HOMAGO identified interest:
After recently and briefly learning about Social Emotional Learning (SEL) my HOMAGO goal is to explore SEL further and the different technologies I can use as an educator to support my student's SEL learning.
HOMAGO week 1:
#SELmatters
As I have stated, my HOMAGO goal was based around Social Emotional Learning (SEL) and how we can integrate and implement good mental health within the classroom, especially in a middle school classroom because this is the age mental health is at its peak. During this past week I asked my family group chat, roommates, and friends what they use on bad days, was it going on a walk? Using an app? To my surprise, my cousin who is a 6th-grade science teacher showed me two apps she uses, and my roommate who is an elementary ed major showed me an app she uses. The apps I discovered were daily affirmations that you can set your phone home screen to get a motivational quote throughout the day, the second was an app that allows you to make checklist to mark of tasks during the day so you can stay on track and not let the bad things ruin your day, and the last app was an app that can guide you through exercises and a personal journal to record your day and mental health journal. After I was shown these three apps I asked, “what do you like about these apps? do you truly believe they help?” The responses I got made me even ore ready to dive deep into this SEL journey. My cousin told me the app I am puts quite on her home screen every day and it always is something that motivates her to have a good day even if not so good things may happen. She then shares the quote with her middle schoolers so. They can start there day off with something positive as well. The second app she showed me was Reflecty, an app that allows herself to record the good and bad things throughout the day. She said this was enjoyable because she can always. whey the pros and cons and being able to record her day lets her reflect and let go of the small negative things that affected her. Lastly, my roommate introduced me to the app Fabulous, this app allows you to make daily checklist and check them off throughout the day. I asked her “why this app” and she said “sometimes when people suffer with poor mental health it’s not always easy to complete even the smallest task so for me, this works as a motivation tactic” which I found very appealing, especially that could be something useful for middle schoolers. After and during this week and while talking to my cousin and roommates I found myself asking what are ways we can integrate things like this in a classroom? How would middle schoolers respond to the idea of practicing good mental health in the classroom? And lastly, is practicing this with middle schoolers going to maybe change the rates of stress and poor mental health in general and in school?
HOMAGO week 2: Hanging out
Social Emotional Learning (SEL) is fairly new in the education world, but it is so great to see that the education system is taking mental health and SEL seriously. Growing up and all my years in elementary, middle, and high school I was never taught about mental health or how to overall manage my social and emotional life either, it was much of me figuring it out on my own as well as my peers. Being in middle school is hard enough as young adolescents try to navigate who they are, search for their identity, and are also going through puberty so SEL is an all-time necessity at this age. I was so glad to see that during my “hanging out” stage in HOMAGO and researching SEL and mental health, there were so many videos, articles, and educators speaking on this. It makes me feel ready as a future teacher to implement these things in my classroom and to know I have resources to go to if need be! The first resource I found is a Ted Talk called “Social Emotional Learning Benefits Everyone” and talked about childhood toxic tress. I included this in my HOMAGO “hanging out” research because this Ted Talk was all about how adults treat middle schoolers and young adolescents that act out in bad way and how adults almost always assume they are a bad kid. We as adults never look at the bigger picture as to why kids act the way they do, and we never have seemed to teach young adolescents that their emotions are okay and valid when in reality we need to because its normal. We need to start teaching how the way we react to things is okay but the way we cope can be taught and create healthy mental health. Lastly, the second resource I found was a blog on mental health and SEL. This blog included resources and tools that can help us teach our students life skills that could help navigate their emotions and mental health. This blog breaks down why SEL is important, how to teach SEL, and activities and tips to guide you through it.
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HOMAGO week 3 app#1:
HOMAGO week 4 app #2:
The first app I “messed around” with is an app called “I am” which sends you a daily affirmation to your phone. What I like about this app is its easy sign up and it gives you a week free trial. The strength of this app is that it allows you to select an area of your life you want to focus of work on, in included working on stress and anxiety, depression, and for the purpose of using this app I selected “Loving myself” because in this time in my life I need to work on self-esteem and self-love in general. Everyday so far during the week trial it has sent me notifications of tips and affirmations to focus on that day. Some included “give yourself a positive compliment today” and another said “I am powerful, I am strong, and I am confident” which stuck with me throughout the day when I had a negative thought. However, the one limitation was that after the free trial it is $19.99 a month to continue. I considered this a limitation because mental health is serious and it’s good to see these apps don’t make people jump through obstacles to get the encouragement, they were looking for in the first place. I wish it was free to all people that wanted to use this app because I truly thing this app has the power to keep people pushing through their day.
