Final Post: Portfolio Refelection

I feel that my strongest most meaningful post is 'mental health stigma and ways to support students'. This post helps educators broach the subject of mental health awareness, and in light of recent events, it is a very present issue surrounding our youth today. In the past, society has stigmatized mental health and is just starting to broach the subject and create support for individuals struggling with mental health issues. Unfortunately, many of these supports are for adults. Recent events demand more, more support for youth, more awareness in schools and homes.

This post touches on several areas of our course. First, this post brings to mind the ways the humanities can be used for proper advocacy in our society (McDaniel, 2024). With the issues of mental health rising in youth today its more important than ever to ensure we as individuals are recognizing the warning signs of our peers. It's not just about due diligence anymore, it's about checking in, helping when needed and ensuring the safety of our fellow humans. Being an advocate for someone else is an important civic duty. By engaging in difficult discussion we as teachers can help bring awareness to our students. With the hopes of helping them have the tools to help their friends. I hope that if educators do this, we can decrease the amount of youth suicides and minimize the over-reaching effects that suicides leave on friend groups, families, schools and communities. Advocacy has to start somewhere, and maybe this is the first step.

Lastly, this post touches on the importance of critically analyzing resources. In humanities its important to be able to weed through the garbage. Understand what's real and what's fake. When we teach our students to do this, we enable them to think critically, examine information and draw informed conclusions, while also ensuring they gain their voice to effectively communicate these conclusions. It also encourages empathy and cultural awareness. Effectively helping students to understand the human experience and cultural contexts (Mirra, Kelly, & Garcia, 2021). In turn, fostering social intelligence that is useful in future careers. These are qualities employers look for in employees. By helping students hone and enrich these skills, educators are setting them up for success.

Resources

• McDaniel, D. S. (2024). “Bold of them to assume I want to wait until I’m older to do what I love:” One teens' activism and civic engagement online. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 67(6), 363–375. https://doi.org/10.1002/jaal.1343

• Mirra, N., Kelly, L. L., & Garcia, A. (2021). Beyond fake news: Culturally relevant media literacies for a fractured civic landscape. Theory Into Practice, 60(4), 340–349. https://doi.org/10.1080/00405841.1983316

• Photo Image taken from WIX photo gallery