Welcome to the comments, opinions and reflections of an 8th year Health, PE and OUED teacher. I have taught in Auckland, Adelaide and mid 2023 sees the move to Levin. Feel free to comment or contact me through Twitter, always keen to connect and share!
Y6 students who are starting at MHS next year had a transition day today - a little taster into what life will be like at a secondary school next year. As part of the day, the Y6 students had a double lesson of PE and my OUED class were asked to run this. This was a great opportunity for us to spend the last couple of weeks leading up to transition day linking back to our Group Dynamics unit and compare how my students were interacting with each other now to the beginning of the semester. We had some great discussion around Tuckman's stages of group development and where there had been shifts across the stages.
Unfortunately some of my students didn't show up for transition day, but we made the day work and the kids that were there did a great job. It was a great final lesson for the year. Running activities for a large group of students with a lot of energy is challenging for teachers let alone 13/14 year olds! They knew that this was a great opportunity for leadership experience though, which is a key skill to develop in OUED. A few of them really took the role seriously and I could see they were reflecting with their partners after each of their rotations to try and make their activity 'better'.
The structure of the day, the number of students and several teachers was an organisational experience for me too. I don't often plan events like this and in fact I don't know whether I had organised anything with this many moving parts on my own before! I certainly enjoyed planning and going on camps more, but it was still experience nevertheless. Although I was running around like a headless chicken for nearly two hours (great for my steps!) and there were some things that could have been changed, overall the session ran pretty smoothly. The Y6s had a taste into a variety of team building activities (such as obstacle courses, creating shelters and relays) as well as a mixture of invasion and target games including floor hockey, number games and beanbag throws - so I feel we met the brief!
I do enjoy organising things so event management could be something I dabble in more. In the future maybe I could keep an eye out for opportunities to develop these skills further. Next week is Activities Week so today was also my last teaching day at Marryatville! Here's to the next chapter, whatever that may bring...
I asked my 9OUED class for some feedback about each of the units in the form of ratings as well as general feedback. Initially they were hesitant to share their thoughts. I think this was because they didn't want to offend me or hurt my feelings if they didn't enjoy something. However, after some prompts and reminders that this is a genuine opportunity to adapt the course for future students and I would actually be disappointed if they didn't share how they were feeling, they opened up a bit! We actually had some great discussion.
We went through each of the 4 units and discussed 3 areas for each; their overall enjoyment throughout, their experience and thoughts of the excursion/camp for that unit and the skills and knowledge that they learnt (how much and how interesting). Students were asked to rate from 1-4 between the 4 units (1 being the highest). For example, I could have said that I enjoyed the ecology unit the least and the rock-climbing unit the most. As a result, I would have given rock climbing a 1, bushwalking a 2 or 3, group dynamics 2 or 3 and ecology a 4.
I have created the alongside graphs as visuals to show what the students said (unfortunately some units have less feedback than others because we had students join us partway through the semester and/or they didn't come on the excursion(s)). Some of the clear pieces of feedback from the quantitative data (alongside the in-class discussion) include:
- Bushwalking in general was clearly the most enjoyed unit of the 4 but less than half of the students actually enjoyed the overnight bushwalking camp experience. Chatting with them though, it wasn't necessarily that specific camp, just that they realised they don't like bushwalking.
- They clearly learnt the most skills and or knowledge throughout the ecology unit. This didn't surprise me but was great they were able to recognise this! Despite learning the most though, the excursion to the beach was their least favourite of the four throughout the semester. The general consensus was that there was a lot of talking from the people facilitating the microplastics experience and not enough hands-on. I agreed with this and as a result there will be some changes next year (such as borrowing the equipment and the teacher running the session).
- Generally the rock climbing unit was enjoyed and the experience of actually rock climbing was positive for many of the students. I observed lots of positive involvement in the learning around the safety considerations and preventative measures in the outdoors (both at school and at the rock climbing wall). I started to include some more specific scenarios to break down/discuss after attending the fatality prevention PD and the students were really engaged in these conversations.
I have enjoyed creating this 9OUED course this year and felt so lucky to be able to teach the first groups of kids. Using the kids' feedback and my own reflections, I have created a semester unit plan with all resources and activities for the teacher who will be taking over next year. I'm proud of this and know it is a great place to start for anyone who may take over the course (and can't wait to see how it develops over the next few years). This brings me to the end of my time teaching OUED for this year. I have learnt lots and have really been pushed out of my comfort zone. Here's hoping in the future I have more opportunities to teach OUED! (Will certainly need a lot more development though!)
