The Wellness Wheel Project

The Unit Plan was a group endeavour and the Lesson Plans were individual, although informed by the Unit Plan. The group work was challenging at times, but was rewarding as working with a group allowed for a lot of collaboration and the integration of ideas.  Seeing the different strengths of the group was such an inspiration, even if sometimes those strengths seemed to clash! Throughout the week, our group worked together to develop a unit of learning which would speak to all of us with our diverse backgrounds.  We were all adult educators who were inspired by the focus on EDIDA frameworks (Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, Decolonization Anti-raism).  The unit of learning we chose was a decolonized approach to mental health.  The choice of topic was inspired by our discussions of mental health in a COVID-19 context.  However, we wanted to decolonize the topic by using an Indigenous framework.  This framework is based on the Indigenous Wellness Wheel that was developed by the First Nations Health Authority.  We presented our work on the final day and found the feedback to be encouraging and the feedback from other groups and our professors made the Unit Plan much stronger.  It is amazing to see our growth along the way and to be supported and encouraged through the process.

During the week, I received some difficult news which made the week extremely stressful. However, the work also gave me a distraction from my personal problems.  It really felt like a big family in a lot of ways.  I definitely understood why students are stressed out during group work, but I also learned the value in collaborating on the project. My group was understanding of my personal challenges, which really helped, and having studied mental health from this framework really helped me to apply my learning during what was a very stressful time. I learned a lot about what it means to approach planning in a more thoughtful and deliberate way.  The iterations and reiterations each taught me about what it means to have a maker mentality in my teaching and in my learning.  

There were a number of theories and frameworks that came together in this unit of learning.  I have chosen to break them down into three categories:  Pedagogical influences, EDIDA influences, and Indigenous influences.

In terms of our pedagogical approach, I was influenced by Papert's discussion of idea-based learning, as well as Constructivist approaches to learning.   I was also heavily influenced by The London Group's work on multiliteracies.  This approach really made me think critically about using multimodal approaches to learning.  I also found the 7 Norms of Collaboration to be very useful. I have included these resources in the references below.

My approaches to EDIDA were informed through multiple sources including UDL resources, and the work of Barton and Tan (2018) and Castek, Schira Hagerman and Woodward (2019).  It is difficult to narrow down all of the theories that came together in this unit plan, as so much of what we learned came together in the production of the EDIDA framework! 

I include Indigenous influences separately here, as despite that they cross between EDIDA and pedagogical, they each played an important role in how we framed the project and how I decided to implement my lesson.  Honouring Indigenous frameworks inhances not only our knowledge on mental health, but also how we interact in the classroom.  I was most inspired by the works of Morcom and Freeman (2018) for their nuanced discussion of Indigenous pedagogy, Toulouse's discussion of the medicine wheel  and the First Nations Health Authority's use of the Indigenous wellness wheel.  By decentering knowledge to include Indigenous frameworks, I believe we were able to decolonize knowledge, but also to learn to be better educators in the process!

Throughout the planning and implementation of the Unit Plan, my role varied.  While a lot of the theoretical framework was developed by me, and I influenced the project in what I think were many positive ways, a family illness meant that I did not want to take on a full leadership role.  Given how stressful this time was for me, due to my personal challenges, I tried to stay out of the confrontations, but stood my ground when it came to a commitment to EDIDA goals of the project.  I worked with four other women who all had some really strong skills, and overall we managed to use each person's strengths to make the project a real collaborative effort.  At times, it was difficult to negotiate some disagreements, but overall I think I did a good job of choosing people over product/process, which is always my strategy.  The product was better for having worked within this group and there has been some discussion of sharing our project in the conference in the fall!

Below is the Unit Plan and my Individual Lesson Plan that was created for EDST565S.  The Unit Plan was a group project and the lesson plan was individual.  However, it is important to acknowledge that even the Individual Lesson Plan was collaborative as my group members and professors provided invaluable feedback! 

7 Norms of Collaboration [Poster] https://www.spartanburg7.org/cms/lib/SC02205954/Centricity/Domain/448/Collaboration%20Norms%20Poster.pdfAccessed July 13, 2022.

Barton, A., & Tan, A. (2018). A longitudinal study of equity-oriented STEM-Rich making among youth from historically marginalized communities. American Educational Research Journal. 55(4), 761-800.  DOI: 10.3102/0002831218758668 

Bosemark, Y., How to Nurture a Maker Mindset. Hellomaker. https://medium.com/hellomaker/what-is-a-maker-mindset-and-why-your-kids-need-it-asap-89bf4bf3caa7

Brock University and Niagara College Canada., Inclusion Guide: A support guide for educators, administrators, and the Ministry of Education. 

Castek, J., Schira Hagerman, M., and Woodard, R. (Eds). (2019). Principles for equity-centered design of STEAM learning-through-making. Tucson: University of Arizona. Retrieved from  https://circlcenter.org/events/synthesisdesign-workshops

Counselling Tutor, 2017. Models of Mental Health [Handout]. https://counsellingtutor.com/models-of-mental-health/ Accessed July 14, 2022.

First Nations Health Authority (2022). First Nations Perspectives on Health and Wellness. https://www.fnha.ca/wellness/wellness-for-first-nations/first-nations-perspective-on-health-and-wellness

Morcom, L., & Freeman, K. (2018). Niinwi - Kiinwa - Kiinwi: Building Non-Indigenous Allies in Education through Indigenous Pedagogy. Canadian Journal of Education/Revue Canadienne De l’éducation, 41(3), 808–833. Retrieved from https://journals.sfu.ca/cje/index.php/cje-rce/article/view/3344 

Papert, S. (1980). Mindstorms. New York: Basic Books. pert, S. (1980). Mindstorms. New York: Basic Books. 

Stanford University: Evaluation & Research (2022).  How to Write Learning Goals. https://evals.stanford.edu/end-term-feedback/how-write-learning-goals  Accessed July 14, 2022.

Toulouse, P. (2016). What Matters in Indigenous Education: Implementing a Vision Committed to Holism, Diversity and Engagement. Measuring What Matters.https://peopleforeducation.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/MWM-What-Matters-in-Indigenous-Education.pdf

Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, United Nations., University of Manitoba., Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada., Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada., & United Nations. (2015). Truth & reconciliation: Calls to Action.

UDL Guidelines, (2022). The UDL Guidelines. https://udlguidelines.cast.org