Thinking About Mental Health: Relationships are the Key to Learning

I have been extremely fortunate this year to already have had three wonderful professional development opportunities.  They include:

1. Building Mental Health Literacy in Educators-Sept 20th
Presented by Don Buchanan, Knowledge Mobilization Officer of the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board

2. A Framework for Understanding Poverty-Sept 28th
Presented by Michael Whithead, Social Worker for the WCDSB

3. Making Learning Visible-Building Relationships to Know Your Learners-Oct 4th
Presented by Dr. Jean Clinton, Child Psychologist at McMaster University and Children's Hospital

These workshops were equally eye-opening and inspiring! At the end of the day, however, I couldn't help but notice that they all had a common focus, or now that I think about it, a common question; how do we create mentally healthy classrooms? The answer; by building relationships with our students-get to know who they are.

This entry has taken sometime for me to write as I have been reflecting heavily on this topic and ALL the information that I have gathered from these sessions (I am quite the note taker...just ask my ELK team). Here are some things that I have been thinking about and reflecting on.

• 1 in 5 students struggle with a mental health problem and all it takes is one caring adult to make a difference. This fact laid heavy on my heart, not to mention made me that much more motivated to be that ONE person in a child's life.
• I am thinking more about what I attribute children's behaviour to. I find myself having even more casual conversations with our students to gain a deeper understanding of who they truly are. In doing this, I am hoping to learn more about their beliefs, prior experiences, and thinking. I aim to understand what is the intent of their behaviour and guide them (if need be) in a different direction or to take preventative action.
• "Satisfying the social and emotional needs of students does more than prepare them to learn-it actually increases their capacity to learn" (Hawkins et al., 1999; Malecki & Elliot, 2002).
  How do I better teach these skills which include self-awareness, social awareness, self-regulation, relationship skills, decision making skills?! This year, we have started with talking about our feelings. As well, my teaching partner and I always model acceptable social and emotional interactions and reactions. I still feel that I will have to educate myself further on this one.
• How do I consider the different temperaments of children? What strategies will I or, do I use that accommodate to the extroverts and introverts in our class? To the students that are sensitive to different stimuli?
• "The brain is sculpted by experience." Dr. Jean ClintonI felt like I have known this since my days in Psych 101 but something about the way that Dr. Clinton said it just lit the biggest light bulb in my head. If I know that the brain (and behaviour) can actually change, yes CHANGE with positive experiences then I aim to continually provide our students with school experiences that are safe, playful, meaningful and educational.
• It's about "progress, not perfection" when it comes to working with children. I may be a teacher but I am only human. I am not perfect and may make some mistakes and I certainly don't know it all. What I do know is that I am growing in knowledge. What I lack in experience I make up for with enthusiasm. It is safe to say that my passion for early learning is stronger now than it has ever been and I strive to become a more informed and educated professional.

So, in final, when it comes to creating relationships with children I strongly feel that it all comes down to reexamining what my view of the child is. I will fully admit that at the beginning of my teaching career I would have said that children are empty vessels that needed to be filled knowledge. Since then, and since teaching in the ELKP my view of the child, teaching and education has changed DRASTICALLY! I now see children has creative, capable people full of experiences, curiosities, knowledge and questions of their own that they long to share. When interacting with children, I am beginning to look more for their strengths and competencies rather than the things they lack or struggle with. I am enjoying learning how to learn with children; in slowing down, listening to them-to their interests and questions. I enjoy being challenged in planning how to extend their learning in ways that are fun and meaningful to them.

As always, I am extremely grateful for my knowledgeable colleagues the all PD that comes our way. For those of you who are interested in more PD/information about mental health in children and creating relationships I have included a few titles and links below.

Calm, Alert and Learning
A NEW book by Dr. Stuart Shanker
http://www.cea-ace.ca/education-canada/article/self-regulation-calm-alert-and-learning

Understanding PovertyBy: Ruby K. Payne, Ph. D

C.A.P.E. (Consultants and Coordinators of Primary Education)
Don't be fooled by their title, we are educators and are very welcome at their workshops!
http://www.eventbrite.ca/org/963647643

http://cymhin.offordcentre.com/

Thanks for reading!