This year I have completed a 'Professional Development Plan' for the first time. Although there is a specific structure that is supplied by the Dept of Ed and specific questions my mentor has needed to ask, it's very similar to an NZ inquiry.My full PDP can be accessed here, which includes a little more detail around my planning, the criteria my goals link to and some of the discussion points I had with my mentor.
I have created the below visual which gives some of the key ideas/topics that I have been focused on throughout the year. Included are some of the possible ways to learn more about these areas of development (which I wrote at the beginning of the year). Although these goals aren't written as SMART goals, they were fleshed out more in my PDP meetings with my mentor (HOD HPE).
Reflecting on the some of the specific knowledge and skills I have wanted to develop throughout this year, these are some of the things I have achieved this year:
- Gave student choice in the activities/tasks/assignments they complete (including topics and modes of presentations)
- Provided exemplars and explained what grades they are and why (generally got students to do this themselves first and then broke the criteria and grading down with them)
- Gave suggested structures with sentence starters (student choice whether they used or not!)
- Used colour coding between the task, the criteria and what students created
- Created pre written questions to prompt in class discussion
- Created several tasks and assignments directly related to the ACARA objectives/criteria (and of course assessed against them)
- 1:1 verbal feedback meetings with Y12s as well as written feedback opportunities on their drafts (i.e. checkpoints)
Moving forward, areas I would like to further develop/build on include:
- Greater confidence and understanding about facilitating OUED debriefs
- Use of different tools and strategies to gather and analyse feedback (I did not use Ziplet as it seemed very confusing I didn't think would give me anything additional Google Forms would)
- More specific differentiated tasks for students with learning challenges or who have been identified as students needing modified or adjusted tasks (and learn more about neurodiversity in general)
- Attend PD and complete more reading around literacy and how to increase literacy in HPE/OUED
- Actively engage students with risk management planning and have more specific scenarios to help prepare students more before they go into the outdoors
One part of our teacher only day today was looking at the high impact teaching strategies and how these can be embedded within our classrooms. There are 10 HITS which are the dark blue puzzle pieces below. HITS are instructional practices that have been proven to increase student learning when they are applied. The numbers I have written are the effect size of the strategy - it was not surprising that multiple exposures and feedback had the highest effect sizes! Our jigsaw activity was to individually learn about and reflect on one strategy and then share back with our group.
I was given Setting Goals, as below. We were required to think about what the strategy was, how it is already included within teaching and learning and then specifically link with the school's pedagogical framework. I enjoyed this task because it really encouraged me to think in detail about whether that strategy is a) already within learning programmes, b) how effectively the strategy is included in programmes and c) where there could be greater inclusion. To help determine these three things we also had to consider where the faculty is currently sitting along the progress continuum for the use of the strategy (emerging, evolving, embedding or excelling). Having the group discussion about each of the strategies indicated that although all the strategies are currently employed within the HPE department (some subconsciously), some are more common than others (which also changed across teachers). Moving forward therefore, there needs to be more conscious inclusion of the HITS across the board - i.e. actively planning to use the practices. I really liked having the continuum to refer to, because this made it quite clear what level we were. I like when things are this clear, to help determine what the next steps are to continue the progression.
If you would like to learn more about the HITS, this website breaks them down for a quick read. The Victorian Department for Education has explained the 10 HITS in greater detail with examples to demonstrate how they can be included in teaching and learning (this was also what we were referring to for our jigsaw activity and discussion).
To build on our learning and reflections from the Attenborough doco, we had Michelle from AUSMAP visit our OUED class for a presentation about microplastics. Michelle shared what some of the microplastics in Australian waterways are, some of the places these microplastics come from and the impact they are having on our environments and wildlife. The stats and images from our shores made the reality hit a little harder for the students and gave some the spark to make a difference.
Following from Michelle's presentation, we headed to Tiranna Reserve at West Lakes. West Lakes has been proven to have a significant amount of microplastics compared to other waterways (some of the highest numbers in the country). Check out the hotspot map AUSMAP have created to show the data they have collected so far. Our job at Tiranna Reserve was obviously to remove some microplastics, but also to collect further data.
