Professional Development Resources
Professional Organizations
American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (AAHPERD) An alliance of five national associations, six district associations, and a research consortium that supports healthy lifestyles through high-quality programs:
American School Health Association (ASHA) Multidisciplinary organization to protect and promote the health and well-being of children and youth through coordinated school health programs.
Find your state or regional version of these national organizations and get involved.
Mental, Emotional, and Behavioral Health Resources
Children's and Adolescents' Mental Health Like adults, children and adolescents can have mental health disorders that interfere with the way they think, feel, and act. Mental health influences the ways individuals look at themselves, their lives, and others in their lives. Like physical health, mental health is important at every stage of life.
Child, Adolescent and Family Branch The Child, Adolescent, and Family Branch of the Federal Center for Mental Health Services promotes and ensures that the mental health needs of children and their families are met within the context of community-based systems of care. Systems of care are developed on the premise that the mental health needs of children, adolescents, and their families can be met within their home, school, and community environments.
Caring for Every Child's Mental Health Systems of Care, the Caring for Every Child's Mental Health communications campaign is a public information and education program.
The National Child Traumatic Stress Network The mission of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) is to raise the standard of care and improve access to services for traumatized children, their families and communities throughout the United States. This site includes an article on school planning for disasters.
Youth Violence Prevention The CMHS initiative on school violence focuses on the collective involvement of families, communities, and schools to build resiliency to disruptive behavior disorders.
Make Time to Listen, Take Time to Talk The campaign is part of the CMHS School Violence Prevention Initiative and is designed to provide practical guidance to parents and caregivers about "how to" create time to listen and take time to talk with their children.
Listening Dads Are Champs Children whose fathers are highly involved with them in a positive way do better in school, demonstrate better psychological well-being and lower levels of delinquency, and ultimately attain higher levels of education and economic self-sufficiency.
Family Guide To Keeping Youth Mentally Healthy and Drug Free A public education Web site, developed to support the efforts of parents and other caring adults to promote mental health and prevent the use of alcohol, tobacco, and illegal drugs among 7- to 18-year-olds.
Youth Violence: A Report of the Surgeon General This Surgeon General's report seeks to focus on action steps that all Americans can take to help address the problem, and continue to build a legacy of health and safety for our young people and the Nation as a whole.
Publications on Children and Families Free information from the Center for Mental Health Services about children and families.
Flu Prevention Teaching Strategies
CDC TV: H1N1: In this video, CDC influenza expert Joseph Bresee, M.D., describes how to recognize the signs and symptoms of the H1N1 virus (swine flu), including how it is transmitted, appropriate medicines for treatment, and steps to take to prevent or treat illness.
CDC TV: Put Your Hands Together: Scientists warn that people are not washing their hands often or well enough and may transmit up to 80 percent of all infections by their hands. From doorknobs to animals to food, harmful germs can live on almost everything. This video demonstrates the importance of hand washing to help stop the spread of infection and stay healthy.
H1N1 Lesson Plan: This lesson plan, created especially for students in grades 10 through 12, offers background information, activities, and critical analysis of the H1N1 virus. Students can learn about the flu, causes of the flu, participate in a class simulation, learn about vaccines, and much more. Correlations to national standards are provided.
The Germinator: In this PBS game, students learn the basics of infectious disease. Students learn how germs enter the body and the immune system through an animated game.
A Communication Toolkit for Schools: This Web site provides basic information and communication resources to help school administrators implement recommendations from the CDC's Guidance for State and Local Public Health Officials and School Administrators for School (K–12) Responses to Influenza during the 2009–2010 School Year.
FluView: This Web site provides a weekly CDC analysis and report of information about influenza disease activity in the United States.
Reducing Test Anxiety
The College Board provides students with the planning and preparation tools needed to succeed. The College Board provides helpful tips for parents and professionals on encouraging students to pursue a college education.
Test Anxiety is a guide produced by West Virginia University at Parkersburg to help students identify and cope with test anxiety.
Educational Testing Service provides a helpful guide addressing test anxiety. They guide helps students recognize test anxiety, cope with their anxiety, and succeed.
Going Green in the Classroom
Environmental Protection Agency Education Program leads and coordinates EPA programs to provide national leadership in promoting environmental literacy, in accordance with the National Environmental Education Act of 1990 (NEEA).
Teachnology provides services designed to support educators in incorporating technology in teaching and learning. They provide online resources for educators as well as effective tools for designing time and energy saving instruction.
Go Green Initiative The Go Green Initiative is a simple, comprehensive program designed to create a culture of environmental responsibility on school campuses.
North American Association for Environmental Education NAAEE is a professional association for environmental education. The Association creates opportunities for its members to improve their skills in creating and delivering environmental programs and services.
National Environmental Education Week is the single largest organized environmental education event in the United States. It creates a full week of environmentally-themed lessons and activities in K-12 classrooms, nature centers, zoos, museums, and aquariums.
Social Networking: Teaching Internet Safety and Responsibility
Social Networking in the K-12 classroom is a document from the Baltimore County Public Schools that provides educational uses for Web 2.0. It also offers a vocabulary guide and suggests sites to explore.
Web 2.0 and Social Networking is a New Jersey Education Association Web site that features an article from the NJEA Review. This article thoroughly covers all aspects of social networking in the classroom. There are links, statistics, tools, and cyber safety discussions to use for information and guidance.
Internet Guide for Students & Teachers is a Web site from TeacherVision that provides general information on Internet terms, usage, and safety for students and teachers. In addition, teachers can access lesson plans, prinouts, and more by grade level or subject area.
The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) is a nonprofit member organization whose mission is to improve teaching and learning by advancing the use of technology in Pre-K-12 and teacher education.
Social Networking Gets Schooled is an article from TechNewsWorld that discusses how educational software can bring teachers, students, and parents together. The article offers suggestions on using software and online services as a means of sharing information. The site also lists free social networking sites for teachers to consider.
Educational Benefits of Social Networking covers a University of Minnesota study on the benefits of social networking sites such as Facebook. Contrary to prior conclusions, this study shows that social networking in the classroom enables lower income students to become as technologically proficient as their peers from higher income brackets. Other benefits listed include advanced creativity and communication skills.
Advocating for Health Education
Science Ambassador is a program that allows middle and high school teachers to compete for the opportunity to work alongside CDC scientists in creating lesson plans that will bring real health issues into the classroom.
Discover Education provides health lesson plans that teachers can access for grade levels K-5, 6-8, and 9-12. A variety of health topics are covered at each level and academic standards are supplied for each lesson. Lesson plans include the lesson's objective, a list of the materials needed for the lesson or activity, and procedures to follow. Discussion questions, an evaluation, and vocabulary terms and definitions are also available.
Teacher Vision offers health and nutrition resources for classroom use. The lesson plans serve to provide students with the information needed to make healthful decisions while also supporting academic integration. Printable worksheets, activities, and resources for academic integration can also be found on the Web site.
Tox Town offers classroom activities, interactive resources, videos, and other informational materials about environmental health. Teachers are encouraged to use this site to stimulate classroom learning about environmental health issues.
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