New teachers have stepped up to take over the health department
By Christina Li
This school year, English and Writing Workshop Magistra Clark, Mathematics Magistra Mocete, and History Magistra Pitkin all stepped up to take the position of health teacher left vacant by Magistra Monahan's departure last year.
All three magistrae had a similar response when answering to the idea of teaching Health class as a whole: investment in the discipuli is significant. When interviewed, Mocete had stated that she had always had an interest in topics related to nutrition and fitness, saying, “Now, I think about things I wish I knew in high school and how I can help students at TBLS be more knowledgeable about their Health because it is so important!” Similarly, Clark said, “It was a true joy to have sophomores in class I taught as freshmen. They are one year older with absolute brilliance in real life topics.” Pitkin also responds that she feels “a combination of nervousness and excitement, both ... because while it is exciting to talk about deeply personal issues and connect to students regarding these issues, it creates a nervousness to make sure I'm doing it the right way.” Their responses acknowledge that health is a subject very personal to many discipuli and that it affects them both inside and outside of school, as it talks about a variety of topics such as fitness, sexuality, and mental health. It is quite different from normal academic classes taken here at TBLS, as it is a low-pressure course and only occasionally assigns homework; the nature of the curriculum focuses more on practical education and discussing issues and personal experiences.
Despite this leniency, the health teachers still incorporate some methods from their other classes into teaching the course. The class starts off with an individual warm up activity, like discipuli do in their other classes, and then transitions into group work. Additionally, the teachers assign annotations for certain articles, along with the occasional seminar. These are all teaching strategies that can be found in the History, Math, and English departments.
The end goals of health are not that different from other classes, regardless of the differences in structure and pressure. Mocete claims that the class’ main focus is “on giving the tools that allows students to leave the class with skills in order to find reliable, accurate information on their own.” Clark said that health education “fosters opportunities to explore connections between the body and the world.” Pitkin believes that conversations regarding health are deeply rooted in personal experiences that connect the students, and can ultimately help students develop practical skills and information to use in their TBLS lives and beyond.