts? Share any reflections you have (e.g. what worked well, what you would do differently next time). What did you learn? How did this transform your teaching practice? What advice do you have for others? What’s next for you, your students and the school?

As an educator, whenever you do an activity that cannot be done daily or weekly there is always the fear of the activity being a “one-off”, thereby questioning the full value of the experience.Do avoid this scenario of a chosen activity being a “one-off” the facilitator’s perspective

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