Do you believe that implementing positive psychology interventions should be left to the school counselors, mental health therapists, and school psychologists?

2 feedback comments on Discussion: Design Case Study and Questions

RISE feedback comment on 2 articles using the R.I.S.E Model of feedback
Week 3 – Discussion: Design Case Study and Questions
21

Design a Case Study with Questions.
This is an open-ended assignment that allows you to explore issues of personal or professional interest, as they are occurring at their college or K-12 site, or any site of your choosing.
Each case study should be a minimum 2 pages in length, including the three questions.
The assignment will be evaluated according to the following criteria:
A clear description of the case to include
Its setting,
Principal parties,
Leadership interactions,
Intent of the program
Impact on students
Conclusion: Synthesize the conclusions regarding the case by discussing
What the case means to you,
Implications for educational leaders.
Questions and Answers: Provide 2-3 questions for classmates to answer.

Reply to Two classmate’s posts, applying the RISE Model for Meaningful Feedback
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, by the deadline
No need to respond to the above prompt! already done!

This assignment is For feedback comments, you must use the required RISE format: in personable and positive tone! : See attached on the RISE model

SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS :
Write feedback comments on 3 response posts below post#1D.P + Post #2 by k.I using R.I.S.E
Post # 1 by D.P
Hello D.P
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Post # 2 by K.I

Case Study: Application of Classroom-Based Positive Psychology Interventions
Although school leadership and administration in many school districts are expanding their student services departments, hiring counselors and mental health therapists, they are still stretched thin in terms of fostering students’ mental health needs. Through research I have found that implementing positive psychology interventions in the classroom can have a positive impact on the wellbeing of elementary age students. The supported research topics involving school age children and positive psychology fall into the areas of gratitude, mindfulness, and resilience (Waters, 2011). The most researched areas within positive psychology interventions are strategies that practice gratitude and mindfulness to build and strengthen students’ resilience. Young (2020), shared that practicing exercises in gratitude and mindfulness helps to build resilience in children. Applying these three evidenced based strategies fosters students’ mental health and wellbeing, and can be implemented into a student’s school day by their teacher. When teachers cultivate students’ inner strengths, support age-appropriate challenges or risks, and nurture optimism, students will persevere and produce self-compassion (Bremer, 2015).
The following case study will examine the relationship between the positive psychology interventions applied by the classroom teacher and the students’ sense of wellbeing in one 4th/5th grade Special Day Class over the course of one full school year. The study will be conducted by the class’ teacher to determine whether or not embedding positive psychology interventions into the academic curriculum will improve their overall wellbeing. The three positive psychology interventions that the teacher will utilize are: 1. Implementation of the Nurtured Heart Approach; 2. Practicing Mindfulness; and 3. Practicing Gratitude.
The first positive psychology intervention that this study will focus on is building resilience within the students by teaching using the Nurtured Heart Approach (NHA). In the summer preceding this school year, teachers, staff, and administration were trained in the “Nurtured Heart Approach” during a two-part all day professional development workshop. The second positive psychology intervention that will be implemented is having the students practice mindfulness. The students will practice mindfulness exercises three times during the school day by watching videos on the website GoNoodle. In the morning the students will watch a video on the “Think About It” channel. These short, one to two minute videos, will help the students set positive intentions for the day. The third and last positive psychology intervention is practicing gratitude. The students will practice gratitude by keeping a gratitude journal. Every morning when the students enter the classroom they will start their day by writing in their gratitude journal. The journal prompt will be displayed on the board as well as in their journal. The prompt will also be read out loud to the students. An example of a journal prompt would be, “Think about a positive event or experience in your life and describe how life may have been without it.” Data collection in this study will be gathered through face to face interviews with each student in the class at the beginning of the school year and at the end of the school year. In the interview the students will be read a series of questions that are meant to measure their sense of wellbeing.
I believe that the results from this study will prove to be consistent with other research studies and literature on positive psychology interventions and children. This study and others can provide data that strongly suggests that positive psychology interventions and social and emotional learning (SEL) programs in schools have a beneficial impact on students’ wellbeing. When mindfulness is implemented in schools it has shown to improve cognitive, social, and emotional skills which promote meaningful connections to school and the larger community. I believe that this study highlights the importance of the impact that the teaching methodology has on students, and that school districts should strongly consider providing professional development in the area of positive psychology interventions.
Questions:
How much training and professional development do you believe a classroom teacher should receive before attempting to incorporate positive psychology interventions into the classroom.
Do you believe that implementing positive psychology interventions should be left to the school counselors, mental health therapists, and school psychologists?
Do you believe that the strategies presented in this case study could realistically be incorporated into an elementary classroom and positively impact the wellbeing of the students? What strategies/interventions would you adjust, add, cut, etc. as the classroom teacher, team member, or school administrator?
References
Bremer, E. (2015). Effectively combining pbis and the nurtured heart approach. Counselor Education Capstones. Retrieved from: https://openriver.winona.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1021&context=counseloreducationcapstones
Waters, L. (2011). A Review of School-Based Positive Psychology Interventions. The educational and developmental psychologist, (28), 75-90. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/educational-and-developmental-psychologist/article/review-of-schoolbased-positive-psychology-interventions/8B3FBD567056C363EA5207954770F27A
Young, K. (2020) Building resilience in children: 20 practical, powerful strategies (backed by science). Hey Sigmund. Retrieved from: https://www.heysigmund.com/building-resilience-children/

