This belongs to:
Teacher Companion
It’s for your head and your heart.
Illustrated by Matthew Johnstone and Abby Mae
HATs written by David Bott, Justin Robinson and Matthew Johnstone
Lesson Plans and HAT Chats written by Justin Robinson and David Bott
Design by Matthew Johnstone and Julia Natasha White
• Students need a psychologically safe space to explore and discuss wellbeing-related issues that are relevant to their age and impacting their real-life experience.
• Students need help and support to understand, process and effectively manage their real-life worries.
• Schools need a more engaging and effective way of exploring mental health and wellbeing with adolescents.
• Schools need wellbeing programs that are ‘appealing’ to students, ‘efficient’ for teachers, and ‘inclusive’ for parents, carers, and families. The HAT Wellbeing Program achieves these three goals.
WHAT IS HAT?
• HAT stands for ‘Here’s a Thought.’
• The HAT Wellbeing Program is a unique, creative, and inspiring wellbeing program for Middle School students.
• Each HAT contains a helpful thought directly addressing one of the ten most common worries of adolescents. It is accompanied by an inspiring, thought-provoking illustration from world-renowned artist, Matthew Johnstone, and a digestible wellbeing insight crafted by leading wellbeing educators.
• Each HAT comes to life with a ‘HAT Chat’ (HAT wellbeing lesson) designed to make facilitation by classroom teachers easy and rewarding. The HAT team has worked hard to build clear, concise, and engaging lesson plans.
• The HAT Wellbeing Program consists of 40 individual HATs (Thought, Illustration, Insight) and 40 engaging, flexible lesson plans. There is also an array of printed HAT resources (journals, posters, cards) to elevate student, teacher, and family engagement.
• Schools purchase the digital HAT Wellbeing Program and then use the materials to deliver 40 inspiring and engaging wellbeing lessons.
• Once your school has purchased the digital HAT Wellbeing Program, this gives you permission to utilise all digital HAT resources for the benefit of your school community.
• If you like HAT, please feel free to tell others about the program – we love people sharing the word about HAT and the benefits to students, families, and communities! But please do not share any digital HAT resources with anyone outside your school or organisation.
HAT ADDRESSES REAL ADOLESCENT WORRIES
HAT’s unique messages include evidence-based strategies addressing the ten biggest worries of adolescents.
Both longitudinal and emerging research, involving tens of thousands of adolescents in Australia and internationally, has helped identify the issues that teenagers most worry and care about. HAT is designed to directly address these important issues through a solution-focussed lens.
The ten key issues of personal concern which HAT addresses are:
• I can’t help but worry about how I look and I often compare myself to others.
• I find it difficult to accept and love my own body.
• I worry about some of the things I put my body through.
• I worry about the negative impact we are having on our planet and the problems associated with climate change.
• I worry that governments, organisations, and schools are not doing enough to protect our world, and I kind of feel a bit powerless.
• I know that no family is perfect but I worry that my relationship with my family seems to be constantly changing and feels uncertain. My family is important to me but it can also be a cause of strain and stress.
• I worry about fitting in and maintaining my friendships. I’m not sure I have the skills to manage friendship issues and I worry for my friends’ health and wellbeing.
• The world seems so volatile these days, so I worry about what my future holds. I worry that I won’t make all the right decisions and I don’t know if I’m equipped for the changes that lie ahead for me.
• I worry about my mental health. I try to be resilient, but I experience a complex range of emotions that I am doing my best to process. Sometimes I feel like I’m struggling just to stay afloat.
• I know I am unique, but I am still worried about exactly who I am, what I stand for – and I struggle to feel comfortable within my own skin.
• I worry about school and I sometimes struggle to be motivated. I worry about whether my grades are good enough. And even if they are, I don’t really know what I want to do with the rest of my life.
• I worry about my physical safety. It’s hard to know who to trust – especially when I constantly see tragic news about violence, abuse, war, intolerance, and natural disasters.
• Technology is awesome, but I worry that I am addicted to it and I worry that my technology is controlling me. I love feeling connected to my friends but I also struggle to detach from my phone (FOMO!) – and if I’m honest, I constantly worry about my profile on social media.
Failing is always an opportunity for learning.
Do you want to know how Dr Andrew Huberman, one of the smartest brain scientists in the world, explains learning? “Errors are the basis for neuroplasticity and for learning.” When we try and fail at something, the nervous system starts to make changes almost immediately.
When things don’t quite go the way we want, when we make mistakes, our brain is programmed to change, to be better next time. The recognition of failure triggers the release of adrenaline which increases alertness, and acetylcholine which increases focus.
It never feels nice to miss the target, right?! But that feeling of missing – is what learning feels like.
Failing is always an opportunity for learning.
CONVERSATION STARTERS
IMAGE INSIGHT:
My Learning, My Future, My Technology, My Mental Health.
To understand our brain is programmed to change when we make mistakes.
