Well-Being: Should it be More Central In Schools?
There is a movement to consider happiness and well-being as measures of development instead of just traditional economic measures like GDP. Concern for human happiness and well-being is also the realm of the field of Positive Psychology. In this post, I explore the idea of making student happiness and well-being as central goals for K-12 schools.
Student Well-being in Online Learning
Though there are exceptions, for most adolescents, full-time online learning during the Covid pandemic has been tough. It's not only been tough for learning, but also from the perspective of mental health and overall wellness. In this post, I have my students specifically in mind as I write. I want to outline a few scientific, research-based strategies for improving well-being. These are strategies that one can pick and choose from and implement pretty quickly and easily. Studies demonstrate that these strategies can provide a pretty immediate boost in one's sense of well-being, and, when put into regular practice, can provide long-term well-being benefits.
A Graduation Speech
I was privilege to be selected by the graduating class of 2021 as their speaker for their graduation ceremony. I was selected in part because I too was closing out my time at the International Community School of Addis Ababa. I've been doing a lot reading this semester related to the field of positive psychology for a PE class I've been teaching called "Personal Well-Being". This reading, together with my own experience of life-transition, mixed all together with the reflections that come from a year of a global pandemic, contributed to the below speech: Reflections on the Disney Pixar Movie, Soul.