In addition to this experience, recently our faculty has been learning about key numeracy terms and topics. The aim of this learning is to increase numeracy across the school and the HPE teachers were given the task to create at least one lesson with a numeracy focus. I decided that there were so many opportunites for connections with numeracy vocabulary and skills throughout the learning and microplastics experience. Many of these connections were natural, I just hadn't been using the correct/consistent vocab! Check out my lesson plan below:
As an addition to our lesson plan, we were given a 360 degree camera to film (I ended up with 6 clips as the camera saves them as 8 minute files). A local uni is analysing our lesson plan, video and reflection from our lessons (see my reflection below). Unfortunately this process is continuing into next year so I won't get to see the results. However, watching myself back is always interesting. Several years ago I filmed myself and refelcted on the lesson. I remember being so surprised how much I missed in the moment of the lesson! Some thoughts after watching my recording back from last week:
- When kids share their ideas in a group discussion, I repeat back what they say and then add a little further information. I didn't realise how often I did this and I think it was actually useful for students!
- I used a lot of jargon throughout the lesson. Jargon that was relevant to our excursion and our unit of learning, but there were also several numeracy terms. I made assumptions that the students would know what all of these terms are, but I should have spent a minute or two checking in with them they they understood the terms/jargon. I did this partway through the lesson but not at the beginning, so I must have reflected on this subconciously!
- I quite liked the presence that I had in the class. I was always nearby if the kids had any queries and I could overhear the conversations they were having. I knew I paced a lot, but I actually think it was a good thing. Hopefully the presence is the same in a larger class!
- There were a few moments when I said "I'm not sure about that sorry" or "I don't know the answer to that". I like how I was clearly open to learning with, alongside and from the students. We don't know everything, and the kids certainly highlighted this!
- Their results for their estimations were all so different. I knew this in the moment (and reflected below), but I definitely should have chatted with a Maths teacher prior to the lesson so their results were closer.
The trip to the beach was incredibly eye opening as the students found so many bits of plastic (macro and micro). The discussions they had while sifting through the sand were great to listen to because there was true amazement with what they were finding. I'm glad that we managed to include this experience for the students this semester, because informal chats with the students have indicate they feel they've learnt quite a bit about our environment. I also became more confident with my trip planning and inclusion of numeracy terminology and skills. Unfortunately this whole process was incredibly time consuming, so I will need to think about how I can realistically learn and embed more numeracy within my teaching (without having to invest a tonne of time that I don't really have!).
Today I went to an OEASA workshop called Preventing Fatalities in Nature Based Outdoor Activities. Yes, it was as morbid as it reads. I knew when I signed up that it was going to be quite a confronting day and really challenging emotionally. But I also knew that conversations around preparing for the possibility of deaths are important!
We had some pre reading to complete before the workshop - one paper covering 4 cases that have occured for whole group discussion this arvo and one case that was specifically designated to me to share with the group. I really enjoyed having this prep time beforehand, as it gave me time to process some of the information, reflect on the scenarios and how I would have responded in them and also complete some further research about what could have been done to prevent/reduce the possibility of the tragedies. I also felt like I was back at uni, which I loved because I love learning!
The key things I took away from the pre-reading were; - Competitiveness can have significant impacts on young people's choices and ultimately their safety. The word 'challenge' therefore, should be used carefully! - "Adolescents tend to wrongly assume something is safe if they try it and experience no adverse consequence" (Reyna & Farley, 2006). We know that assuming generally has it's own consequences... - There shouldn't need to be a near miss or incidents to occur for people to act on it/prepare for the possibility of something occuring. This shows the importance of having discussions about a variety of scenarios that could occur, no matter how low the likelihood is. - Prepare for the worst case scenario in any setting - and prepare the students for this too. They need to understand that the teachers/facilitators/instructors are vulnerable in the outdoors too, so at some point they need to be the 'leader'!
A large section of the day was sharing the narrative of the case we were given, and then discussing how the fatality could have been prevented. In all of the cases, something could have been done. Majority of the cases were water based - mostly drownings. Many of them were also based in New Zealand, which made me super uncomfortable (but I had an early colleage, Adam, in my mind saying 'be comfortable with the uncomfortable!'). I found the discussions with the group incredibly valuable too though, because people were able to see things from different perspectives as well as share their own experiences.
