Health

Wellness as a part of your art teaching practice.

Early on in the pandemic, I told with my dad (a P.E. teacher of 35 years) that the two most important classes for students were going to be art and physical education, the first for their spirits and the second for their bodies. Little did I know how crucial (and interwoven) those lessons would become for ourselves as teachers as well. If you want to go down a research rabbit hole, I highly recommend this article "The Connection Between Art, Healing, and Public Health: A Review of Current Literature," whose bibliography alone is a resource unto itself.

Below I have a curated different resources and research about supporting your health as an educator during a time of crisis. I do somewhat intentionally avoid the use of the term "self-care" in my writing, only because I think taking care of ourselves is an act of community care. Especially in a moment of COVID, taking care of my health actually is taking care of others' health as well.

Please note, VCU-specific resources have their own section near the bottom.

Easter Egg: If you want something to lift your spirits and get you moving, feel free to check out this PE/art educator collaboration my dad and I did for his students at the SC School for the Deaf and Blind - A Fitness Routine by Coach Keyes. If nothing else, it might make you laugh.

Teacher Wellbeing

It turns out educators are essential to this whole education thing.

In higher education we are very familiar with the concept of student wellbeing, especially as the number of college students with anxiety and depression have increased over the years. A number of research studies have shown the various ways that a student's mental/physical health can have an impact on their engagement, ability to learn, and desire to stay enrolled.

However, another important factor to consider in this educational ecosystem is teacher wellbeing, which remains overwhelming under-researched. What little research does exist, has mostly focused on K12 educators, who have notably different stressors and environments faced by instructors in higher education. The only framework that currently exists for teacher wellbeing was modeled for early childhood educators, which itself was adapted from the wellbeing of clinicians (shown here on the right).

In short, it turns out that if we, as teachers, fall apart, then the whole learning environment goes with it. I share all of this to say, that you, as a living person in your classroom - virtual or physical - matter. Even if you center students, your ability to care for yourself, impacts your ability to teach.

Source: Gallagher, K., Roberts, A. M., & Rousseau, M. (2018, June). Teacher well-being: A conceptual framework for early childhood. Paper presented at the National Research Conference on Early Childhood, Arlington, VA. Framework adapted from Brigham et al., 2018.

Additional infographic for leadership: HOW TO GROW Teacher Wellbeing in Your Schools.

What exactly is wellness?

I must confess I was only aware of three elements of health - physical, mental, and spiritual. It turns out that the currently accepted model of wellness includes eight dimensions, all of which overlap and interact with one another.

Physical Wellness is the ability to make healthy decisions and recognize that our behaviors have a significant impact on our wellness by adopting healthful habits (a balanced diet, exercise, routine check-ups, etc.) while avoiding destructive habits (tobacco, drugs, alcohol, etc.).
Emotional Wellness is the ability to understand your feelings and express emotions in a constructive way. Emotional wellness teaches us how to manage stress and deal with challenges faced in life.
Financial Wellness is the ability to be fully aware of our current financial state and to set short and long-term goals regarding finances that will allow us to reach our personal aspirations and achieve self-defined financial success.
Intellectual Wellness is the ability to open our minds to new ideas and experiences and to learn new concepts, improve skills, and seek challenges in pursuit of lifelong learning.
Occupational Wellness is the ability to get personal fulfillment from our jobs and our chosen career fields while maintaining balance in our lives.
Environmental Wellness is the ability to recognize our responsibility for the quality of the air, water, and the land that surrounds us. Our ability to make a positive impact on the quality of our homes, communities and our planet contributes to our environmental wellness.
Social Wellness is the ability to relate to and connect with other people in our world and to establish and maintain positive relationships with family, friends, and co-workers.
Spiritual Wellness is the ability to establish peace and harmony in our lives by embracing our personal ethics, values, and code of living.

Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5508938/

How Racism Affects Health and Education

(Work in progress)

As faculty, what are some things to mindful of this semester?

Faculty Burnout (Resource)
Digital Fatigue (Resource)
Emotional Boundaries with Students (Resource)
Grief on a Global Scale (Resource)
Social Isolation (Resource 1 and Resource 2 - I chose these because they were written pre-COVID and speak to the unique experience of social isolation as experienced by educators).

Incorporating Wellness into your Arts Teaching Practice

In order to bring everything back together, I thought I might brainstorm a few ways that you can model your own care for your wellness with your students through your teaching practice. For me, I know I personally incorporate parts of my artistic practice in my own teaching that I'm working to improve. I find this to be both a humbling and helpful learning experience for my students and myself.

Physical
- Idea: Include movement-based exercises into both synchronous and asynchronous class work (ex. Suzuki Method for Acting)
Emotional
- Idea: Build spaces and (short) assignments where students can channel their emotions into their art, beit expression or escapism. These don't need to be big/overarching projects, but can be quick making-based activities that function as a check-in and skill development.
Financial
- Idea: Cover topics about fair pay for artists and incorporate financial literacy into your curriculum. These lessons can be some of the most important for young artists, who are most at risk of having their labor exploited.
Intellectual
- Idea: Read/discuss an essay by someone that really inspires you. I know during times of crisis, I find myself assigning Judith Butler's Precarious Life: The Powers of Mourning and Violence.
Occupational
- Idea: Research/discuss the future of the arts in the professional world to help them plan/strategize/manage expectations. While COVID has closed many ways of making and showing work, virtual exhibitions and platforms have also opened new opportunities. This can be helpful for both you and your students to collaborate/share research on the topic.
Environmental
- Idea: Have your class meet via a virtual phone walk rather than traditional video conference call. (This could also work for one-on-one meetings).
Social
- Idea: Have students collaboratively create things together as either in-class activities or interactive asynchronous assignments. You can create manageable group projects where students have time to interact with their peers both in class (and outside of class).
Spiritual
- Idea: Consider incorporating some element of meditation or personal reflection into the beginning/end of your time together. An asynchronous option would be to have them keep digital diaries/journals.