THE SCHOOL WELLNESS WHEEL
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the educational structure is such that the adults in schools purposely attend to the brains, bodies, and psyches of students first and foremost, deeper academic engagement and learning will naturally follow, and greater expectations for student growth are finally realistic and attainable. The differences between traditional education and healing- and resilience-centered schooling in terms of educational focus, school structure, and philosophical foundation are described in table I.1. Table I.1: Traditional Versus Healing- and Resilience-Centered Schools Traditional Schools
Healing- and Resilience-Centered Schools Focus
Curriculum
Literacy
Instruction
Wellness
Assessment
Learning
Rules
Connection Structure
Time-based schooling
Mastery-based learning
Teacher-driven and content-focused
Student-driven and learning-focused
Standardized testing-focused
Personalized and authentic high-level learning Philosophy
Content and curriculum
Mastery
Instruction
Connection
Assessment
Learning
Compliance
Empowerment
Standardized
Humanized
We assert that the school wellness wheel, described in greater detail in this book, provides the functional integration of educational, psychological, social, and medical research, and establishes a specific framework to help schools provide dynamic, rich contexts that can better facilitate and support the healthy development and high-level learning of all students.
About This Book Change does not happen in schools unless someone leads it well. A massive paradigm shift like the one toward a healing- and resilience-centered model entails an
