Keeping Minds Happy and Healthy
Course Outline
Course Fee: $90
Course Numbers: EED x701 24109, SED x701 24154
Standard Course Time: 15 hours
Semester Credits: One (1) academic credit at the post-baccalaureate level (available for an additional fee)
Credit Issued by: Cal Poly Humboldt (refer to our Graduate Credit page for credit pricing and details)
Subject Area: Special Topics
This course has been developed and optimized for online delivery using the licensed title Keeping Minds Happy and Healthy, published by Routledge and authored by Pat Guy.
Introduction/Course Description:
This course is designed to show how students can achieve and maintain excellent mental health. It focuses on identifying the main causes of unhappiness, stress and anxiety, by examining the difficulties a school system can inadvertently create for students. By developing resilience, empathetic behavior, social skills and self-respect during childhood, students will be better equipped to withstand the pressures of modern society and growing up.
Course Objectives/Program Outline
Module One: The Need for an Inclusive School System
Learning Objectives:
- Become familiar with a student’s experience of education.
- Define the five aspects of the current education system that can demoralize students.
- Recognize the differences between extroverts and introverts in the classroom.
- Understand the importance of providing alternative approaches to learning.
- Explore the effect of chronological age on student performance.
- Analyze the overuse of testing and its effect on student effort and responsibility.
- Understand and identify the links between attitude and intelligence.
Project 1: The School System Through Another Lens
Quiz: Multiple-choice questions that pertain to objectives above.
Module Two: Developing Student Self-Confidence and Emotional Well-Being
Learning Objectives:
- Understand the equal importance of learning how to learn and acquisition of subject knowledge.
- Explore stand-alone programs designed to support thinking in schools.
- Become familiar with “scaffolding” as a way to help students tackle unfamiliar tasks.
- Describe the importance of social skills when learning to work with and relate to others.
- Define the fundamental role played by parents and adult mentors in developing self-confidence.
- Identify ways to promote student self-confidence in schools.
- Illustrate methods to incorporate alternative skills/creativity into lesson plans.
Project 2: The “Hidden” Curriculum
Quiz: Multiple-choice questions that pertain to objectives above.
Module Three: Learning Rather than Teaching
Learning Objectives:
- Identify the importance of increased involvement in sport for students.
- Understand that there is no need to progress in a sport; it can be undertaken purely for pleasure.
- Explore play as a vital role in children’s social, emotional, intellectual and physical development.
- Examine why opportunities to play have been reduced throughout the years.
- Identify ways schools can promote play.
- Develop an appreciation of reading for pleasure and its importance in the development of self-esteem and confidence.
Project 3: Examining Your Current Classroom
Quiz: Multiple-choice questions that pertain to objectives above.
Final Exam
Multiple choice questions taken from each module
Final Learning Statement
Learning statements should be in a narrative format – as opposed to an outline format. Depending on individual writing styles Learning statements should be 2-3 pages. The learning statement can vary according to individual style. Your learning statement should answer the broad question of "what did you learn?". To help get you thinking, here are some suggested questions:
- What are the major concepts of the course that you have learned?
- What new professional language have you acquired relating to the topic?
- What teaching techniques for implementing new strategies in the classroom did you come away with?
- Thinking back to your project reflections, were you surprised at the outcomes?
- What new resources did you find in the study of the content?
- As an educator, what new concepts will you now integrate into your teaching?
- Are there any ideas that presented themselves as enlightening and useful?
--- Sample Course Project ---
Project #3: Examining Your Current Classroom
In this module, we learned that an alternative approach to developing well-being in children and young people would be to increase existing opportunities that do not require direct adult intervention but focus on the child learning incidentally.
For this project, revisit the three solutions for learning rather than teaching covered in this module (listed below for reference):
- Solution 1: increased involvement in sport.
- Solution 2: providing adequate opportunity to play.
- Solution 3: promoting reading for pleasure.
Then take a moment to answer the following questions:
- Which ones do you currently use in your classroom?
- What do they look like to an observer?
- How do students respond?
- What have you thought of the benefits of these solutions before this class?
- How do you look at them now?
For Your Written Project Reflection Submission
Take a moment to reflect on your findings for this project, using the questions below as a guide:
- How does your new awareness of learning and teaching differ from your previous understanding?
- How does this learning connect to you as a learner and an educator?
- How will you specifically apply this learning to your classroom?
- What activities for each solution will be incorporated into your classroom?
Visit the "Module Projects" section located within the Course Dashboard, and take a moment to share your findings by submitting your written project reflection.
Cal Poly Humboldt Credit Specifics
- Academic Credit through Cal Poly Humboldt (HSU) is offered after successful completion of each course.
- The 700 series semester credit is post-baccalaureate level appropriate for credentialed teachers which do not require admission to a graduate program.
- Courses are letter graded on official transcripts from CPH.
- CPH is the northernmost and westernmost institution in the 23-campus California State University (CSU) system.
- CPH is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges Senior College and University Commission (WSCUC), a regional accrediting agency serving a diverse membership of public and private higher education institutions.
Summer Option
If you are not currently teaching (ie. Summer break, you are a substitute teacher, etc.), each class offers you the ability to complete coursework independent of a classroom assignment.