My case was about a young boy who drowned only a few metres away from the edge of a lake with his peers and teachers closeby. Truly devastating. Unfortunately there were several steps that could have been taken to prevent (or at least significantly reduce) this fatality from occuring; more active supervision, education for the students, flotation aids available, greater knowledge about the depth and colour of the water, aquatic knowledge and skills taught, risk managament discussion and plans for this swim (this was not an aquatics camp or a planned activity), confidence and competence checks of students in, near and around water and more efficient procedures in first aid scenarios (such as faster contact with emergency services). See below the quick drawing I created while I was explaining the case with the group (it's a bit messy, but I find visuals to give more context! The x's represent people, and there were others that I did not include). Honestly, it was gobsmacking to read and gut-wrenching to recount.
Throughout the day we had a lot of great discussion - it was so eye opening for me. There were parts of some of the scenarios that I thought 'how on Earth could you make that dedcision', but then other times I was left thinking 'I actually could have been in that position'. I feel like I will certainly be a lot more aware of fatality prevention and will certainly include this in my prep with students too. Here are a few things I was left thinking more about: - Just because you have safety considerations, does not mean that you have fatality preventions. RAMS often consider low to medium level possibilities, but I don't think I have actually ever seen one that specific considers the possibility of a death. - If there is an incident or tragedy - what measures could have been put in place to prevent this? (Note this can be any situation, not a personal one!) - Many of the scenarios discussed today were the 'same story with different actors' - so they could have been prevented. - "Experience is an unreliable guide to fatality prevention." Assume you know nothing. - The use of real case/scenario based learning in class is helpful to prepare students for the possibility they find themselves in that situation. This rang particularly true with the fatality case of a student passing from anaphylaxis and another student wasn't sure if they could use an Epipen on them.
If you are wanting to learn more, check out this paper by Andrew Brookes, who was our workshop faciltator today. With regard to safety, you can never learn too much!
Having a Senior class is a lot of fun, but also a lot of work. If a teacher has never taught an NCEA or SACE class, they often cannot comprehend the hours that go into giving feedback and marking assignments. To give detailed feedback and have 1:1 meetings with the kids on top of general teaching and learning takes a lot of time, energy and effort. Thankfully I actually enjoy this part of my role (I just wish it didn't send me to bed late or force me to get up at stupid o'clock sometimes).
One of the pieces of feedback that I received last semester (and continue to receive) is that I "mark too harshly". This is something I take really seriously, because I genuinely try my best to mark directly against the marking criteria, to leave justified feedback to support my grades and I compare my grades and justifications against exemplars. The final stage, which I always find valuable, is the moderation process. Throughout the year Cass (the other Y12 teacher) and I have met several times to moderate each other's classes. We would send 3-4 assignments from our classes to each other, mark them independently and then have a chat together with what grade we gave and why. I like the rich discussion that we have and how this can encourage us to read/view things from another perspective, or to see the variety of examples or pieces of evidence that can be used in support of different criteria.
Because final SACE grades are due to be submitted in a couple of weeks, Cass and I were released from our afternoon classes to spend a few hours together this afternoon. It was interesting that we agreed on a majority of grades but there was one specific criterion which we viewed vastly differently. What I thought evidence for this criterion may look like differed quite a bit from Cass. This meant that our expectations differed and so did our grades. Surprisingly though, it wasn't like Cass gave A's and for the same I gave C's - they varied a lot. We asked for feedback from another Health teacher in another school, to eliminate the possibility of bias of the students and they were also blind to which grades Cass and I gave. She came back basically with a mixture of thoughts of what Cass and I had discussed! So, we could reevaluate and slightly alter our feedback and justifications, and change grades if needed. This really highlighted the importance of moderating - something that needs to happen more often, in my opinion.
I have created the alongside with some of the many positive reasons for moderating. While creating the infographic, I referred to this resource, which has a lot more information about why we should moderate and what should be moderated.
We have recently started our Ecology unit in Outdoor Ed. Some of the key topics include ecosystems, food chains and microplastics in our oceans. Soon we will be having a presentation from AUSMAP and then a trip to the beach to remove some microplastics (I plan to blog about this later). So far, most of the students actually seem to be quite interested in the conversations we have been having which is a great start!
