Summary of the Community Teaching Plan
The community teaching plan was focused on understanding the importance of health promotion tools among 12-19-year-old children. The teaching plan spanned three months and was implemented in a childcare center. The estimated budget for the teaching plan was $2500, including costs necessary for purchasing a laptop, a projector, educational materials, and supplemental visual tools.
The teaching project involved evaluating the children’s level of interest in the suggested educational program as an indicator of their readiness to learn. When identifying the participants’ level of readiness, their emotional state, moods, and feelings were considered. The main goal of the teaching plan was to increase children’s awareness of the adverse outcomes of a sedentary lifestyle.
The constructionist theory was applied since this practice is known to help learners create meaning instead of acquiring it (Behnagh & Yasrebi, 2020). Visual tools were used since they are suitable for the selected age group, allowing for easier construction of knowledge and understanding of the topic. Children’s ability to understand the role of physical activity and the practical implementation of health promotion knowledge was selected as an evaluation tool.
Epidemiological Rationale for Topic
The topic is highly relevant as a sedentary lifestyle, common among children and teenagers, has serious adverse outcomes on health. Nowadays, children spend much time indoors with their gadgets, communicate with peers via social websites, and rarely engage in physical activities. Such a tendency is detrimental as it can lead not only to social communication difficulties but also to physical health issues. For instance, according to the data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, 2022), more than one-fifth of children aged 12-19 have obesity.
It is also crucial to consider the fact that obesity prevalence is higher in some ethnic groups, making the risk of the disease even higher for some children. The most common conditions associated with obesity are high cholesterol, breathing and joint problems, hypertension, and type 2 diabetes (CDC, 2022). Research indicates that obesity is “an epidemic” in the USA (Bradwisch et al., 2020, p. 66). These findings indicate that the selected topic requires immediate attention, and the choice of the teaching plan is justified.
Evaluation of Teaching Experience
The teaching experience was overall positive, even though it was my first time engaging in something like that. I must admit I felt a certain degree of anxiety in the beginning. However, the more evidence I gathered and worked on developing my plan, the more confident I became.
Thus, when the time came to implement the teaching plan, I felt quite hopeful that I would do everything correctly and successfully. I knew that children were a difficult category of healthcare learners regarding attention and interest. That is why I utilized visual aids to grab their attention, which I succeeded in doing.
I also had to maintain their interest at all stages of the teaching process, so I never allowed myself to relax, kept notes on every day’s achievements, and made conclusions on how to enhance my work on the next lesson. Of course, my practice was not entirely positive, with some kids having discipline issues and trying to get others distracted. However, I managed to keep them attentive and responsive with an authoritative yet friendly approach. Overall, I consider this experience fruitful and rewarding.
Community Response to Teaching
To collect the community’s response to teaching, I asked the children to fill out questionnaires and leave their feedback. The results surpassed my expectations and gave me faith in the success of other teaching endeavors that I might engage in later. Most participants demonstrated a high understanding of the aspects I taught them.
Also, children shared that they had not realized the severity of the problem, even though their parents had told them about the need to spend some time in fresh air playing games and doing sports. They said that hearing the ‘professional’ data about the dangers of a sedentary lifestyle, as well as learning statistics about obesity prevalence, made them rethink their habits. By the end of the teaching process, some children shared that they started going out with their friends in the neighborhoods and playing basketball and other games. They also admitted that their social lives had changed since they could make new friends.
Areas of Strength and Areas for Improvement
The most evident area of strength was using visual aids and technology for children’s engagement in the topic. I could see how effective it was to present the material not in some leaflets or brochures but with multimedia devices. Another positive aspect of the teaching plan was presenting the information simply yet scholarly. I could sense how interested children were and how eager they were to participate in the teaching process.
As for the areas of improvement, I think that dividing children into at least two age categories would have been a good idea. Also, in the future, if I have a similar assignment, I would include some practical tasks rather than only class meetings. For instance, we could arrange some sports competitions at the end of the project to ensure a positive effect. Still, I am pretty satisfied with the results.
References
Behnagh, R. F., & Yasrebi, S. (2020). An examination of constructivist educational technologies: Key affordances and conditions. British Journal of Educational Technology, 51(6), 1907-1919. Web.
Bradwisch, S., Smith, E. M., Mooney, C., & Scaccia, D. (2020). Obesity in children and adolescents: An overview. Nursing, 50(11), 60-66. Web.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2022). Childhood obesity facts. Web.