Finding my way

We had company come over one Saturday during this past summer.  I was telling them how I teach fifth grade, but I was really a middle school teacher.  It definitely got me thinking about why I was staying in fifth grade, so I went to the job posts that day, and there was a health position open at Colony Middle School.  I didn't know if I would even be qualified since my certifications are EC-6th Grade and Science 4-8th.  But, I thought hey, it's health/biology, and the Alaska Skills for a Healthy Life really spoke to me.  Here is a link to them:  https://education.alaska.gov/akstandards/standards/AKStandards_SkillsforaHealthyLife.pdf.

I knew if I could get students creating healthy habits--physically, mentally and socially when they were young, then it would be habits they could use throughout high school and into adulthood.  The biggest lesson I have learned from teaching health is no matter how you try to make good decisions/choices, you cannot stop negative life experiences from coming your way, whether that be death of someone close, arguments with your family, or even abuse and neglect that so many of our students face on a daily basis.  It is how we handle those situations, the strategies we use to overcome them, and the people who help us along the way--that truly define our character.  It is so exciting at times, overwhelming at times, heavy at times....

There are many days I will never forget, but one in particular was when a young man decided to share his life experience.  We had just finished our unit on drug abuse, and he wanted to share how drugs had affected his life.  He was a special education student, and did not have the best public speaking skills, but his story transcended my little classroom.  He said that he suffered from disabilities because his mom had taken drugs when she was pregnant with him.  He talked about being moved to different homes throughout his life, as both his parents struggled with drug abuse.  He shared how awful he felt that his parents chose drugs over him.  He would pray with everything he had that his parents would stop using. He also shared his commitment to never, ever use drugs or alcohol.  I wasn't sure how the other students were going to react to this young man, but when he was done talking, the whole class erupted in applause.  I might have shed some tears.

And yes, I do have to teach the human life cycle, and yes, I can say 'penis' a lot more comfortably now. Being a health teacher is something I will never forget, and while I have hopefully helped my students progress through life with a handful of strategies and started them on the path of developing healthy habits, above all, I hope they know I will always be on their side--encouraging them to do everything it takes to have a healthy body + healthy mind = to be a happy human!

The above video was taken of students Friday, as we started our unit on conflict resolution.  Students were given different hot button topics, and then went to the number line to show where they stood on the issue--100% agree completely, 0% disagree.  It was great to see them realize that everything is definitely not black and white--there are lots of shades of grey where we can meet in the middle.  

The videos below show some of the fun we have had in class from learning about good character to making the commitment to follow our natural highs instead of highs obtained from drugs and alcohol.

The video above is about my Grandmother Olive who died from alcoholism.