To begin, we had several discussions around what ecosystems are and why it is important we understand biodiversity. To give a bigger scale and more real-life contexts, we watched David Attenborough's A Life on Our Planet documentary. I watched this with my OUED class last semester near the end of our unit but realised it would fit well at the beginning! If you haven't watched it yet, head to Netflix ASAP because it is truly eye opening.
Throughout the doco it moves through time, from the past through to the future. As time passes stats are shown on the screen: human population goes up and wildlife goes down. Check out my quick graph I created of the stats up until 2020 alongside. This visual encouraged great discussion and students started to ask a variety of questions we could research together.
I planned a few questions to promote discussion; - What do these stats suggest/show? - How do these stats make you feel? - Why do you feel this way? - What are the impacts happening and why are these an issue? - How are we contributing to these impacts?
(Sidenote: Preplanning questions is a great way in any class or topic to help you to guide discussion. Of course they can be ignored if there is great chat already, but it helps to reduce tangents and actually go back to the learning intention of the lesson).
The most important part of our discussion I think, was our brainstorms around what we can do to reduce these impacts individually as well as globally. Please note this obviously isn't an exhaustive list, but a great place to begin! The kids were surprised how much of a difference turning lights off as we leave a room or not having the tap running while we brush our teeth can make.
Because Marryatville courses are currently only one semester long (aside from Y12s), this means that we are about to have a change in timetable with a bunch of new classes. I know that I will be keeping my 12Health and getting a new 9OUED, otherwise I'm not sure! Nevertheless, I thought that this was a good opportunity to get some feedback on the courses and my teaching in general, to help shape next semester. Unfortunately, time has raced away from me so I didn't get as much feedback or as detailed responses as I would have liked, but anything is better than nothing, right?! I am a little gutted though, that there wasn't much for me to analyse.
However, to keep the surveys simple for the kids I asked then to rank each topic from 1 to 5 related to their engagement and enjoyment, and then justify their response. Unsurprisingly, there were lots of different opinions because students clearly have different interests. What did surprise me though (positively) was a greater interest (generally) in the Health units. Historically, many students see Health as a 'theory lesson' and a lesson they would prefer to be 'doing PE'. I am very honest that I believe this directly stems from the language that teachers use and how they refer to the subjects. I have always been frustrated when the words theory and practical are used, as these insinuate to students that learning only occurs when in the classroom. This language has been used in both schools I've taught in Adelaide and I loathe it! So, to get some more positive feedback about engagement and learning in Health topics, was a great surprise!
Please see below some of the key themes that were present throughout the feedback I gained from students (Year 7-Year 12). I have briefly reflected on most of these themes and what they may mean moving forward. Here's to the next semester!
Last week I ran my first camp (well actually 2 back to back camps because of 2 classes!). I have been on a few camps as an extra pair of hands and eyes before, but I have never been the teacher in charge. There's certainly a lot more responsibility.... and a tonne more paperwork! Preparing for these camps took a lot of admin from phone calls to bookings to rebookings to emails to RAMS forms to supermarket stops. I've always known how much was needed to prep for a camp, and I've planned a day trip before, but I don't think I've actually ever fully understood or empathised how time consuming everything is! My mind is blown that there is never additional time given for camp prep.
Not only was there a lot of prep I needed to do behind the scenes, but I obviously needed to prepare the students in the weeks leading up to camp too. There was a lot of being one step ahead of the kids throughout because there were skills/knowledge that were new to me too! Here are some of the key things we covered in class:
Why bushwalk?
This is the question I was expecting many students to ask, so we started with a big brainstorm and discussion around the varieties of reasons why people bushwalk. It baffles me when people have never bushwalked before, particularly when it's free and reasonably accessible - especially in Adelaide! There are HEAPS of reasons; exercise, mindfulness, able to disconnect, social time or self-care time, increase mood, environmental awareness, the opportunity to see wildlife and so much more!
