St. Joseph School District’s Health and Physical Education Department (HPE) was featured in Teen Health & Wellness’ September Newsletter. Teen Health is an online resource used as part of the Health and Physical Education curriculum throughout the District.
Mike Buckler, HPE Curriculum Coordinator, discovered the site accidentally a few years ago and began using it in his classroom. Two years ago when the District revised the HPE Curriculum, he was instrumental in helping the District purchase a whole-district subscription.
Dr. Jaime Dial, Director of Secondary Education, said, “It was extremely helpful last year as we launched our professional development initiative revolving around introducing complex texts to our students on a more frequent basis.” Teachers used articles from the website as non-fiction texts related to health and wellness.
Teen Health & Wellness, ranked in the top 10 by the National School Librarian Association, has a fairly exhaustive list of subjects related to health and wellness, with at least five articles on each subject. In addition, there is a glossary and list of further resources and readings for each section.
“The great thing about the site is all of the articles are written by experts in the field,” said Buckler. “I send them to the site, because that way the kids don’t have to just listen to Mr. Buckler or their teacher talking about it—right there are 4 or 5 other resources.”
Teen Health & Wellness contacted St. Joseph School District for the September feature because it was one of the top five users of the site last year. Parents and the community can also access the site through the District website at www.sjsd.k12.mo.us/domain/73. (Click on “Teen Health & Wellness”)