Recently, I have been working on a Health Advocacy project
with Sophomore Kinetic Wellness Health classes and I was looking at several related
and newly published books.
We began the project talking about sleep and its importance,
especially for teens. In fact, we watched a TedTalk by Russell Foster and developed some amazing posters related to sleep. Both
that talk and the newly published
WHY WE SLEEP by Matthew Walker delve into some rather
technical aspects of sleep and point out how complex and important it is. Walker, for example, notes that “sleep
enriches our ability to learn, memorize, and make logical decisions.” In a
chapter devoted to “What’s stopping you from sleeping,” Walker cites a number
of factors, including light (both electric and LED), more regulated temperatures,
caffeine, alcohol, and industrial era work schedules. Reading this (sometimes
scary) book has made me more conscious of my own sleep patterns. WHY WE
SLEEP is full of details and statistics, although I do wish it was written
a bit more simply so as to be more engaging for our students. Library
Journal gave it a starred review, calling it “of particular interest to [adults,
specifically] business owners, educators, parents, and government officials,
and anyone who has ever suffered from a poor night's sleep.”
That text’s reference to LED light and the use of devices
like the iPad, connects to another area of interest to our students, technology,
and a new book titled SCREEN SCHOOLED by Joe Clement and Matt
Miles. These veteran teachers are concerned about “the overuse of screen time
and why this is bad for kids.” They say when it comes to technology in the
classroom, we should be asking: (1) Does the tech simplify instruction? (2) Is
it easily accessible for all students? and (3) Does it support, rather than
replace, instruction? They acknowledge that there is a place for technology in
education, but question the times when there is too much emphasis on it, rather
than on content or skills being taught. Specifically, they worry about kids
spending too much time passively consuming media on their screen-based
devices. I respect their view, but also wish
that they could have had a chance to see our students use both iPads and laptops
to develop presentations and infographics that discuss critical adolescent health
concerns like binge drinking, sexual activity and nutrition. Reviewing the comments from the students
revealed how proud they were of their hard work (including time spent outside
of class), the collaborative research they had done, and “being able to help people that may be struggling.” SCREEN
SCHOOLED would likely be more effective in promoting change if the
argument made was more balanced and included more research findings.
For their presentations, students chose topics of interest
to them and many focused on struggles with depression and anxiety
so I was definitely intrigued by two other new books: THE HAPPINESS DIET
by Rachel Kelly and ALTERED TRAITS by Daniel Goleman.