REMINDS ME OF:
HOT QUESTIONS:
• What messages do you pick up from the illustration?
• How many goes has the archer had? (At least 27! There could be more out of view?)
• Do you think the illustration should’ve also included an arrow in the bullseye, or are you glad it doesn’t?
• Share a story with your partner about a time when you felt that you really failed a lot of times. Did you end up succeeding, or did you end up giving up, or are you still failing a lot?
• When can it feel fine to fail, and when can it feel absolutely terrible to fail?
• What’s a helpful way of responding to a failure?
• What’s an unhelpful way of responding to a failure?
EXPERIENTIAL ACTIVITIES
• The role-play starts with a teacher telling a student that they are ‘failing’ mathematics.
SPACE JUMP:
MARKETING MESSAGE:
DEBATE:
• On calling ‘space jump student’ a different student takes their place and continues the role-play. On calling ‘space jump teacher’ a different student takes on the character of the teacher. Each space jump can allow the role-play to change or maintain the direction of the role-play.
• Hopefully students can role-play empathetic and apathetic teachers, along with resilient and non-resilient learners.
• Debrief the entire skit with a partner, then as a class.
• Students design a creative slogan acknowledging the necessity of failing.
• Example: Learning isn’t meant to be easy.
• Example: Our brains grow and adapt when we make mistakes.
• Topic: Failure is the best path to success.
PERSONAL REFLECTIONS
• What is my reaction and my response when I experience failure?
JOURNAL PROMPT:
SUMMARY:
FUTURE CHAT:
• What evidence have I got that I can learn new skills?
• Write your personal 14 word summary for this HAT .
• Example: “Failing is part of learning. It doesn’t feel great, but we can’t avoid it.”
• Design two relevant questions that could accompany this HAT for the purpose of an interesting family or group conversation.
• Example: “Hey Mum or Dad, what is something that you ‘failed’ at a lot of times when you were growing up, but can now do quite well?”
• Example: “What is the best way to learn from mistakes?”
Whenever you’re feeling overwhelmed just ...
Did you know that your body has a kind of inbuilt anti-stress system designed to calm your body and mind. It’s called your parasympathetic nervous system. And you can switch it on whenever you like by taking in a big, deep breath and then a long, slow breath out.
The long, slow breath out does two things. First, it opens up the little air sacks in your lungs (called alveoli) – which allows more oxygen in and more carbon dioxide out. Second, it causes your brain to slow your heart rate just a little bit. Both of these changes to your body cause you to feel an increased sense of calm and control.
Give it a try!
Whenever you’re feeling overwhelmed just …
CONVERSATION STARTERS
My Body, My Learning, My Mental Health, My Safety.
To appreciate the value of slow and deep breathing.
• Imagine yourself inside the shoes of a friend who is feeling overwhelmed.
• What could be a possible cause of them feeling overwhelmed?
• What do you think their mind would be feeling like?
STEP INSIDE:
• What do you think their body would be feeling like?
• In this state, do you think it is easier to calm down the mind or the body?
• What would you suggest this person could do to ease their feelings?
CULTURAL INSIGHT:
SCHOOL FEEDBACK:
• Have you grown up in a culture where deep breathing, mindfulness, meditation or yoga is regular activity?
• Which cultures seem to highly value and prioritise deep breathing and mindfulness activities?
• Would you like to learn more about deep breathing techniques and benefits?
• Would you like your teachers to incorporate deep breathing and/or relaxation activities during your lessons?
• What can our school do to support students when they are feeling distressed or overwhelmed?
EXPERIENTIAL ACTIVITIES
• Instead of doing an illustration – let’s just do it!
• Most likely, you are not feeling overwhelmed at this very point in time, but you may still find that some big deep breaths increase your sense of calm.
DOODLE DO IT!:
• Step 1: Take your current, resting pulse / heart rate.
• Step 2: Complete 1 minute of slow, deep breaths (maybe 4 or 5 breaths).
• Step 3: Retake your pulse / heart rate. Did you find it dropped a few beats?
TOP TIPS: PROBLEM-SOLVING CHALLENGE:
• In pairs research the parasympathetic nervous system – summarise what it does and describe five ways you can activate this system.
• Research, discuss and finalise in pairs or small groups: Our top five deep breathing exercises.
• Consider box breathing, belly breathing, 7-11 breathing, alternate nostril breathing, and many more…
PERSONAL REFLECTIONS
LETTER TO SELF:
MAGIC WAND:
SUMMARY:
• Write a letter to your current self from your 40-year-old self, titled: “Thank you for learning the skill of deep breathing and relaxation techniques when you were a teenager – it has helped me in so many ways.”
• If you could use a magic wand to help someone in your life better cope with feelings of being overwhelmed from time to time, who would you use it on and how would you use it?
• Write your personal 14 word summary for this HAT.
• Example: “Deep breathing relaxes me, calms me down and activates my body’s parasympathetic nervous system.”
