Design Thinking Paradigm and The Article and Paulo Freire

Teachers and their methods of delivering curriculum are constantly under the public microscope. Parents, students and teacher themselves want to ensure that their child, themselves or their students are learning what is set out in the Prescribe Learning Outcomes or what has been outlined in government mandated curriculum packages. But what if there was another way of doing things? What if it should be the entire educational system under the microscope? I have used the beginning stages in the Design Thinking Paradigm (Empathize- Define- Ideate- Prototype- Test) to analyse one of my favourite articles on this very subject.

Empathize (with the beginnings of Define)
Every time I read This Article, I cry. I have to take several nose-blowing breaks and wipe the back of my hand across my eyes before I can continue reading. When I am finished, I feel like I have had the wind punched out of me. I also am filled with hope.
 

The Article, “How a Radical New Teaching Method Could Unleash a Generation of Geniuses,”  outlines how one elementary teacher in an impoverished Mexican border town rejected formal teaching methods and allowed the students in his class to take ownership of their own learning. This lead to truly awesome and inspirational results. The Article gripped my heart from the very beginning with its harsh descriptions of life in the Mexican town of Matamoros, but it was the following which dug deep into my soul:

“…the dominant model of public education is still fundamentally rooted in the industrial revolution that spawned it, when workplaces valued punctuality, regularity, attention, and silence above all else. (In 1899, William T. Harris, the US commissioner of education, celebrated the fact that US schools had developed the “appearance of a machine,” one that teaches the student “to behave in an orderly manner, to stay in his own place, and not get in the way of others.”) We don’t openly profess those values nowadays, but our educational system—which routinely tests kids on their ability to recall information and demonstrate mastery of a narrow set of skills—doubles down on the view that students are material to be processed, programmed, and quality-tested." (The Article)

A friend first posted The Article and I read it by accident. I sat there and bawled because it spoke to my soul and my soul was saying “Other people have not given up on education. Other people have found a way to fight the factory system and to change how we learn. You can do this too.”  The Article was the soul food that I needed after working several weeks in a factory style classroom. There are things that I try to do differently, there are ways that I try to break the factory machinery, but working against such a well-oiled system is exhausting and often degrading. And quite often I find that my tools break before the machinery does. Nevertheless, The Article has become my motivation to go to work each day. It is my motivation to, bit by bit, disassemble the educational machinery that has been hard at work for several centuries. It is my personal call to action.

The same friend that posted The Article also recommended I read Paulo Freire’s “Pedagogy of the Oppressed.” She was taken aback that I had never even heard of it before. “It is teacher soul food,” she said. “It will become your bible.” A few days later, my course instructor responded to a piece of expository writing that was to jumpstart our term papers. He also mentioned Paulo Freire. Not a coincidence. It was time that I had some Paulo in my life.

Define
I have been taking Freire with me everywhere: the bus, the train, the couch, the classroom, the library, the kitchen floor, the bed, the bath… We’ve been everywhere together it seems. My friend was right, “Pedagogy of the Oppressed” is fast becoming my teacher bible. What The Article refers to as the “dominant model of public education [that] is still fundamentally rooted in the industrial revolution that spawned it,” (The Article)  Freire refers to as the “banking concept of education.” (Pedagogy of the Oppressed, page 72) Together with The Article, Freire has implanted some ideas in my mind that are starting to sprout. Where once there was hopelessness about my job there is now budding optimism and anticipation. Sergio Juárez Correa revolutionized his teaching. I can too.

