Teaching Happiness

Introduction

Teaching Happiness works towards creating positive classrooms by covering different aspects of emotional development. By focusing on emotional intelligence, Teaching Happiness brings positive thinking into the classroom through 10 interactive and creative steps.

Summary of contents

The introduction of the Every Child Matters (ECM) agenda means there has been a strong government drive on improving children's well-being and happiness. The innovative programme contained in this book translates key concepts from positive psychology and the recent research on happiness into a practical, ten session curriculum which is suitable for both primary and secondary aged pupils. The sessions include:

Chapter breakdown

Session 1: What Works Well - WWW
In the introductory session children are introduced to the process of appreciative inquiry that was developed by Professor Cooperrider (2001). WWW involves firstly focusing on what works or has worked well in a variety of situations, for example in relationships, organizations and communities rather than what hasn't worked. Students are also encouraged to begin a happiness diary to log times of happiness so that the elements of this session become more transparent.

Session 2: WOW - Wishing others well
The purpose of this session is to enable pupils to discover that investing in social relationships is a potent strategy on the journey to becoming happier, the first task, adapted from the toolbox of 'Circle of Friends', involves the pupils in creating a relationship map.

Session 3: Enjoy
In this third session children are introduced to interventions; conscious efforts, actions, and thoughts which positive psychologists have identified can enhance individual wellbeing. These positive interventions are adaptable, open to interpretation and research has verified that they are strongly correlated with increased individual happiness.

Session 4: Go with the Flow
The concept of flow suggests that the key to happiness has nothing to do with ease or comfort and everything to do with being engaged in the now. Happiness is a process rather than an outcome. In this session children are introduced to the concept of flow and explore a range of activities from their own experience that can generate a state of flow.

Session 5: Elastic Brain
For decades we have thought that the cognitive capacity of our brains is genetically determined. However, it is becoming increasingly understood that cognitive fitness is a lifestyle choice. In this session pupils are introduced to the concepts of 'fixed' and 'growth' mindsets. This session also introduces children to 'learning zones' which is a strategy for enabling them to learn more about the stages of learning and increase their persistence.

Session 6: Good at it
This session enables pupils to begin to identify their 'signature strengths'. Seligman (2003) identified twenty four signature strengths which are associated with moral traits such as integrity, valour, and kindness. Building strengths and virtue is not about learning and training but about discovery, creation and ownership.

Session 7: Goal Power
Goals are an important part of the growth mindset and are an important way of using and building on signature strengths. In this session children learn that striving for something personally significant is important for both happiness and success and that people who have dreams and aspirations are happier than those who do not.

Session 8: Thought Catching
By this stage in the programme pupils have learnt that it is important for individuals to experience positive emotions, as they promote good health, foster fulfilling relationships and also help to build intellectual and psychological reserves. In this session children learn that although it is very important to be optimistic, our brain has a negative default position and this means that we need to consciously work at being positive.

Session 9: Think good, feel good
Once pupils have understood the concept of thought catching the next stage is to build the link between thinking and feeling emphasising that how we feel does not just come out of the blue. The aim of the session is to enable children to understand that happy and unhappy individuals construe the world differently. When unhappy people interpret the world they tend to see the negative in an event. When happy people interpret the world they tend to see the positive (Brebner, 1995). This session trains children in the use of cognitive skills that promote a resilient approach to adversity.

Session 10: Let's Party
Celebration is a skill. It involves sharing with others, building memories, receiving praise and congratulations. It is a way of building happy, enjoyable events and therefore happy memories. Happy memories are an important part of resilience. This final session concentrates on celebrating.

Details

A4, printable from the CD-ROM or to copy from the A4 page; includes PowerPoint presentation.

Testimonials

Reviewed by:
Gareth D Morewood, Director of Curriculum Support [SENCo],
Priestnall School, Stockport, 1st February 2010

After the development of several, skill-based curriculum revisions over the last few years, SEAL, PLTS, and of course the ECM agenda, we are now much more aware of the needs of our students emotionally and in promoting positive mental health across our schools.

With such a significant shift, from a traditional subject-based-curricula-model, it is almost impossible to start from scratch with the associated pressured of the modern school. Publications like this allow for the starting point and inspiration; provide a foundation from which specifically tailored sessions for your environment or setting can be delivered.

I did just that, using the publication with some of our most vulnerable year 7 students, as part of the Nurture Group curriculum. The publication promises to introduce students to positive psychology insights, including:
• flexible learning skills
• learned optimism
• concepts of signature strengths
• developing a ‘growth’ mindset
...and that it does! The straightforward partitioning of the topics into ten chapters allows for personalisation of delivery, which in my case was essential. Due to the fact my cohort was 11 and 12 year olds, I modified a lot of the material and broke down some of the more complex ideas and translated them into our world, our school and our community. This allowed a sense of ownership for the students and also ensured the work had context, which provides a greater sense of reality for the young people themselves.

The students particularly enjoyed the sessions on ‘Flow’; in seeing Happiness as a process as opposed to an end result, it provided powerful discussions about who was happy; why; how did we know; and how can we ‘create flow’.

I delivered the sessions to the group as a whole, 15 students, and each of them had a file with the appropriate sheets for the sessions and could also insert specific additional work. The students knew these folders translated into the work on Happiness and establishing, through re-visiting the work, that happy memories are an important part of resilience.

Some of the young people we work with now, in the 21st Century face significant risks on a daily basis. This program can support their resilience and provide a structure to an area of personal and emotional development rarely thought about in depth. I would guard against assuming this is an ‘off-the-shelf-product’ that can be delivered by anyone; more a resource that can be tailored to the specific audience. With some of the concepts addressed in depth, this could be used with a wide range of students, although for the younger ages, my experience indicates that more modification is required.

Whatever your cohort, there is plenty of material within this publication to provide for a significant period of study. For any schools looking for an excellent starting point in promoting positive mental health, and supporting the emotional development of their students through positive approaches, this a good value for money and receives a positive recommendation.