A Long Walk to Water and Mental Health
Mental health is an extremely important topic to cover in a health education class. This topic usually has a negative connotation and that shouldn’t always be the case. While teaching about mental health in my high school health education class, I’d use a scene from ALWtW to connect to the topic. A Long Walk to Water has many examples of situations that deal with mental health. One scene in particular is from Chapter 10 and 11. In Chapter 10 and 11, Salva has to face the death of his uncle which is an awfully traumatic experience. After Uncle Jewiir’s death, Salva is faced with the challenge to stay mentally tough through obstacles presented to him. Salva isn’t treated the same and isn’t given food or water from others in his group. This presents the idea of mental health because of the trauma he is going through.
To begin this lesson, I’d start by having students answer questions on mental health and write any personal experiences they have with mental health.The questions will be posted on a PowerPoint presentation, which will be the form of technology in this lesson. We would have talked about the basics of this topic days prior to this lesson. Student’s answers would be kept private because their answers could be very personal. After answering questions and writing down their personal experiences and thoughts about mental health, I’d turn them over to read chapters 10 and 11 from ALWtW. Students would come together to participate in Collaborative Conversations. Before I let my students begin with their conversations, I’d teach them the rules of conversation, given in 50 Routines. After rules are established, I’d pose questions for students to think about that talk about mental health and Salva’s experience in this chapter. Students will have to collaborate with one another to figure out Salva’s mental state of mind during this time. Mental health can be positive and negative. This lesson will allow students to determine if Salva’s mental health was healthy at the time or not. Students will make sure to provide evidence from the book that could be possible contributions to Salva’s mental health. With this, students will determine whether or not Salva needs to resolve his mental state of mind, and if yes then describe what ways Salva can do so.
This lesson would be taught to my high school health class because it’s a touchy subject that may not be appropriate for any age under high school. This lesson would fall under Health Education Standard 4: Demonstrate the ability to use interpersonal communication skills to enhance health and avoid or reduce health risks. A sub-category of this standard is under grades 9–12 which states, “Use strategies to prevent, manage, or resolve interpersonal conflicts without harming self or others”. This lesson’s main focus is determining types of mental health but also includes ways to manage negative mental health.
The American Experience in the Grand Challenges connects to this lesson. Mental Health is a part of everyone’s everyday lives. This includes positive and negative mental health. People’s state’s of mind determines what their mental health is. Salva goes through many different experiences that result in causing harm to his mental state of mind. Everyone goes through something that can lead to a negative consequences on one’s mental health. Therefore, this lesson is connected to the American Experience.