Ideate
Juárez Correa recognized that for children to experience powerful learning, they must be in control of their own learning. He based his rationale on research conducted by Sugata Mitra, “a professor of educational technology at Newcastle University in the UK. In the late 1990s and throughout the 2000s, Mitra conducted experiments in which he gave children in India access to computers. Without any instruction, they were able to teach themselves a surprising variety of things, from DNA replication to English." (The Article)  Juárez Correa was well-read and despite instincts rooted in his formal training, he continued to step further back from the role of teacher and stepped closer to the role of mentor and facilitator.  Joshua Davis, author of The Article has obviously done his research on the subject and supports Juárez Correa’s method with data from a variety of brain studies. My little community of educational frustration has given way to an entire world of research and experiences! When I add Sugata Mitra to my reading collection I just might have a pedagogical holy trinity! I will have the tools to complete the "Ideate" stage in the Design Thinking paradigm and begin the "Prototype" and "Test" stages.

I still need to write my term paper and I don’t want to use all of my material here.

I will end with a quote…

To them, knowledge isn’t a commodity that’s delivered from teacher to student but something that emerges from the students’ own curiosity-fueled exploration. Teachers provide prompts, not answers, and then they step aside so students can teach themselves and one another. They are creating ways for children to discover their passion—and uncovering a generation of geniuses in the process. (The Article)

And a question:

How can we, trapped in the factory, break down the machinery and start a revolution? What tools would you use and to what purpose?

Remembering through peace

There are two main approaches to health: pathology and salutogenesis. The pathogenic approach focuses on finding treatments for diseases whereas the salutogenic approach focuses on making healthy life choices to avoid becoming unhealthy. In other words, “dis-ease versus health-ease.”

As I sat through yet another Remembrance Day assembly that is supposedly honouring veterans I started to wonder why educators don’t have more of a salutogenic-style approach to Remembrance Week and Remembrance Day.

If you were to ask the average elementary school student about the meaning of war, you would get a multitude of responses all involving guns, fighting, combat gear, tanks, land mines and bombs. The names of their favourite war video games would also be thrown in. Children know all about war, even if they have not lived it themselves. When asking my children this week what peace means, I was met with blank stares and fidgeting. This was obviously a new and uncomfortable question for them.

The main focus for Remembrance Day activities in most elementary schools is war. Students talk about wars that have happened and where they happened. Statistics about how many people died are discussed. Destructive technology is studied and ogled. War is glorified.

At assemblies, students watch videos depicting war- bombs being dropped, no man’s land, barbed wire, artillery, troops in combat gear, tanks, bodies being shovelled by a backhoe, children playing on burnt-out tanks. Every time an explosion happens on the screen or a picture of a gun or tank appears, there is a collective murmur of “Whoa, cool!” that ripples through the assembly. War is glorified. War is “cool.” The children then go outside for Recess and play war while the supervisors yell “No gun-play at school!” In the staff room you can hear “Why don’t they get it? We just had an assembly on why war is wrong!” Not quite. Somebody(ies) obviously missed the point.

A colleague of mine told me that a member of the armed forces came to speak to the intermediate students at her school. When asked “Have you ever injured or killed anyone?” he replied, “I never answer that question. It is too personal.” In not answering the question he has answered the question. Do you think children are stupid and can’t see through your lack of bravery to speak the truth? If you have the guts to pull the trigger or set a land mine, you had better have the guts to tell the truth about it. There is no honour or bravery in avoiding the truth.

I’ve taught students who have had their houses bombed, whose parents have had their eyes gauged out in torture, whose parents had to run for their lives while their neighbours hunted them down. I bet those students don’t think war is “cool.” To them, someone being injured or killed is a reality, not an embarrassing question.

I spent an entire day by myself at Vimy Ridge. It was peacefully grotesque. The pock-marked ground juxtaposed starkly with the all too orderly white headstones. The bright green grass was dotted with tall skinny trees replanted by the German government as part of the war reparations. The white limestone memorial piercing the sky seemed to pierce my heart at the same time. I had the park to myself yet I felt crowded by the horror of the past. Underneath my feet, on the very ground I was walking, lay the dead. Young lives, cut short by gun-fire. This was nothing to glorify. This was a tragedy. This was a nightmare. Everything at Vimy was still ripe with conflict, yet is was a place of sacred peace.