Hello K.I
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SAMPLE OF RESPONSE :
Case Study: Refugee Students in America in K-12
Refugee students in America face many challenges. Many refugee students have waited for years in refugee camps with limited access to education and upon arriving in the U.S face extreme difficulty learning a new language, adjusting to an entirely new school system, and dealing with societal pressures. Most educators perceive these students as academically challenged when they simply do not possess the necessary English Language skills to demonstrate competency (Schlosser, 2018). Many refugee students who fled their home country due to war and conflicts have been victims of violence and persecution and they carry the trauma with them even though they are now thousands of miles away and safe. They suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) which manifests itself in various ways such as hypervigilance, depression, or even aggressive behavior. Some refugee students may be mistakenly assessed as having learning disorders when they are suffering from issues related to trauma (Schlosser, 2018). In schools, these students are subjected to bullying, teasing, and discrimination which can further exacerbate their mental health.
Refugee students in America face unique challenges in the classroom. Despite changing political mandates, the United States has admitted 50,000 refugees over the past decade, one-third of which are children who expect their new futures in America to be anchored by education, stability, and opportunity (Shafer, 2018). The unfortunate reality however is that many of them will face hardship and difficulty in addition to challenges due to race or socioeconomic status. Teachers must recognize students’ challenges and pay attention to them just as much as they care about academics. Academics alone will not help these students live the American dream. Schools can hire teachers from a variety of backgrounds, even refugee backgrounds in order to empower and help this minority population thrive. Schools should also teach refugee students about America’s history of racism and discrimination so that they are better prepared to challenge it in their personal experiences.
Roxas (2014) describes a teacher who worked hard to cater to refugee students’ specialized needs. She designed classroom activities and implemented various instructional strategies to help build community such as assigning a 2-foot area on a canvas for each refugee student to paint a scene that represents them. Building community within the classroom, with other classrooms, and outside of school with local leaders and organizations sounds appealing but refugee students who have escaped war-torn regions where they were stripped of their own dignity and identity have an extremely difficult time building trust and community. For example, if a group was marginalized and persecuted by their local community then why would they want to build stronger relationships with another community? This will certainly take time and require the breaking of many sensitive barriers. Refugee students feel disconnected within their own ethnic group, within the communities they have resettled in, and also within their local schools. Teachers have an arduous and important responsibility for helping refugee students build trust so that they may begin creating positive relationships with those around them which is an important aspect of happiness and success.
Robbins (2020) sheds light on how immersion in nature helps people build community and establish trust and positivity. Exposure to the natural world reduces stress, improves health, and promotes physical and emotional healing. Robbins (2020) states that it takes 120 minutes of nature dose to see results. His study found that people who spent two hours a week in nature, either all at once or spaced over several visits, were significantly more likely to report good health and psychological well-being compared to those who do not. Two hours was a hard boundary. Robbins (2020) found that there were no benefits for people who did not meet that threshold.
Being engaged in nature seems to help hard-to-treat patients open up, find new confidence, and focus their lives in positive directions (Suttie, 2019). Many believe that nature is healing, but what exactly is it about nature that results in less stress and more hope? Researchers suggest it could be ‘awe’—that sense of being in the presence of something greater than ourselves that fills us with wonder (Suttie, 2019). The research participants were military veterans and underserved youth who kept a diary during a 4-day camping trip. Analyzing their diary entries, researchers discovered that ‘awe’ seemed to explain improvements in stress levels, mood, and satisfaction with life.
Researcher Louise Chawla (2014) demonstrated that nature has wonderful effects on the mental well-being of children. Chawla was one of the first to highlight the connection between a strong sense of resilience and a connection to nature. Chawla researched how nature reduces children’s stress and promotes protective factors associated with resilience. She found that not only did children experience peace, calm, and relaxation in nature, but they also experienced opportunities to feel competent and opportunities for the development of supportive social relationships, which are important factors for developing resilience.
