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Health and Wellness

There is a fundamental and universal shift underway in education for more engaging and dynamic learning environments. Building proactive connections between movement and learning reaches across grade levels and curriculum(s). This course weaves together learning and movement with the portable life skills of health, nutrition, and wellness. Healthy students are more attentive, connected, happier and better equipped to make positive choices. Because teachers are on the front line, seeing students every day, they are in the best position to create and reinforce these healthy habits.

Kinesthetic education is not just for Physical Education and Health departments. It opens the conversation to overall wellness and a wholistic approach to the student, the school and the community. Participants in this course will discover practical, clearly explained movements and activities that will spark optimal learning opportunities. In this course educators will explore how to successfully integrate health, nutrition and wellness across multiple subject areas.

This course will also introduce and examine mental health issues in the COVID-19 and Post-COVID-19 era, explore the concept of self-esteem, worth and value. Creating greater class cohesion and participation along with connecting the core curriculum to life outside the classroom will be addressed.

Carlow University ED 614 • Madonna University EDU 5830.53

The required text for this course is Ready, Set, Go!: The Kinesthetic Classroom 2.0

by Michael S. Kuczala and Traci Lengel. ISBN 978-150636583.

Graduate participants earn 3 semester hours of graduate credit and will receive a transcript from one of our partner institutions below. Professional development participants will receive a certificate of completion for 45 hours of professional developments credit for face-to-face classes and 60 hours of professional development credit for online classes.

Professional
Development

Course Schedule

1/14/25 - 4/8/25
3/11/25 - 6/10/25
5/13/25 - 8/12/25
7/8/25 - 10/14/25
9/9/25 - 12/9/25
11/11/25 - 2/10/26

Textbook List FAQs

Outline
Objectives
Partner Universities
Important Information
Student Academic Integrity

Print Online Course Outline Print Face To Face Course Outline

Outline

Module One: Assessing the health and wellness of students in today’s classroom

Contents:

Examine the state of schools and students in terms of wellness
Review the strengths of today’s educational system
Scrutinize the weaknesses (real and perceived)
Introduce the concept of the Kinesthetic Educator
Introduce the opportunity to lead by example
Being authentic and truth telling in today’s world of social media dominance
Discover what you hope to learn and achieve in this course by setting specific SMART and action-based goals.

Module Two: Making the case for the Kinesthetic Educator

Discover how movement (both fine and gross motor) impacts learning
Develop strategies to introduce a movement mindset.
Practical tips for the action-based classroom
Review the benefits of an engaged and dynamic classroom
The concept of side benefits vs. side effects to action-based learning
Determine and assess several approaches to bringing movement into your classroom

Module Three: The epidemic of childhood obesity

Contents:

Understand the scope of the problem of childhood obesity in today’s youth
Determine what constitutes obesity (various metrics)
Review eating habits and the concept of calories
Examine and critique school meal choices and at home
Address the role of advertising on food choices and making more informed choices
Go deeper into the relationship between diet, movement and metabolism
Set and track goals related to weight and wellness

Module Four: The role of nutrition in learning

Contents:

Outline the key terms in nutrition
The link between nutrition and attention
Explore what “eating right” looks and feels like
Examine why nutrition is a factor in learning
Address how nutrition awareness benefits the teacher, the student and their learning
Enhance understanding of the cost/benefit analysis of food choices

Module Five: Social-emotional intelligence as a critical skill

Contents:

Define Emotional Intelligence
Create the environment for social intelligence in the classroom
Emotional intelligence and stress management as it relates to learning
The five components of social-emotional learning
Effective communication tips
Social-emotional intelligence in the classroom and community
Review how to create, nurture and grow positive relationships

Module Six: Mental health issues (in the Covid and post-Covid era)

Contents:

An overview of mental health issues in k-12
Recognizing the precursors to mental health issues
Enhance knowledge of mental health to better identify the warning signs
What are the main mental health concerns in the Covid and post-Covid era?
Manage mental well-being and self-care today and in the future
Wellness as a portable life skill

Module Seven: Stress and self-esteem

Contents:

Explore the concept of self esteem beyond participation trophies
Examine coping tools
Reveal how to mitigate negative events
The impact of stress on learning: body and mind
Identify and developing competencies
Identify and improving weaknesses
Affirm value and worth

Module Eight: The mind-body connection

Contents:

Introduce the mind-body connection to the classroom and learning
Explore relaxation techniques
Create and reinforce a healthy mindset and habits
The physical presence of emotions
Mindfulness and living with intention vs. impulse
The six components of wellness
Mind-body integration moving forward

Module Nine: Creating greater class cohesion

Contents:

Creating a safe and cohesive learning environment
Establishing rapport with any school population
The importance of participation in the activities (and making it safe to participate)
Defining goals and values and a mission for the class
Steps to build trust
Establishing class-wide check-ins to evaluate progress

Module Ten: Action strategies for whole communities, schools and students

Contents:

Adapting movement in the classroom to ability levels, grades and curriculums
Connect the core curriculum to life outside the classroom
Identify and be inclusive of community stakeholders
Create a community resources map
Reflecting on SMART and action-based goals from the beginning of and beyond this course
Develop an action strategy for creating greater wellness

Objectives

Students will:

Examine the state of schools and students in terms of wellness
Be introduced to the concept of the kinesthetic educator
Discover how movement (both fine and gross motor) impacts learning
Determine and assess several approaches to bringing movement into the classroom
Understand the scope of the problem of childhood obesity
Outline the link between nutrition and attention
Enhance understanding of the cost/benefit analysis of food choices
Create an environment for social-emotional intelligence in the classroom
Review how to create, nurture and grow positive relationships
Recognize the precursors to mental health issues
Manage mental well-being and self-care today and in the future
Address the impact of stress on the mind and body
Examine the six components of wellness
Create a safe and cohesive learning environment
Connect the core curriculum to life outside the classroom
Develop an action strategy for creating greater overall wellness

Partner Universities

Our Partners are well-established regionally and nationally accredited colleges and universities, recognized for academic excellence and their commitment to teachers.

Carlow University

Important Information

Online 3-graduate credit courses are 13 weeks in length.

On-site weekend courses are held Friday evening from 6:00pm-9:00pm and Saturday/Sunday, 8:30am-5:30pm.

Weekday courses are Monday-Friday from 8:00am- 6:00pm.

It is the responsibility of the student to check with their state, county, district, or school to ensure that all requirements are being met by the course you're taking.

Check the Partner Universities page for specific university information as well as course numbers which are specific to the university partner.

Students are required to purchase their own textbook, the information for which can be found here. If no book is required it will be specified on the list. We have copies of many of the textbooks should you wish to purchase directly from TEI.

Professional development (PD) participants receive a certificate of completion from TEI for 45 hours of PD credit for face to face classes and 60 hours of PD credit for online classes. These certificates are mailed within one week of the end of the class and reflect the course title, dates of attendance, and credit hour information.

Student Academic Integrity

Participants guarantee that all academic class work is original. Any academic dishonesty or plagiarism (to take ideas, writings, etc. from another and offer them as one's own), is a violation of student academic behavior standards as outlined by our partnering colleges and universities and is subject to academic disciplinary action.