Many years ago, my sister went to Guatemala shortly after the Guatemalan Civil War had ended. While she was met with much pain and suffering, she was also met by a movement of peace. Where North American culture would hang on to pain and let resentment and the desire for vengeance build, the Guatemalan people are finding empowerment and peace through their pain. They are choosing peace. In a church, where many indígenas were tortured, raped and murdered by the militia, their spilled blood staining the floor, was a sign that read “Take off your shoes. You are on sacred ground.” In a place of horrific pain and suffering they are honouring their dead through peaceful remembrance. Where the ghosts of the past could and should haunt them, the indígenas are allowing their wounds to be opened, cleansed and therefore healed through peace.

Why then should we not have the same approach when teaching children about Remembrance Day? Why is the focus not peace? Why are we not allowing ourselves to find empowerment in the past? It is possible to recognize veterans without glorifying war. To discuss and expose the truths and reality of war (post traumatic stress, depleted uranium poisoning, disfigurement, refugees, loss of life…) is to demystify war and to ensure that it isn’t glorified. It is also possible to celebrate Remembrance Day through peace.  How can we expect children to learn that fighting is wrong if we continue to glorify war rather than promoting and teaching about peace? War is the pathological approach to conflict. We must fight our “enemy” to solve the problem. Peace is the salutogenic approach. Why not give our children the tools (and not just lip service?) to prevent conflict so that we may all live peacefully? We can teach our children to wear a white poppy next to a red poppy so that hopefully, one day, we will find that we no longer need either.

On horses and humans

I’ve always claimed that I don’t like horses. I’ve never had a traumatizing experience with them, yet I’ve always stated vehemently that I don’t like horses. Maybe it was because I was a sandbox, truck playing little girl and I was raging against the pink frilly dress “Horsey!” type toys marketed for girls. Maybe I didn’t like horses because the mystic horse murals on 1970s Ford Econoline vans made me uncomfortable.

I’ve been wondering more recently if I say I don’t like horses because I don’t understand them. Maybe I don’t dislike them at all, I just simply don’t understand them. I haven’t spent an extensive amount of time around horses. I don’t know what their movements mean, what their noises mean, why their ears are moving one way or the other. I know nothing about horses apart from what almost everyone knows about horses. They are animals. They have a tail. They have four legs. They eat hay. They live on farms and ranches. They neigh. Princesses in fairy tales ride them. Prince Charmings too.

Well horsies, I’m giving you another chance.

Yesterday our cohort went on a fieldtrip to a horse expo where we watched the “Trainers’ Challenge.” There were three horse trainers, each with an untrained colt. They had 3 days, an hour each day, to train their colt. Even a horse dummy like me knows that’s no easy feat.

Each trainer had a very different style and different methods. As I watched in amazement I began to learn a lot about these creatures and a lot about the complexity of horse and human interactions.

Each horse had already spent an hour with its trainer. When it was his turn to work with his colt, each trainer immediately spent time re-establishing trust and a relationship with the horse. This was done in 3 different ways. The first trainer did something similar, in part, to what I do when I meet new students. Of course the actions, manners and gestures were all different, but the approach was similar. He walked gently to the horse and put his hand out to allow the horse to have a sniff. Then he turned his back on the horse and walked away. This was repeated several time until eventually he rubbed the horse’s nose. When I meet new students, I want them to gain my trust and I do so by not doing anything to scare them. I allow them time to “sniff” me out and give them space to think about what they have just discovered about me. When I feel that the trust has been gained, then we are ready to move forward onto something new.

The second trainer entered the ring full of bravado. As the horse did laps of the ring, he chased it, cracking his whip just short of the horse’s haunches. I thought that he was being far too aggressive towards the horse and I was incredibly surprised when he stopped whipping and the horse started to follow him around the pen. But horses are herd animals, and the trainer had just presented himself as the dominant horse. (In flashy chaps with tassels.) Are humans herd animals too? Some educators definitely use this “cracking the whip” method to force respect and strict discipline in the classroom. Personally, I’m not interested in chasing anyone around and if I did, doing so while “cracking the whip” would only serve to damage a relationship rather than build it. I don’t know enough about horse body language to know if the horse genuinely respected and trusted the trainer, but over the next 50 minutes, the trainer was able to render some amazing results from this colt.

