Kelly Bergersen Blog

Bridging the gap between children's lives while they are both in school and out. Cultivating healthy habits that they can share with those around them, regardless of their environment! ( NicePNG.com) Welcome back everyone! Can you believe we're already on our ninth blog? This course has flown by and my hope is that you can continue to takeaway new concepts and apply them into your everyday life and classroom. This week we will be discussing the connections between home and school. Let's dive in! One very informative video we watched this week involved a workshop led by Alan Newland, a part of the General Teaching Council for England. This short film was entitled,"Principles of Teaching - Partnership with Parents." I had the opportunity to choose any of the 5-Minute film festival submissions, but this one seemed to have caught my eye. The idea of recognizing the relationship between the parents and the school is something that drives the balance between school and

Welcome back everyone! We have been doing some great work over diving into some critical issues over the last couple months. We are nearing the end of our blogging series as we approach our ninth and tenth posts! This week we covered a largely publicized issue in our schools and society today-- social media and technology. Please see the attached VLOG and references for this post!   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orQfdCk4t1A References: Landry, Kirstie Marie. (2019, November 10). Social Media for Teens: Pros and Cons.  https://www.moms.com/social-media-teenagers-pros-cons. Link Sexting. (n.d.).  The School Superintendents Association (AASA ).  Link Links to an external site. Links to an external site. Kamenetz, A. (2019, August 27). NPR's The Scientific Debate over Teens, Screens, and Mental Health.  National Public Radio .  Link Links to an external site. Willett, R. (Director). (2019).  Plugged-In: The Toxicity of Social Media  Revealed. [YouTube Video]. Brick in the Wall Media.

Vaping is a harmful addiction that must be talked about in hopes to lessen usage across the country.  Welcome back everyone! This week will will be addressing a very large and prominent issue that we face in our society and schools today: vaping. Generally speaking, any addiction can lead to additive stress and anxiety, so it is crucial for us to pinpoint the problem, and aid in any way possible. Our students our young and impressionable, they do not always realize the consequences of their actions; our job is to guide them and give them all of the facts so they have the freedom to make informed and personal decisions. There are many reasons to begin usage, and like last week's critical, we can recognize that the social atmosphere has a large role to play in this.  This week we watched a short video encapsulating the true effect of vaping addiction on school and student populations. It was impactful to hear directly from the source; students and teachers both took part in small int

"Mindfulness is moment-to-moment awareness... It is cultivated by purposefully paying attention to things we ordinarily never give a moment's thought to" (Jon Kabat-Zinn).  Welcome back everyone! This week we will be discussing a critical issue that not only applies to students in schools, but also teachers and people outside of a school setting. Social and emotional mindfulness is a concept of being that people across the globe need to consider. We all know the feeling of being rushed and always on the go-- this module explains much about what it means to slow yourself down and take a breath. Let's dive right in: We had the opportunity to watch a very informative film this week entitled, "Room to Breath." It targeted the school population, both interviewing students and teachers to get a better sense of the dynamic that is held throughout the education field. Teachers expressed their personal struggle with students that have been intentionally more defiant

Poverty can shackle and weigh people and families down in this world. It is important that we have awareness and look to help those that are less fortunate. Everyone deserves opportunity for success. (Poverty Stock Illustrations)  Welcome back everyone! Now, last week I know we covered mental health awareness but this week we will be shifting gears. Our topic of conversation will surround poverty in schools, as well as across the globe. Generalizing this term, poverty is a lack of wealth that could result in scarcity of housing, clothing, food and other goods. It is important that we, as educators are aware that our students and people around us come from all different walks of life. It is not safe to make assumptions of people or judge a book by its cover; we must always carry ourselves with grace and respect towards everyone.   Speaking of books...  When I was younger this was one of my childhood favorites. "Those Shoes," is a benign and compassionate way to speak about pov

This image says it all: We all need to be kinder to our minds, don't be so hard on yourself! Positive self-talk is so important to our mental health-- health comes first! Hello all, and welcome back! This week we will be talking about mental health awareness. What does it mean exactly? How do we treat it? And how do we all become our best, healthiest, and happiest selves?  This week I jumped right into learning about "generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)." As a class we are in the midst of putting together a collaborative and informative slide show about varied disorders. The more we know and can recognize these, the better we will be at guiding and helping along our future students. My findings are as shown:  What is it? GAD is a condition of excessive worry about everyday issues and situations. What are the symptoms? You can experience trouble falling asleep, trembling, twitching, tense muscles, headaches, irritability, sweating, hot flashes, lightheadedness, trouble brea