Basic navigation
Navigation certainly isn't my strength, but I do find it interesting! It has been great to learn a little more about compasses and map reading (but I certainly am not super comfortable yet!). On camp the students were thrown into the deep end as they were given the task to navigate the group using their navigational skills. I was happy to see that some of the things we covered in class the students were able to apply into a real life setting. Key skills; - How to read a compass - Getting red in the shed - Taking a bearing - How to orient a map - How to use a compass with a map
How to cook on a trangia
Before moving to Australia I had never heard the word 'trangia' before, and now it's well and truly embedded in my day to day chat! When I move back NZ I will definitely be suggesting purchasing trangias because they are easy to carry and set up (let's not talk about the cleaning though!). During class we had a practice cook to discuss nutrition, what to pack and the safety considerations. This created great discussion and reflection for the kids to think about what they were actually going to take on camp. I've created a little checklist alongside for others who may not have used a trangia before and for me to refer to in the future.
How to pack your bag
Carrying a pack with all of your food, water, clothes, sleeping bag, tent etc can be a big challenge if you haven't experienced it before (and actually every time after your first time!). I remember the first time I went on a multi-day hike and my pack (here they call it a rucksack) was about 18kg! That's a lot of extra weight to be carrying for hours of walking. I think I managed to get this down to 14kg and now I aim for about 11kg (but some people have much less than this!). To help with the comfort of carrying a full hiking bag, you need to consider how you are packing it. There are several videos and articles out there, but I liked the below one the best. I think it helps with creating an equipment list and she breaks down why she is putting each item in a particular place.
Basic knot tying
This is also an area that I don't know too well (but I am less interested in, so I guess that's why this knowledge hasn't stuck over the years!). I gave the students some rope, and videos and step by step pictures of how to do the figure 8, the clove hitch and the double fisherman's knot. Although they may not be specifically needed to bushwalk, they may be needed to create shelters, to secure a tent, to hang up washing and so on. I also knew that these knots are beneficial for students to learn for their rock climbing unit. I personally underestimate how knot tying can be useful in so many settings (which became apparent during my remote first aid course as well as camp last week).
To practice using the knots straight away though, students got into small groups, were given ropes and a tarp and headed outside to create a little shelter. While creating this shelter they needed to think about which knots would hold, how their shelter would protect against the elements and the positioning/location of their shelter. This activity created great discussion and reminded me of a Junior Outdoor Ed unit I co-taught a few years ago.
I was feeling a little nervous about going away and being responsible for this bunch of kids, but I knew that I had dotted my i's and crossed my t's and I was excited to actually get out there! Coming off the three-day course last week and then a long weekend where I was camping with my friends probably didn't help with feeling a little frazzled, but I was grateful I had my colleague Sam come along with me for the first overnight to get my confidence up a little. Aside from a couple of aches and pains, and a LOT of rain, I feel the camps ran smoothly and majority of the students enjoyed the opportunity. The kids had a genuine experience of getting 'lost', seeing wildlife, picking and cooking wild mushrooms (the guide had incredible experience and knowledge), basic first aid, weather changes and new social interactions. The best decision I made was making this camp phone free!
To encourage the students to reflect on their experiences and surroundings, I asked students to complete this journal before, during and after camp. We even had a 20 minute silent walk where students were not allowed to speak at all! Many noticed smells, sights and sounds they hadn't previously - I think this was a powerful 20 minutes for many of them. Overall, I am looking forward to giving this a crack again next semester with a new bunch of students and to continue to learn more about EOTC! Can't wait to hopefully have a Senior class in a few years when camps are more student-led.
Over the last three days I was fortunate to complete a Remote Area First Aid course facilitated by St John Australia. Because I have started teaching my own Outdoor Ed classes this year, I thought this would be valuable, especially for camps. When I arrived I quickly realised most of the other participants were freelance outdoor instructors or tradies working in remote areas. I felt a little inexperienced and out of place as a result, but knew to get experience you need to start somewhere!
Across the three days there was some repetitiveness across basic first aid courses, which is never a bad thing! I liked that most of the second half of the course were hands-on practical demonstrations and practice runs of a variety of scenarios that we could be faced with though to mix it up. Although the scenarios were as realistic as they could be in an office space, I do think that the course would be much more beneficial, rewarding and enjoyable if they were actually based in an outdoor setting. I was hoping that I would go on a course like this and actually be camping / in a remote area.
The most lifelike experience was a fake arm with an open wound that water could be pumped through to replicate blood gushing out. On this we needed to practice stuffing the wound to slow the bleeding and encourage a clot and then place a tourniquet. It was incredible how many gauze pads needed to be stuffed into the wound to even slow down the 'bleeding'. I can only imagine if you had to do that for real for someone!