The third trainer seemingly did nothing to rebuild the relationship with his colt when he entered the ring. The colt immediately began following the trainer around the ring while the trainer gave the appearance of ignoring the horse. This to me was fascinating. What has transpired the day before between these two? What was transpiring at that moment that I clearly didn’t understand? Whatever it was, it was happening and there was a clear bond and respect between horse and trainer. This trainer too also produced some impressed results over the next 50 minutes.

Landscape played a paramount role in the behaviour of the horse. The horses were confined in a small ring about 10 metres in diameter. This is not a natural setting for a horse. The ring was inside a huge warehouse-sized barn. This is also not a natural setting for a horse. Lastly, there were bleachers full of spectators clapping surrounding four fifths of the training ring. Not natural. Add this to the fact that the colt has never received any training and you have one confused animal. As I was watching the trainers, I kept wondering “how different would this horse be acting if it was in an outdoor ring on the ranch that it came from?” It would be surrounded by sights, sounds and smells familiar to it. Everything at the Trainers’ Challenge was new to the colts. I know nothing about horse behaviour, but humans do not act like themselves in a brand new setting and they don’t respond well when someone in this setting is telling them what to do. No wonder one of the colts was bucking. I would have been bucking too. In fact, I was surprised that all 3 horses didn’t offer more resistance than they did. Is that how humans fall victim to dictators? Are we defeated before we even have the chance to resist?

By about the 40 minute mark, the colts each seemed to have accepted their circumstances and were doing largely what the trainer was asking of them. But then the landscape changed and so did the behaviour. Each trainer set up obstacles for the horses to go over. They included props such as a tarp and horse jump bars laid on the ground. The change in the horses’ body language was incredible! It was at this point that I realized that I was starting to have a greater understanding and respect for these animals. Each horse was suspicious of the props. Two of the horses were obviously wary, but also very curious. Their facial expressions changed drastically and it was the first time I was aware this change. Their expressions softened, but their ears were perked up with one pointing back and the other front. Their eyes widened and they looked back and forth between the tarp and the trainer with a questioning glance. The spectators all noticed and many laughed at the childlike body language being exhibited by the horses. With the props in the ring, the trainers were faced with new sets of behaviour challenges. The horses were no longer going to do what the trainer wanted. They needed to be convinced that the props were not a safety threat.

Over the three hours that I watched the Trainers’ Challenge, it became increasingly obvious to me that in order to train a horse, one must understand the psychology of horses. Horses are herd animals and follow a dominant horse. They are a prey animal and anything can scare them and make them feel threatened. Horses are playful, loyal and capable of respecting and following a human leader. Like all animals, humans included, horses need time to develop a relationship with the other beings around them. They need time to make sense of their surroundings and to feel safe. Only then will there be positive training gains. Each trainer had to adapt his techniques and methods to suit the personality of his horse. The trainer needed to read the mood of the horse and gauge the horse's behaviour. As with teaching children, each horse may have responded completely differently to the other trainers, or to the same trainer on a different day, at a different time or in a different setting.

so much depends
upon

an unbroken
colt

glazed with salty
sweat

confined by the
ring
 

One question remained at the end of the Trainers’ Challenge: If a horse trainer can be that effective with a colt in 60 minutes, how much more effective can we be in 60 minute with our students? (Without running around the room and cracking a whip.)

 

Swimming with vitality

I had a series of “a-ha” moments over the past few weeks. The first was while my head was under the water at the pool. The second was while reading “Promoting Vitality in Health and Physical Education” by Stephen J. Smith and Rebecca J. Lloyd. The third was while daydreaming about sunny cycling days.

Actually, I had the same “a-ha” moment three times.