For this week in HOMAGO, the second app I decided to “hang out” with is an app called Reflecty: Journal & Diary. This app allows you to journal throughout your day and allows you to track your mood throughout the day too. The positive thing about this app is that you have to download it and simply sign up with an email, there aren’t many limitations to the app besides the fact you can sign up and pay for a “premium” version, but the free version is just as good and helpful as the version you would have to pay for. In other words, it isn’t necessary to purchase the premium version. In my opinion, this is a positive to me because even though there is a version you can pay for, the app doesn’t limit you or not benefit you if you don’t or can’t pay for it. To me they are sending a positive message about mental health, and they don’t want to limit anyone from getting the help they need. The logistics of this app is great, you can journal throughout the day and get you feelings on notes as well as track your mood which allows you see you progress. I think people need to be taking more advantage of apps like these because when we write down the way we feel we cope better, and it allows us to debrief our day too. It made me feel as if I had a free therapist at the palm of my hands and something to keep me motivated which. Is what people struggling with mental health need.
HOMAGO week 5 app #3:
HOMAGO week 6 app #4:
For this week in HOMAGO, the fourth app I decided to “hang out” with is an app called “Fabulous: Daily Habit Tracker” which allows you to personalize a schedule to keep track of morning, mid-day, and nighttime. When people struggle with their mental health, one of the first side effects is a lack of motivation or lack of drive to do anything. As someone who has struggled with mental health, I can agree that I had a hard time getting motivated so having a checklist of things to do daily allowed me to do what I needed to get done and it gave me that small victory feeling that I accomplished something. I love this app because there are so many ways it can be integrated into the classroom too, especially for those students that need a checklist or reminders for homework or assignments. Lastly, the best thing about this app is that it’s completely free, finally, there is an app that doesn’t come at the cost of someone’s mental health and can be at the fingertips of anyone who needs the extra push.
For this last app, I really wanted to find something that I could use as an educator to check in mid-week with my students and implement in my classroom. I did so much research for this app, and to be quite honest, it was unsettling how hard it was for me to find it. I simply googled, “apps teachers use to check in with students” and all that came up were apps to submit grades and assignments. It made me wonder, is mental health not being integrated into the classroom as much as it NEEDS to be? Finally, after a lot of research, I had to settle and choose a basic Google reflection sheet. This is something my professors have used with me to communicate my grades, feelings/mental health, and use as an overall check-in to make sure everything is going okay for me as their student. This allows students to send me messages directly and privately to teachers if they have any concerns or need help with anything. If I put myself in an educators shes, I would use this to send out a weekly reflection for students to complete and submit to me so I can check in with them which with giving me a good gauge of all of my student's mental health, which is something that has always been important to me. With middle schoolers, emotions are often high, and they are constantly evolving as young adults, this can be stressful and causes a lot of harm to mental health sometimes. The ins and outs of the Google sheet are overall great, it's free and an effective way to check in with students. It's confidential and stays between me and the student. There isn’t really much I could ask for. It is simple and does exactly what I need it to do, check in with my students and make sure they are okay.
HOMAGO week 7: Geek out
To begin, I am disappointed that there isn’t a more modern rn app that has been created for teachers to use to check in with their students. However, with the goals and ambition I have in mind, I can use Google sheets in a way that has never been used before, to make an impact and change within the classroom regarding my student’s mental health. As I have stated many times before, middle school students are at the age where they struggle the most, so them knowing they have support is needed at an all-time high. It had been proven that students EXCEL in the classroom when their mental health is good and they have a teacher that shows they care. If mental health isn’t put first, then no great learning will be done. I plan on using this Google sheet(s) once a week probably in the middle of the week to check in with my students. Asking them possible questions like “On a scale of 1-10 how have you been feeling lately?”, “Are there any concerns you have that I can help with?”, and even questions like “what can I do better to help you?” and take it from there. I truly believe doing something like this can change the pace of a classroom and change the way students feel about themselves and school. When they are heard their mental health is excelling. Personally, I never had teachers in middle school check in on me. Even if I was okay, it would have been nice to know I am being heard and thought about. That way, if I did need help, I would feel comfortable asking for help. My own experiences are exactly what is motivating me to implement something like this in my classroom.
HOMAGO Week 8: Geek out
The software I am choosing to use in my classroom is an app called Google Forms. Google Forms is a simple communication tool used between students and teachers. Through reminders, students can message teachers with questions or concerns, almost like texting but it is a more suitable and appropriate way for teachers and students to use. Messages between students and teachers can be sent in real-time and the teacher can even send reminders and attachments through the “text message stream”. Something else I found super great too was that you could use almost 90 different languages to translate and send messages. As an ESL-endorsed student, this is so great for me to see because now I have all possibilities to communicate with each and every student even if there is a language barrier. You may be asking; how does this app implement mental health in your classroom? Well, I plan on using it so students are free to message me anytime they want with concerns in hopes that they are comfortable confiding in me. I would also use this app to attach Friday reflection questions in the app for students to respond to so I can stay up to date with them. Questions I would include are, “How did this week go for you?” “What questions or concerns do you have?” “What was a high of your week and what was low?” “If there is anything you need help with, please message me and we will set up a time to chat.” I love the idea of this because checking in on your students is so crucial and it gives them the power to come to you when they need to and are comfortable, there are no restraints in that area.