The term Shiva means the consciousness that dwells in all. It's your true identity- yourself. In this mantra the chanter bows to his true self.
I unveil my blog with this mantra because this is who I am. I believe in my true self. Other identities that make me who I am and I am proud of are:
A mum, a wife, a daughter, an educator and a learner.
Values that direct my pathway
Honesty
Self-responsibility & confidence
Doing my best in my worst
My value doing my best in my worst is a substantial one. Whenever I find myself in a stressful or a difficult situation this value influences me to look at the positive instead of the negative and guides my way through.
Defining health and active living is like a puzzle for me, the more I get into it, the more complex it becomes and the greater my desire to absorb into it and reach its core.
Why HEAL! (Health Education & Active Living)
My initial bulb was during one of my health science courses, about 4 years ago. The course dealt with how social factors affect ones lifestyle, the choices they make and their health. As an educator I was interested in enhancing my understanding of the influence of social determinants on students' education and learning.
This was confirmed when one of my students asked:
"Sunita, I want to lose 20 pounds"
How did this sentence confirm that I was destined to be in this HEAL program?
After teaching in public school and regular classroom for many years I got an opportunity to teach children with special needs only. Teaching students with special needs was a challenge as well as a great learning experience for me. My focus group was individuals with Down syndrome.
"I want to lose 20 pounds" was not an easy question for me to answer. Why?
- Children with Down Syndrome tend to be very emotional and find difficulty in making transitions. I knew the answer to this question was not a simple few worded sentence.
- There is limited research literature that goes in depth around the topics of Health Education and Active Living for individuals with special needs.
- Our current curriculum focuses on developing communication and reading skills of children with Down syndrome. Health education and healthy living programs for this vulnerable group are lacking.
- To adequately answer her question I needed to have a good understanding of the topic. I believe teachers need to be an expert in their area of discussion.
So here I am with an openness to explore, learn and develop under the guidance of our expertise and with my cohort group. I am excited and eager to share my knowledge with you all as well as experience your wisdom to expedite my learning.
What you expect in my blog
My blog will progress as I explore, experience and develop in these two years, yet......
Expect the expected as well as expect the unexpected
Sunita really made a connection to a professional life experience that lead her to the HEAL program. Her ability to address a problem that she has encountered in her work place through her enrolment in HEAL will truly create a valuable learning environment. It is a connection that I am beginning to hear from other cohort members, which really establishes a community of learners helping each other achieve their goals.
ReplyDeleteIt would be great to learn a little more about Sunita's background as we have such a diverse group and using each other's expertise in our educational journey can be extremely valuable.
I am unsure of the relationship between your current career choice and that of your educational background in health sciences. Although there is some relevance there, it would be interesting to see how you arrived down the path of working with children who have Down Syndrome.
It is so true that children with special needs are often provided programming and education with an emphasis on communication and a real focus on how to become contributing members of society. I see it in education all the time and generally there is a limited emphasis on their health education. We often over compensate with assisting them in important areas such as communication, but tend to do it at the expense of a valuable resource such as the promotion of health and active living.
While reading the blog, it really got me thinking about what role I could play in the promotion of health and active living within my own school for our students with special needs. Also thought about what types of resources to get information on the types of activity that would benefit students of varying special needs.
Hi Sunita! You've done an excellent job establishing your blog and launching that first post! I agree with Taylor's comment. Your blog post made me consider how we educate and provide health information to special needs students and their parents. Your post also got me thinking about how special needs students interpret and internalize the media messages and campaigns defining what it means to be healthy. This content may have to be repackaged in order to influence student and parent behaviour. Thank you for sharing your insights! Cheers! Jacqueline
ReplyDeleteHi Sunita! I too have had thoughts about how to engage children with special needs in my classroom more effectively. It seems that integration of special needs kids in the classroom has been achieved for many. They are accepted by their peers. However, I want to be able to challenge them to take control of their own health as best as they can. If I can do that for them, the others in the class will take note, and hopefully follow.
ReplyDeleteAs you stated "Defining health and active living is like a puzzle for me, the more I get into it, the more complex it becomes and the greater my desire to absorb into it and reach its core"-- this resonated with me. I feel that the more we delve into the topics, the easier it is to see how closely related and connected they are--everything is connected. Poverty, social policy, education, pathogenic responses, recreation, taxation, income security, immigration, etc, the list goes on and on. Nothing stands alone in isolation by itself.
To comment on Taylor's comment--"we often over compensate with assisting them in important areas such as communication, but tend to do it at the expense of a valuable resource such as the promotion of health and active living"-- the same can be said about our current physical education classes. A question that I have seen batted around is one of "how can we increase student performance outputs?" in the P.E. classroom. This learning outcome comes at the expense of fostering healthy active living routines and skills in young people. In our current schooling system, it is easy to become isolated and not collaborate with others, shutting out the wider, big picture of how interconnected every other discipline is.
It is almost as if two separate ideas, often seen as completely unalike do not affect each other. High performance does not always equal healthy lifestyles.
I am reminded of the scene in the Karate Kid when Mr. Miyagi teaches Daniel karate by having him clean and buff his old cars. Daniel is resentful and dumbfounded that this crazy old man would have him do such a thing. But by the end of the film, Daniel understands the importance of what his Sensei was trying to teach him. But, this realization comes only at the end. The teacher knows best, understands the connection, and it pays off.
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