Health

Since the world began food, fitness, and a healthy lifestyle has never been so easily

accessible as it is today. Tragically, the overall health and wellbeing of American citizens is on a

steady decline due to poor eating habits, a sedentary lifestyle, drugs, and other factors such as

natural and economic disasters, (Kumar & Preetha, 2012). Now more than ever, students need to

be educated about healthy living, how to make wise choices about their own health, and how to

promote healthy living to their families and community. The ​lesson plan​ submitted with this

paper is an example of how I taught my students to do just that. I had three students in the class

who suffered from asthma, a well known fact to the rest of the class, and were were able to

connect to the topic personally. Many of them also had family members who also suffer with the

disease. By the end of the lesson they could identify many asthma triggers, and identify the

symptoms of an asthma attack. They also helped to promote healthy living by making a brochure

to help educate family and friends about what asthma is, some triggers, and the key symptoms.

A comprehensive school health program can empower students with the knowledge and

skills they need, while influencing their attitudes and beliefs that support healthy behavior,

(“​Guidelines for School Health Programs”, n.d.; ​Ubbes, Dillhoff, & Maldonado, 2018). When

young people learn the necessary tenets of healthy living, it may have a lasting impact on the

choices they make later in life. The lesson plan I submitted with this paper gave students the

knowledge they needed to be informed about asthma, its triggers and symptoms. For those that

suffer with asthma, it helped them to understand that there were things they could do to control

their attacks by avoiding certain known triggers. The other students gained an understanding to

be able to help their family members.

 Healthy literacy is in integral part of health education, which enable students to be able to

read and understand information about healthy living, disease and prevention. Reading and

writing skills are an important key to healthy literacy, (Ubbes, Dillhoff, & Maldonado, 2018).

Reading is the most important skill learned in school, and is the gateway to learning all other

subjects. Writing is also important in healthy literacy as it promotes mental interaction with the

concepts and an avenue to demonstrate learning. In the lesson submitted with this paper, I

incorporated healthy literacy by having students write a brochure about asthma, its triggers and

symptoms. Then they read their brochures to each other in small groups, and shared them with

their parents at home. This activity was also aligned with the Alaska state standards that requires

students “to contribute to the well-being of families and communities” and to “use various

method of communication to promote community well-being”, (“Alaska Skills for a Healthy

Life”, n.d, p.1).

One effective instructional strategy that engages students is active learning, (​Mincey &

Gross, 2017)​. Active learning requires students to actively engage in the learning process, rather

than passive learning where they sit and listen or watch but are not engaged. The lesson

submitted with this essay is an example of active learning. The students were not just told how

asthmatics feel during an attack, they acted it out and got to experience in part how it feels to

breathe through a small airway through a role-play activity. They were also engaged in

throughout the lesson with discussions, writing, presenting in small groups, and sharing with

their families. This type of active learning made a lasting impression on the students that was

talked about it for days afterward by many of them.

 References

ALASKA SKILLS FOR A HEALTHY LIFE (Health Education Standards). (n.d.). Retrieved

January 6, 2019, from ​https://education.alaska.gov/akstandards/standards/AKStandards_

Skillsfora​HealthyLife.pdf

Guidelines for School Health Programs to Promote Lifelong Healthy Eating. (n.d.). Retrieved

January 7, 2019, from https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00042446.htm

Kumar, S., & Preetha, G. (2012). Health promotion: an effective tool for global health. ​Indian

journal of community medicine : official publication of Indian Association of Preventive &

Social Medicine​, ​37​(1), 5-12.

Mincey, K., & Gross, T. (2017). Training the Next Generation: Developing Health Education

Skills in Undergraduate Public Health Students at a Historically Black College and

University. ​Frontiers in public health​, ​5​, 274. doi:10.3389/fpubh.2017.00274

Ubbes, V. A., Dillhoff, R., & Maldonado, W. (2018). Reading and Writing Attitudes of Children:

Conceptual Implications for Health Education and Health Literacy. ​Journal of Health

Education Teaching​, ​9​(1), 49–67. Retrieved from ​http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?

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