Suttie (2019) concludes that nature makes people happier and leads to a significant decrease in rumination. She concluded that experiencing nature’s beauty leads to an increase in positive emotions. This could be due to the inspiring awe, a feeling similar to wonder, the sense of being part of something greater than oneself, which leads to happiness and prosocial behaviors.
Questions
1. How should schools train teachers to teach in a culturally sensitive way that empowers refugee students and leads to increased social and academic achievement?
2. Research proves that exposure to nature has powerful effects of healing for students. How can schools integrate nature therapy for all students?
3. How can teachers develop empathy within students for their peers who come from marginalized backgrounds?
References
Chawla, L. (2014). Raising Resilient Kids with Nature. Childhood by Nature.
https://childhoodbynature.com/raising-resilient-kids-with-
(Links to an external site.)
nature/#:~:text=Resilience%20in%20kids%20improves%20their,their%20sense%20of%20well%2Dbeing.&text=A%202015%20study%20by%20researchers,emotional%20well%2Dbeing%20and%20resilience.
Robbins, J. (2020). Ecopsychology: How Immersion in Nature Benefits Your Health. Yale
Environment 360. Ecopsychology: How Immersion in Nature Benefits Your Health – Yale E360
(Links to an external site.)
Roxas, K. (2014). Creating Communities. Democracy Educational Journal.
https://democracyeducationjournal.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1020&context=home
(Links to an external site.)
Schlosser, B. (2018). Adapting to the American Life. A Look at the United States’ Refugee
Population. Honors Projects. 684. Scholarworks.gvsu.edu/honorsprojects/684.
Shafer, L. (2018). Addressing the Real Challenges Refugee Students Face in the Classroom
(Links to an external site.)
.
Facing Today. Addressing the Real Challenges Refugee Students Face in the Classroom (facinghistory.org)
(Links to an external site.)
Suttie, J. (2019). Why Is Nature So Good for Your Mental Health? Mind and Body.
Why Is Nature So Good for Your Mental Health? (berkeley.edu)
SAMPLE of feedback comment On Q.M post based on SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS
Hello :Q.M
R: Great work! I agree with you that teachers have a unique job when it comes to working with refugee populations and how this population is often misunderstood and mistaken for having learning disabilities when they could just be struggling with something like trauma and PTSD, as you mentioned. I think its critical to help schools train teachers to be culturally sensitive and I think this is something that is not done well in schools across the nation. Not only do teachers not get culturally sensitive training, teachers barely get training in handling students with trauma or special needs, let alone refugees. I think that community building is a start within classrooms, where refugee students are allowed to express themselves in a safe space. I think teachers could use more training in working to build a community within their classrooms during the first few days of class, which could help create the foundations needed to make sure all feel included.
I: I know you have done some work with nature therapy – how did you see the effects of this experience playing out? I think nature therapy can be done through the form of field trips for students, or even exploring the neighborhood their school is in. I think field trips are underutilized in schools – not just elementary but even higher levels of K-12 education – and that just going for a walk a few times a week can do wonders. I wonder if even walks at lunch time that are organized for small groups by teachers can help students connect and with their surroundings.
S: One suggestion that I have is maybe exploring the professional development opportunities that teachers can engage in to help understand their students and especially students of marginalized backgrounds. I do recognize that there will be push back by educators who are reluctant and hesitant to grow and better serve their students, which is a challenge that needs to be considered. How can you get educators on board? Unfortunately, this is a sad reality that we must combat, that working with educators for the past few years, some just don’t want to adapt a growth mindset to better opportunities for their students. Some educators just see themselves delivering information and not being empathetic to students, which I believe is a detriment to learning. I think developing empathy starts with understanding and with understanding comes empathy. I don’t know if a majority of educators would want to do anything like this though and that breaks my heart. However, I think working with small groups of educators and targetting ones willing and open to change can start a shift in conversation at any school site. Starting small and then working up towards the more reluctant educators might be a path towards affecting change and creating a safe space for our vulnerable student population.
E: One way you can elevate your post is by providing your own experiences. You have a wealth of information to share with us and it would be great to hear your voice on this topic, something you are so passionate about.
Best,

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