There is an array of evidence to show that the more people know, the more confident they feel and the more empowered they feel to respond to a medical emergency. As described by First Aid Melbourne, "a study conducted by the Red Cross showed that a staggering 59% of deaths from injuries could have been prevented if only first aid had been given in the first few minutes of the incident before an ambulance arrived". So, even though I feel I still know very little there is to know about first aid in the grand scheme of things, every little bit helps. I've been lucky to only have been involved in a couple of responses that would be considered mild, and hope I never have to respond to someone in a critical or dangerous scenario. Therefore, I encourage everyone to complete at least a basic first aid course - please don't hesitate!
I do hope to get the opportunity in the future to learn about more preventative strategies, as the last few days have mostly had a focus on responses. I have heard about a course based around preventing fatalities in the outdoors that I may try go to - watch this space! Finally, as I have previously blogged about, first aid is more than a broken leg - mental health first aid is another great course to complete.
After discussing with my friend the Youth Mental Health First Aid course, she suggested that I read The Resilience Project. Here is a small extract from the book, to give some context about some of the stories that are explored (please note this story explores eating disorders and sexual abuse). Everything throughout the book is related back to mental health, and the overall goal of the project is to educate about mental health strategies (and of course reduce the stats surrounding mental health).
The three pillars embedded within the project are gratitude, empathy and mindfulness - GEM. Hugh explores these in detail in the below interview and there is a heap of more info and resources on the website.
Hugh frequently refers to the story of a child he met in India who would say 'dis!' every time he saw or learnt something he was grateful for. This story has inspired many people share their gratitude and there was even a #dismoment challenge circulating social media. How powerful is that?! Can you challenge yourself to take a moment to reflect on 'dis'?
“If you use as the primary measure of success how much you’re improving people’s lives, as opposed to how much money you’re making, the former will take care of the latter in the long term.” pic.twitter.com/M0ddwPS681
To learn more, see some of the sample presentation slides here or read through the website. The Resilience Project offer so much more than just the book! I have also reflected on my own resiliencepreviously and some of the resources I found. Of course, reading the book is also a great place to start!
Reading the book has motivated me to start a gratitude journal. I'll reflect each day on 3 things that I was grateful for that day and then one thing I am looking forward to the next day. The Resilience Project do have an app but I think I'll start in a physical journal. The stats that support implementing this process daily over a period of time are astounding, such as the alongside.
Today was an incredibly long day of online meetings with caregivers. Although there are several positives of being online (especially the ability to say I need to move onto the next meeting being much easier than face to face), I really did not like it. Being seated for that long (interviews were 10am to 7pm) should not be a thing - it was a great reminder that I could never be in an office job!
Parent interviews 10am-7pm online today. I’m just over halfway and about to have two hours back to back. My brain hurts. My eyes hurt. My back hurts. Whyyyyyyyy pic.twitter.com/xbsyAKnztT
I was very disappointed that we were not allowed to be at home, but at least this meant we had on site support if needed. I liked that there was greater flexibility throughout the day though, managing my own time and breaks as needed. Historically, when in person, gaps between interviews invited anyone to sit down and have a convo. Being online has meant these impromptu chats have not happened, which has reduced the workload and the feeling of not being prepared! (Don't get me wrong, I love a chat with home, but 9 hours of this is not ideal). I did also like that because I needed to be on my own in a classroom to reduce ambient noise, this meant there was plenty of quiet time to be able to complete my own work between interviews.
I actually generally enjoy meeting with families, especially when I have the time to prepare what I want to say. Something I have reflected on though, is how there doesn't appear to be a lot of preparation for teachers to actually hold interviews. Looking back, I cannot recall anyone sitting down with me in my beginning years (or offering in recent years) to give me some help around structuring an interview. I think it would be incredibly beneficial for mentors to sit with their mentees and run through practice scenarios. Although this may not be necessary for all teachers as some do feel comfortable diving straight in, I do know some teachers find conversations with caregivers confronting and/or uncomfortable. I hope I can be a mentor for someone in the future, as I think I would be helpful and receptive to their needs.
