Second session in a row that has my head spinning. The idea of welfare as about more than just making sure people are doing ok. The focus on not being ok with ok …. just getting to 0 from -5 is not good enough. The deficit model of welfare is about just wanting to fix problems then stopping there. We hang on to bad stuff, and we let the bad stuff define us … So do students.

We become teachers for a purpose. We talked about the idea of positive psychology, and the impact that positive emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning and accomplishment have on a person’s well being. And I’ll be honest … This whole session has been really hard for me to process at this point. The idea of “ok” is a powerful one, and I feel like sometimes I’m just clinging on to ok. I love what I do, but there are so many ‘cultural forces’ that are impacting on this. I’m really struggling to clarify my thoughts on this one …. certainly something I’m going to be thinking about in the coming days!!

Thank you, Dan. Very powerful ideas.
http://danhaesler.com/