I have realized that the reason I don’t like swimming is because I swim without vitality. To me, swimming is a series of motions that propel me from one end of the pool to the other. There is the kicking: “From the hips Marie! From the hips! You are knock-kneed!” That’s my swim instructor from last fall yelling at me as I chug down the lane. There are the arm strokes: “Relax Marie! Let your arms drag lazily over the water before they plunge in again.” There are the abs: “Engage your abs Marie.  Your trunk is parallel to the water but your legs are diagonal. You look like a check mark in the water!” There are the hands and fingers: “Some like the fingers open to let the water thread through. Some like them close to make a paddle.” There is the breathing: “You need to learn to breathe on both sides. One breath every 3 strokes. Exhale evenly while your head is in the water.” There is the entire body: “You are swimming like a log Marie. You need to torpedo your body. Rotate at the hips with every stroke. Torpedo.”

Finally, there is the mind: “You need to think about your swimming as you swim Marie. Think. Don’t just swim.”

I have come to the conclusion that there is too much thinking involved when I swim. And there is no vitality. It is strictly a mechanical practice.

When I ran, my mind and body were completely connected. It would take the first 500 metres for my mind and body enter a rhythm where my breathing was effortless and my arms and legs would flow from one movement to the next. There was no thinking about movement involved, but there was acknowledgement of the movement and there was enjoyment in the movement. Running was not mechanical, it was natural and easy. I would spend the next 10 kilometres in a trance-like state, yet I never felt more alive and in tune with my inner self, body and surroundings.  I did some of my best thinking and problem solving while running, yet I was completely aware the entire time. My mind was never more actively still than when running. I have never achieved stillness in yoga. Running was the perfect tandem exercise for my mind and body. It was an exercise infused with vitality.

My favourite place to run was the lake. My favourite running partner was my sister. I never went to the lake without her. The trail took us through tall cottonwoods, tunnels of blackberry bramble, through a swamp with skunk cabbage and ended in an over-grown, century old orchard. Each time we ran, we would pass certain places that evoked running memories for me. The smell of the cottonwoods took me back to elementary school cross-country meets. The sight and smell of fungus covered logs made my mind spin with the vast complexities of the environment and natural systems.  The oil slick on the water reminded me of human disregard for nature. At one point, the trail crossed a bridge where we always slowed down to see if the turtle family was sunning itself on the half submerged log. Going to the lake left me physical and mentally invigorated.

Cycling has replaced running. A long, hard ride leaves me physically and mentally stimulated. It leaves me craving more. It hasn’t always been this way. I had fond childhood memories of burning up and down the neighbourhood street on my bike. With the neighbourhood gang, I made ramps and obstacle courses for my bike. We rode for hours on end. When I first got on a bike as an adult, those fond memories taunted me. I didn’t’ remember muscles hurting as a child. I didn’t remember having to learn how to breathe while riding. And who cared if the bike didn’t fit. It got us from point A to point B.  With time, however, and many kilometers of road, this has changed. I now enter the same trance-like state I did while running. My mind and body now have a tandem rhythm- one is not in balance without the other. Cycling is a satisfying physical and mental experience.

I have what the doctors call “exercise induced asthma.” I think it should be called “mechanical movement induced asthma.” I have realized that when I engage in vitalistic practices, I never need the inhaler. When I first started cycling, the inhaler came on every ride. When I ran, it was at home. Forgotten. What does this say about the mind/body connection? What does this say about vitality? Clearly, when my mind and body are working in tandem, there is balance. The asthma is triggered by an imbalance.

So how do I achieve balance and swim with vitality? Can it be achieved through a personal fitness and motor skill development approach? In some ways, I think so. The more I swim, the more I will improve. The more I improve, the more I will enjoy swimming. It can be counting laps and enjoying the feeling of swimming further for a more sustained period of time. It can also be achieved through attitude, and taking pleasure in the bodily experience and satisfaction of that experience (as explained by Smith and Lloyd). It can be achieved by making a date out of going to the pool with my husband.

