OVERVIEW OF COORDINATED SCHOOL HEALTH

Chapter One gave a through explanation of what the wholistic meaning of what health is, and as
furthermore elaborated on what coordinated school health. Health is an essential part of being a
functioning and satisfied human in society. Most of the time, people think primarily about physical well-
being. As one’s physical well-being is an essential part of being a healthy human, there are many more
categories of health beyond the physical body. One of the biggest key points in chapter one are the
different domains of personal health. They are physical health, mental/intellectual health, emotional
health, social health, spiritual health and vocational health. Together, domains represent the complete
health for a human. Physical health and the health of the body is often the primary domain that people
think of when they think of “health”. There is mental health that is the health of the intellect and mind.
The domain of emotional health is represented by feelings that humans feel, and the way that they are
expressed. The next domain is social health, the strength and integrity of relationships that we have
with friends and family members. There is vocational health, which is the well-being with ones vocation
such as school or work. The last domain of health is the essential to the wholistic complete domain of
health which is spiritual health. Spiritual health, which can best be communicated as ones morals and
exegetical self-value system. Anther one of the takeaways that I got from the chapter one reading are
the determinates of health. Data and science have been able to compile determinates of health, which
are major things that influence overall health in humans. Social factors, individual behavior,
biology/genetics, health services and public policy are all determinants of overall health. Some of these
determinants can be influenced by avoiding high-risk behaviors. The complex understanding of health is
important for all humans to acquire to achieve a healthy society. It is important that all people young
and old all have a clear understanding of health, it is crucial that youth are healthy, because a healthy
youth leads to a healthy population. Because the overall health of the youth is so predictive to the
health of the population, the education system has a profound influence on the overall health of
children. Both in the roles of prevention and education, teachers and schools can aim to keep children
healthy. A holistically healthy lifestyle is obtained from birth on, so it is the moral right for schools and
teachers to provide a healthy environment, and teach the tools of how to be healthy contributors of
society. Schools should provide quality health services to children, included physical education,
psychological services, and nutrition education. There is also a strong relationship between a student’s
health and well-being and their overall academics, therefore educational professionals should be
knowledgeable and prioritize all students health.

STANDARDS-BASED PLANNING, TEACHING AND ASSESSMENT IN HEALTH EDUCATION

No matter the content are that a teacher is teaching, it is important for teachers to always be
intertwining standards within both teaching and assessment. Health is a science-based subject area that
is continuously being research and growing, therefore the proper health ideals can always change.
Because of the always progressing nature of the health field, it is important that teachers always refer
and use standards during all areas of instruction. Regardless of the public school, within health
education teachers base instruction off of the National Health Education Standards, which are
implemented grades K-8. Standard 1 are Core Concepts, which means that students will be able to
comprehend concepts related to health and prevention. Standard 2 is the ability to analyze influences,
being family, peers, media, the environment or other influences on health. Standard 3 is teaching
students the knowledge and abilities to access information, products and services. Standard 4 focuses
on interpersonal communication for students, leading them to enhance their own health skills and
collaborate with others to strive for a healthy society by teaching communication skills related to health.
Standard 5 is decision making, so that means to teach students how to make decisions that lead to a
healthy lifestyle. Standard 6 is goal setting, and instructing students to know how to properly set goals
towards a healthier lifestyle to obtain optimum health for everyone. Standard 7 is self-management,
and the way that a student independently maintain a healthy lifestyles on their own. The eighth
standard is advocacy, which implies a student being able to advocate for their own and other peoples
health. The rest of chapter 3 continues on how to best teach to these standards, which is where I gained
most of the key points from this chapter. Each unit should be carefully align with standards. I learned
that it is best to use cross-curricular lesson building to integrate health into students learning
experiences, this can be done by relating to experiences or by using an active learning plan. Both
chapters gave a valuable basis for health education.