Healthy Students
Information on how to improve your students' health
Educators as Role Models
- Eat a piece of fruit in front of students every day as a snack.
- Wash your hands often, especially before eating and let students see you washing your hands.
- Buddy up with another staff member and walk through the school hallways or outside, even if it just for 10 minutes.
- Suggest a healthy fundraiser.
- Make a healthy New Year's resolution as a class and post for everyone to see.
- Take two weeks off for holiday break. Enjoy and take care of yourself.
- Drink water in front of your students.
- Put up reminders for students to encourage them to eat breakfast every day.
Hunger in Children
A hungry child will have a harder time focusing in class and will be more likely to have absences, due to poor nutrition.
Children of the Recession - CBS Video (Doane, 2010).
Vermont's Hunger Free programs help to feed students by providing various programs through 3SquaresVT (formerly the food stamp program). Vermont helps schools to expand their school lunches and breakfasts, and works with community groups to provide after school meals and snacks, and summer meals. (Parisi)
Physical Activity
Physical Activity Supports Learning
- improves focus and concentration
- improves health and minimizes absences
- decreases anxiety and depression before tests and assignments
Activity breaks can improve academic behavior, so take short and fun activity breaks during class. One example is the ten-second shake out - shake right arm for 10 seconds, left arm for 10 sec, right leg, and then left leg each for 10 seconds.
Media & Health Literacy
Students need to understand how advertisers promote their product, and trick them into wanting to drink or eat their product, leading them to unhealthy behaviors. Soft drinks and snacks are marketed directly in schools with contracts with companies to provide their products. Schools and the companies earn money, while students are hurt with the promotion of an unhealthy lifestyle (Nestle, 2007). Students can be taught to dissect an advertisement and learn how companies cater to them (Wallace, 2011). In Wallace's (2011), the teacher, Ms. Tonda, has seen changes for the better in students' behavior after lessons about health eating and companies' advertising, including switching to drinking water.
Responses
After reading the information about physical activity, I decided to try to add some specific movement activities in my classes. I teach freshman and so many of them seem antsy, but after trying some different activities like the ten-second shake out and ones I found online, like chair aerobics, and letting the students bust a move to a old time song, Twist, I found the students behaved better and were better able to focus on the lesson. - Erin B., biology teacher
I did not realize how many students go hungry every year. Between the stats Ruth provided and the information we have gathered about our low socioeconomic students, I am floored by how many of them go hungry. I can understand why a student who is hungry could have issues in the classroom. - Morgan M., biology teacher
I never thought of myself as role model for my students on healthy eating. Since I don't eat lunch with the students and I don't eat in front of my students, as I don't allow food in my room, I haven't even thought of how I could role model. I could drink water, and talk to my students about what they are eating. - Donna B., biology teacher
As an assistant principal, I don't have any say in the contract with have with our vending company, yet, the information about media makes me think twice about our relationship with a company. Maybe, we would be better to not have the contract, but I am not sure if that is possible right now, because we need every bit of money we can get. I do appreciate the information on role modeling, hunger, and physical activity. I can share this information with other teachers as ways they may be able to help improve our students' lives. - Chris H., assistant principal
References
California After School Resource Center. (n.d.). Learning in motion training [PDF document]. Retrieved from California After School Resource Center website: http://casrc-chkrcetrainings.org/newlook/trainings/LIM/LIM_FINAL.pdf
Doane, S. (Reporter). (2010, May 19). Childhood hunger in America. CBS evening news. Retrieved from http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/childhood-hunger-in-america/
Evers, C. L. (2012). How to teach nutrition to kids. Portland, OR: 24 Carrot Press.
Food Research and Action Center. (2010). Hunger and poverty. Retrieved from http://frac.org/reports-and-resources/hunger-and-poverty/
Michigan Nutrition Standards. (2012). Weekly ways school staff can be healthy role models. Retrieved from http://www.michigan.gov/documents/mdch/27._Weekly_Ways_School_Staff_Can_be_Healthy_Role_Models_392984_7.pdf
Nestle, M. (2007). Food Politics: How the food industry influences nutrition, and health. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Parisi, M. (n.d.). Hunger Free Vermont. Retrieved from http://www.hungerfreevt.org/directory
Wallace, H. (2011, October 26). In high schools, a critical lens on food. The New York Times, p. A26.
Ruth Zumwalt
University of Massachusetts @ Lowell
Email: ruth_zumwalt@student.uml.edu
Website: www.edmondschools.net/north
Location: Edmond, OK
Phone: 405-726-7272