The Role of a Teacher
Teachers play a critical role in indentifying and educating students about health education topics such as eating disorders. Like parents, teachers should be aware of the signs and symptoms of eating disorders due to daily contact with students. A good way to start is by becoming aware of the impact on eating disorders on various aspects of student development and creating a lesson plan to educate students and promote awareness for eating disorders.
Classroom Strategies
There are many ways to implement education of eating disorders into a classroom. One mean of implication would be through showing an informative film or movie such as the documentary Thin(2006) which follows the lives of women in a treatment center and provides insight to the impact and treatment of eating disorders. Another mean would be through promoting the positive aspects of students other than physical attributes. An activity could be for each student to decorate a paper bag and the teacher hang all of the bags on the wall. Throughout the school year, students can write anonymous positive notes to one another and at the end of the year, students can take home their bag of positivity to reinforce the many positive aspects of their lives. Also, a concurrent activity would be a class wide ad campaign for jeans. In this ad campaign, students must advertise jeans in a way that promotes healthy body images and positive messages about body type. A fourth mean of eating disorder education in the classroom would be to host a workshop through a local hospital or health center.
The goal of the classroom strategy for education of eating disorders is to address the topic on a smaller scale in conjunction with the school wide strategy. Through classrooms, teachers may also host reflective discussions on body image, promote healthy eating and exercise habits, and create a positive environment for students.
The goal of the classroom strategy for education of eating disorders is to address the topic on a smaller scale in conjunction with the school wide strategy. Through classrooms, teachers may also host reflective discussions on body image, promote healthy eating and exercise habits, and create a positive environment for students.