Teacher Tips

  • Check out our free lesson plan for Autobiography in Five Short Chapters.
  • Healthier Generation works with schools, youth-serving organizations, businesses, and communities across the nation to transform the places where kids spend their time into healthier environments. Through their evidence-based programming and innovative resources, they empower those who work closely with children to help them develop lifelong healthy habits. Healthier Generation supports a holistic approach to health promotion. In addition to physical activity and healthy eating, they address multiple, critical child and adolescent health issues, including social and emotional health, sleep, and asthma resources. The site has a free action account and offers resources for educators.school
  • Check out Net Smart: How to Thrive Online by Howard Reingold. The author looks at tactics to check the credibility of information online and has a chapter about detecting bullshit. He says that we need to teach these skills to our youth now!
  • Joint Consortium for School Health – Examples: Healthy Schools Planner that is a free tool that schools can use to assess the current health environment and build a plan to make improvements; Comprehensive School Health Framework download; Fact Sheets.
  • Healthy Schools BC is a partnership with DASH BC (Directorate of Agencies for School Health) and the Ministries of Health and Education. A variety of tools are available to identify and assess needs of a school.
  • DASH BC  is responsible for the coordination of the Healthy BC Schools Initiative. Examples: Programs and supports, resources and stories.
  • Teen Mental Health – Dr. Stanley Kutcher is an international expert on teen mental health. Examples: Understanding Mental Health, For Families and Teens, For Educators, For Health Professionals – presentations, fact sheets, frameworks, downloads.
  • Yay, You!  Moving Out, Moving Up, Moving On by Sandra Boynton. (Short and fun, great for anyone facing a transition.)
  • Why Smart Teens are Sexual Idiots – September 13, 2013 article by Clay Nikiforuk, a Montreal-based writer and researcher. The article was written following the frosh week chant situations. There are valuable insights about being embarrassingly undereducated on leaving high school, about teaching pleasant, healthy, mutual sex in the classroom environment and about changing the language to describe sex.
  • Robinson, Ken “Finding Your Element” (Penguin Books, 2013) – In the book he answers the question: How do you find your element? There are practical exercises to help an individual discover strengths and gifts. This is a guide for discovering what matters most. P.S. Robinson’s famous 2006 TED talk is the most watched in TED history.
  • Corbin, Barry “Unleashing the Potential of the Teenage Brain: 10 Powerful Ideas” (Corbin, a Sage Company, 2008). A handbook for educators of middle and high school students that is thought-provoking and grounded in research and best practice. The wealth of instructional strategies with brain-friendly techniques creates the ideal classroom environment.  The 10 ideas integrate new and existing strategies.
  • Calm, Alert and Learning: Classroom Strategies for Self-Regulation by Stuart Shanker. Recent research tells us that one of the keys to student success is self-regulation – the ability to monitor and modify emotions, to focus or shift attention, to control impulses, to tolerate frustration or delay gratification. But can a child’s ability to self-regulate be improved? Canada’s leading expert on self-regulation, Dr. Stuart Shanker, knows it can and that, as educators, we have an important role to play in helping students’ develop this crucial ability.
  • The Teacher’s Guide to Student Mental Health by William Dikel. Twenty percent of children and adolescents have a mental health disorder and in five percent, the disorder is severe. Chances are that every classroom in America will have at least one student who has a mental health disorder, possibly even in the severe range. These students often have symptoms that interfere with their ability to learn. From Ontario, Canada to California, school districts and state Boards of Education are recognizing the importance of comprehensive approaches to student mental health that include teacher education.
  • Transitions: A resource for students transitioning from schools to universities by Dr. Stanley Kutcher. Transitions, the first publication of its kind, provides first-year students with information on topics including time management, relationships, sexual activity, mental illness, suicide and addictions. The guide also includes mental health self-help information and contains recommendations where students can go to get help on their campus.
  • The Way of Mindful Education: Cultivating Well-being In Teachers And Students by Daniel Rechtschaffen. With attention spans waning and stress on the rise, many teachers are looking for new ways to help students concentrate, learn, and thrive. The Way of Mindful Education is a practical guide for cultivating attention, compassion, and well-being not only in these students, but also in teachers themselves. Packed with lesson plans, exercises, and considerations for specific age groups and students with special needs, this working manual demonstrates the real world application of mindfulness practices in K-12 classrooms.
  • Anxiety and Depression in the Classroom: A Teacher’s Guide To Fostering Self-regulation In Young Adults by Nadja Reilly. Anxiety and depression are two of the most common mental health problems for young students, and can be particularly hard to detect and support. In this book, the first of its kind for teachers, Nadja Reilly lays out with richly detailed examples the signs to look for so educators can direct their students to help and ensure emotional wellness in the classroom. Grounded in recent psychological research and practical self-regulation tools, Reilly opens her study out onto nourishing emotional wellness in all students, communicating with parents, and school-wide mental health advocacy.
  • www.healthyschools.sd61.bc.ca has an excellent Resource Menu for educators and parents. Examples included in this area: Mental Health with a Mental Health High School Curriculum Guide (PDF), Sexual Health including a sexual health education in the schools question and answer document, Social/Emotional Health, Nutrition and so on.
  • Sexting and teens: Access the world of teens at https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/teens-sexting-education-1.3789913. The full documentary on the website (15 minutes) is the work of Ioanna Roumeliotis, an award winning reporter with the CBC, Oct 5, 2016. Kids face up to the dangers of sexting. Teens have access to a very powerful device but that doesn’t mean they know how to protect themselves (CBC).
  • “This Is High School” is a six-part TV series that provides a revealing look at what school’s really like. The series, outlined on cbc.ca, was created from the combined footage of 50 remote controlled cameras placed in a typical secondary school in Kamloops, BC, for several weeks. There are stories about internet bullying, self-image, fitting in, identity, anxiety attacks, anger management, the pressure to excel, the desire to drop out, autism, nerds, popular girls, 8th grade boys who can’t resist testing their boundaries. PHEW.
  • Education is critical but daunting. Cybertip.ca was flooded with calls about the sexting issue so NeedHelpNow.ca was created to deal with the overload. Its purpose is to help teens stop the spread of sexual images or videos. Guidance is offered on the steps that can be taken to get through the problem.
  • Alcoholtreatment.net has information about understanding alcoholism, the signs and symptoms of alcohol addiction, treatment options for alcohol abuse, “Talking To An Alcoholic “ (guide download), “What is An Alcohol Screening Test (blog article). Treatment centres in the US are listed. 24/7 treatment assistance is offered. Popular, social and legal, alcohol is the most commonly used addictive substance in the United States. 17.6 million people (one in every 12 adults) suffers from alcohol abuse or dependence according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
  • Reachout.com – Australia’s leading online mental health site for young people and their parents includes practical support, tools and tips.  The site is based on the latest evidence and is designed by experts, youth and parents.  Digital self-help tools are trusted, relevant and easy-to-use.
  • Heretohelp –  Self-help resources for mental health and addiction issues are significant e.g. screening tests, where-to-find help.  7 leading mental health and addiction non–profit agencies work together to help people live well and better prevent and manage health and substance abuse problems.
  • Stress and social media fuel mental health crisis among girls (The Guardian) –  NHS data shows 68% rise in hospital admissions because of self-harm among girls under 17 in past decade. The article outlines experts warning that the “gathering crisis” in girls’ mental health is linked to conflict with friends, fears about their body image and pressures created by social media.