I know one thing: if I aim to swim like Mr. Smooth, I will never swim with vitality.

The next time I am at the pool, I will think on this. And then try my best not to overthink the swimming!

 

A fish out of water? The struggles of a non-swimmer.

I went swimming today. I hadn’t been in a few months. As I walked out on the pool deck sporting a varsity water polo club swim cap, I imagined everyone in the pool thinking, “Look at that pro who just walked on deck. What is she doing here with that fancy swim cap? Shouldn’t she be training at the club pool, not a public pool?” Yes, I was experiencing delusions of grandeur. The truth is, my best friend had given me the swim cap, and many others, while she was clearing out her swimming closet. She’s a real swimmer.

I’m not a swimmer. I never have been. I was one of those kids who failed each level of swimming lessons at least once. Somehow I made it to the pre-Lifesaving level. And that was the end of my swimming career. Thankfully. You wouldn’t want me to trying to save anyone’s life in the water.

I cautiously made my way into the pool. Cautiously might not be a strong enough word- I can’t see beyond a foot in front of me without my glasses and my googles were making my eyes pop out like a frog’s. Well, frogs like water. Maybe I stood a chance in the water today.

Despite the cautious entry, my delusional mind was still trying to tell me that once I started swimming, everyone was going to be impressed. “Wow! What flawless form! She must have been born swimming.” Not so much. I flailed about for a bit like a fish caught on a line, then decided that I’d ease my way into the “workout” with a kick board…

Kick. Kick. Kick. Kick. Look at the bottom of the pool way down there. Kick. Kick. Kick. Ick water in my mouth. Kick. Kick. Kick. 25 meters! Pant. Pant. Pant. Paaaaaaant. Ok back again. Kick. Kick. Kick. Kick. Kick. Kick. Kick. Kick. But I would… Kick. Kick…like to do a triathlon one day. Kick. Kick. You’ve got a long way to go girl. Kick. Kick. 50 meters! Pant. Pant. Pant. Yeah, well we can’t all be Chrissie Wellington on our first try. Pant. Pant. Pant. You’ll never be a Chrissie Wellington if you don’t work for it. Pant. Pant. Pant.

My swim lasted for 250 meters, or 10 “back and forths” as I like to call them. I stopped for a breather every 25 meters, except for the last 50. I pushed myself to swim the whole thing without stopping at the turn around. For me, and my now silenced delusions, that was a success. The entire time, I focused on my technique and tried not to view the experience as an exercise to reach the other side of the pool- for the fish on the line to be pulled ashore. If I was going to improve my swimming and be able to swim long distances, then I would need to proceed slowly. Yes, I want to complete a triathlon, but I’ve got time. I still need to figure out how to run without damaging my back. Other people have leaped bigger hurdles. There must be a way. So there must be a way to learn to swim and to learn to enjoy it. I want to enjoy it.

Last fall I took adult swim lessons. I wanted to learn how to swim again, but I also wanted to end my fear of being underwater. So I literally dove in head first. Being an impatient person and slightly rambunctious, I felt that meeting my fears and dislikes head on would force me to deal with them. I know that I improved over the course of the lessons, but I also know that I still have a long way to go. My husband swims regularly which is incentive for me to go to the pool more often. For me, finding the time and the desire to swim are the biggest challenges. Why would I swim when I can do an exercise that I enjoy and find comfortable? “Because, Marie, you know that as you become better at it, you will like it more and more.”

And it’s true. The harder I work at something, the more I come to like it. I know that one day I will enjoy swimming.

The Exploration Begins

About me

Hi! My name is Marie. My blog “Article 25” will chronicle my journey, discoveries and growth in the Health Education and Active Living (HEAL) program. In my professional life I work with young children- helping them to grow, explore and give meaning to the world around them. In my personal life, I am a cook, cyclist, wife, friend, traveller, volunteer and much more. I live everyday being grateful for what I have in life.

Why Article 25?

