sions on an anchor chart and putting stu- dents’ names beside their contributions, providing students with different options to show learning, and allowing students opportunities to share their learning and expertise with each other through inquiry projects.
INCLUDE
• Use activities in the classroom that allow students to share about themselves, such as the SMH-ON activity titled “Tat’s Me,” in which a student shares something about themselves (e.g., “I have three siblings”) and anyone else in the class who has that in common raises their hand and says, “Tat’s me.”
• Allow students to have a chance to be a leader. For example, have students provide a daily dedication prior to a lesson or sharing of a topic.
• Integrate activities for students to learn about others in their class. Te activity “I in Image” from SMH-ON has students choose an image that reflects something about themselves and then share why they chose that image.
UNDERSTAND
• Educators completed a free six-hour mental health literacy course from SMH-ON and applied the learning to their daily practice.
• Share clear definitions of mental health and mental illness to reduce the stigma of talking about mental health.
PROMOTE
• Integrate evidence-based social-emotional skills lessons from the online Everyday Mental Health Classroom Resource cre- ated by SMH-ON and ETFO.
• Have students create products (videos, posters, comics, memes) to share mental health promotion with one another and the school community.
PARTNER
• Provide parents and caregivers informa- tion about what students are learning about social-emotional skills and mental health at school so they can reinforce skills at home.
CONTINUATION AND SUSTAIN- ABILITY OF IMPLEMENTATION
Te work of weaving well-being into every- day classroom practices is a continuous pro-
ELEMENTARY TEACHERS’ FEDERATION OF ONTARIO 29
cess; it is not a destination but a journey. To continue and sustain the work, SMH-ON has created a tool called Wayfinder, which pro- vides 10 sequential learning opportunities, organized by grade, for integrating mental- health learning into the classroom. Te tool provides core lessons related to strand D of the Ontario Health curriculum, and shares reinforcing and skill-building activities to foster positive mental health. Tere are also consolidation learning opportunities pro- vided to ensure the learning from the year is meaningful and translatable to all aspects of a student’s life. By using this tool, educa- tors teach core mental-health learning con- nected to the Health and Physical Education curriculum, expose and model coping strate- gies, and provide guidance to consolidate the learning. Integrated resources range from “press and play” videos to lesson plans to parent/caregiver communications. Ultimately, we as educators, want all stu-
dents to be their best selves. We can sup- port their learning about themselves and the strategies that aid them to navigate the ups and downs of life by ensuring that well-being is an integrated part of their day.
THE ULTIMATE OUTCOME
At the beginning of this piece, I mentioned that “you can’t pour from an empty cup.” Trough this process, our team discovered that while that’s true, you can refill your cup as an educator. By intentionally integrat- ing well-being strategies and ideas into the classroom and school environment, not only does student mental health flourish, educa- tor mental health is also supported. Educa- tors who practice these strategies with their students and create planned, purposeful, and sustainable mental-health learning oppor- tunities begin to replenish themselves while building student skills. Te acts of modeling, engaging and learning alongside students about mental health and coping strategies provides us, as educators, exposure to a vari- ety of mental health coping tools. For exam- ple, we can model the use of the five-finger breathing mindfulness technique to draw the attention of a talkative class. If we pair the strategy with the instruction “If you can hear me, breathe with me,” we help the class settle and refocus, and help ourselves remain in a state of balance, which supports our own mental health. n
Sue Ducau is a member of the Simcoe County Teacher Local.
“ ULTIMATELY, WE, AS EDUCATORS, WANT ALL STUDENTS TO BE THEIR BEST SELVES. WE CAN SUPPORT THEIR LEARNING ABOUT THEMSELVES AND THE STRATEGIES THAT AID THEM TO NAVIGATE THE UPS AND DOWNS OF LIFE BY ENSURING THAT WELL-BEING IS AN INTEGRATED PART OF THEIR DAY.”
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