If you aren't sure of some of the questions you may be asked as a teacher during a caregiver interview, here are some of the common ones from my experience:
- What is my child learning about right now?
- How are they interacting with others in the class?
- What are their areas of improvement?
- Do you have any concerns with their achievement and/or behaviour in class?
- How can I support them further at home?
- What are their expectations moving forward?
Of course the conversation should not be one way. Encourage the student to be involved in the discussion and for the caregivers to comment their observations too. I've witnessed "interviews" where the teacher has literally spoken the entire time. I empathasise we have a lot to discuss and sometimes having only 5 minutes like I've had previously is not a lot of time! But we need to remember these chats should be as three way as possible! I love that some schools are starting to have student conference style "interviews", as these are giving the kids so much more agency and involvement in their learning journey. I'm hoping future schools I am part of move more towards this style. Below is a great little video with some tips for interviews from one of my current colleagues.
Over the last two days I have completed a Youth Mental Health First Aid Course facilitated by Mental Health First Aid Australia. This is something I had heard about several years ago but the stars never aligned for me to complete a course. I was grateful to finally get the opportunity to attend.
The other participants actually ended up getting COVID or being sent into isolation, so I ended up being the only one! This meant for a great 1:1 experience, but I also felt that I missed out on conversations with others a little. One thing I like about attending PD is to be able to compare stories and experiences with others. There was lots of scenario based learning across the two days though, which helped to solidify the learning a little.
This specific course was designed for youth because the median age for depression is 25, the median age for anxiety is 15, in 2020 480 Australians under the age of 24 died by suicide and 1 in 4 people experience a common mental health illness in one year. These stats really surprised me and were quite confronting. This really reinforced the importance of quality mental health education in schools (as well as the importance for as many adults as possible to be mental health first aid accredited). Check out some of my previous posts related to mental health here. Just like physical first aid, mental first aid should help people to have preventative strategies, rather than an ambulance at the bottom of the cliff.
Beverley introduced me to the mental health continuum below. She encouraged me to consider these questions while observing young people; - To what level has someone moved towards 'illness'? How long have they been at this point of the continuum and how quickly did they get there? - Are they bouncing back to 'health', staying where they are or moving closer to 'illness'? - Does the place on the continuum change at school, home and/or hobbies, or remain much the same? These questions can help to gauge a students 'wellness', but also help to form a conversation with them and/or their caregivers. It is also very important to note that mental health is not the same as mental illness.
One thing that stuck with me, which shouldn't be surprising, was the comment "the more that we can support the brain in any illnesses they are presenting, the more likely they are able to learn". When we are having challenging mental days as adults, we generally aren't as productive, might not focus much or could have a shorter wick than usual (these are certainly my observations of myself). So of course if a student is feeling stressed, down, anxious or all of the above then they too may not be as productive as usual, may not be as focused or have a shorter wick. Teachers can see these as signs of disrespect or defiance, but really they may be signs that the student needs some support in that moment. Signs to look for and to ask the student about.
Here are several points that left me thinking a little further and for you to also ponder; - Teachers should be modifying tasks like we would in a practical sense. We wouldn't ask someone with a broken leg to play a sport, so why would we ask someone with anxiety to 'keep on trying'? - Empowerment is important for young people to make their own decisions about themselves. the feeling of powerlessness can significantly impact on mental health, so people need opportunities and tools to make decisions for themselves. - "It is important that during the first response [to the person] we do it well, so that there is a positive result for them long term". - Dendrites in the brain are responsible for neuro pathways and severe mental illnesses can impact on these pathways such as thickening them. Medication can help with repair of these dendrites, which can then help someone to have clearer thought processing and decision making. BUT medication is NOT the first answer for majority of people. - We can recognise in student language, artwork, texts, interactions etc possible expressions or depictions which may indicate the student needs support.
Finally, the acronym ALGEE was referred to several times throughout the course. Like the WARM acronym for restorative conversations, ALGEE is a structure to create a conversation and an action plan with someone as a mental health responder. To gain my accreditation, I had to demonstrate this structure through practice discussions in a range of scenarios.
Even before completing this course I knew student mental health was just as important to understand and know how to respond to as physical health. Now, I feel even more so. It blows my mind that physical first aid courses are compulsory for all teachers in South Australia but mental health first aid is not - here's hoping that changes in coming years and that NZ mandates too!