Health is a basic human right, as stated in Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:

“Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.”

As a child, I was aware that I enjoyed things that many others in my country and world did not. My parents did not gloss over famine, war or human rights violations. I had a loving family, a warm house, hand me down clothes, plenty of food and toys, clean water and a safe neighbourhood. As an adult, however, I came to truly understand the full meaning of my privileges when I worked and travelled outside of my hometown. In Mexico I worked with street children, teaching personal hygiene and some basic life skills. In Peru I learned that less truly can mean more. In Peru and Mexico I witnessed the systematic degradation of ancient cultures by western influences and the devastation that this is having on the populations. In the North, I learned what it meant to be embarrassed by the colour of my skin and that the colour of my skin afforded me certain privileges, even in my “developed” country. I learned that children went to the dump to get new toys. I learned from one child that if she wasn’t beaten by an adult that weekend, it was a good weekend. In all of these places I came to realize, despite my knowledge of being privileged, the selfishness with which I lived my life. I realized that without knowing it, I was projecting privilege. All of these experiences have had a formative role in shaping who I presently am. All around me I witness and have witnessed people who, for whatever reasons, have been denied basic human rights.  I strongly believe in the universal right to health and that if everyone could enjoy this right, then many other rights will also be honoured in the process. This is why I chose to call my blog “Article 25.”

The Personal

Knowing that I am privileged, I have vowed to take care of myself by maintaining a healthy lifestyle. I do this mainly by making healthy food choices, exercising, striving for balance between work and life and finding any excuse to spend time with family and friends.

I love food! Whether it is eating, cooking, baking, experimenting with it, reading about it or even just thinking about it, I love food. My husband and I believe in ethical and sustainable food choices and practices. We grow some of our own food, or eat what comes from my parents’ urban farm (as they like to call it.) We purchase local, organic food whenever possible and whenever not possible, we are forced to play the tricky game of making the most ethical and sustainable choice between the options. (For more on how to do this, read Marion Nestle’s What to Eat.) My husband and I are vegetarian and eat mainly whole foods.

I am interested in nutrition and have a developing understanding on the subject. (Although my father would have you believe I am an expert.)  I am on a constant quest to further my knowledge.

I began cycling quite by accident. I had been told by my doctor that running was damaging my body and that I should stop. After much sulking and dramatic displays of self-pity, I was asked by a friend if I wanted to be in a cycling race with her. That was the beginning of a new love. I was also inspired by my best friend who had just completed her second Iron Man competition. Cycling became something that my husband and I took up together and coupled with food, it embodies much of our relationship. I am a pathetic swimmer, but I hope to change that in the near future. I enjoy step and high-low aerobic exercise, some free weight exercise and have recently tried Tabata interval training. My rattlesnake joints believe in the healing influences of yoga but having what was once described to me as a “frolicky mind” I have yet to control the internal chatter. Outdoor exercise and being in the wild environment offer me as much of a mental as well as physical escape.

Why HEAL?

Because I work with children I am exposed to a wide spectrum of perceptions of health. A few years ago, I worked with a child new to the school and country. He was mute, timid, shy, and unresponsive to any interaction with either his peers or me. He didn’t smile. Due to social-economic reasons, his lunches consisted of white bread sandwiches with nothing between the slices. He was subsisting on nothing, and it was taking a devastating toll on his physical, mental and emotional health. He was saved by a health intervention- the subsidized lunch program. Months later, this child was flourishing. He had the strength to hold his head up in class, to focus on learning his letters, and to learn how to add. He could run around outside with his friends, playing and laughing with them. I was amazed at the drastic changes in him and his successes fuelled my passion for health and active living education.  I was angered that because a child is poor, he does not have access to the healthy lifestyle with which so many of us are privileged. I want to change that.

I have come to realize that I have been judgmental of other people’s health but after the discussions of the first two HEAL classes, I can already feel that judgement eroding and broader, more malleable and accepting understandings of health, wellness and balance beginning to develop.