Appendix A

The Five Circles of Wellness 10

Dimensions of Wellness

In this curriculum, they are referred to as dimensions of “wellness” but they can also be thought of as the dimensions of one’s life – the dimensions of one’s being. They are the physical, the psychological, the social, and the spiritual dimensions. These four dimensions are interconnected, interdependent, and constantly interacting with each other. Maintaining or improving one’s wellness – one’s quality of life – requires continuous balancing and rebalancing of these four dimensions in response to the events in our lives.

Wellness Wheel

The wellness wheel provides a visual representation of the concept of wellness that demonstrates the need for “balanced” or “well-rounded” lives. To attain and maintain harmony and balance in our lives, we must pay attention to each of the four dimensions of wellness. To neglect or over-emphasize any of the four dimensions will result in an out-of-balance (out-of-round) wellness wheel.

Imagine the wellness wheel as a tire made up of four separate air chambers – each one representing a dimension of wellness. If one or more of these air chambers is either over-inflated or under-inflated, the wheel will be unbalanced and the road of life will be a bumpy one. We roll along through life more smoothly when our lives are “well-rounded” or balanced. These ideas are represented visually through the three following graphics:

Balanced/Round Wellness Wheel

This wellness wheel belongs to a person who takes responsibility for achieving balance in his/her life. As a result, this person is rolling along smoothly through life – everything is going “just right”.

Out-of-balance/Out-of-round Wellness Wheel #1

This wheel could represent a person who is overly concerned with having fun and socializing (social dimension), and neglects the physical dimension (e.g., has a low level of physical fitness, and/or is overweight, and/or does not have a healthy diet, etc.).

Out-of-balance/Out-of-round Wellness Wheel #2

This wellness wheel is that of a person who is obsessed with the physical dimension of wellness. He or she engages in physical activity for so many hours each day that there is no time for attending to elements of wellness in the other dimensions (e.g., meaningful relationships, reading).

Spheres of Wellness: Going Beyond Personal Wellness

The graphic representation of the three spheres of wellness is based on the following two premises:

1. We cannot attain or maintain optimal wellness without taking care of ourselves.
2. We cannot attain or maintain optimal wellness without reaching out to others and investing in meaningful causes beyond ourselves.

In the first part of Wellness 10, students operate primarily in the personal sphere of wellness. They acquire knowledge, develop understanding, and practise attaining and sustaining personal well-being through the five strands of wellness: Physical Activity and Fitness, Stress Management, Leisure, Healthy Eating, and Relationships.

During the latter part of Wellness 10, the emphasis shifts to the local and global spheres of wellness. Students are provided with opportunities to nurture a more profound sense of wellness by investing in people and causes beyond themselves. They begin by investing locally through service in their neighbourhood and community. This lays the foundation for them to invest globally through service and work for causes that benefit the planet.

Strands of Wellness

Of the multitude of factors that exert an influence on one’s well-being, there are some that Wellness 10 students are more likely to be dealing with on a day-to-day basis. These particularly influential wellness factors have been called strands because they are woven into (i.e., weave their way through) the physical, psychological, social, and spiritual dimensions of our lives. It is the balancing of these strands that creates an overall sense of well-being. The following five strands are emphasized in Wellness 10:

• Physical Activity and Fitness
• Stress Management
• Leisure
• Healthy Eating
• Relationships.

Perspectives

Three perspectives also guide the teaching of Wellness 10: active living, movement, and personal-social-cultural perspectives.

Active Living Perspective

Through learning experiences related to the active living perspective, students:

• improve their ability to use physical activity to attain and maintain optimal physical, psychological, social, and spiritual wellness
• improve their ability to balance Physical Activity and Fitness and the other strands of wellness to attain and maintain optimal wellness
• exhibit progress toward adoption of a physically active lifestyle
• exhibit progress toward achievement and maintenance of a wellness-enhancing level of physical fitness.

Movement Perspective

Through learning experiences related to the movement perspective, students:

• demonstrate increasing competency in many lifelong physical activities
• become more able to apply movement concepts and principles to their learning and to develop movement patterns and skills.

Personal-Social-Cultural Perspective

(Personal and Social Responsibility; Cultural Awareness)

Through learning experiences related to the personal-social-cultural perspective, students:

• demonstrate increasingly responsible personal and social behaviour in their daily lives, including physical activity settings
• demonstrate a deepening understanding of and respect for differences among people in their daily lives, including physical activity settings.

Decision-making Process

In Wellness 10, students demonstrate increasing self-responsibility for their own wellness by designing, implementing, and evaluating at least two personal wellness action plans – one plan related to the Physical Activity and Fitness strand and one related to the Stress Management strand. Alternatively, students may choose to develop an action plan that encompasses both strands. The three-level decision-making process provides the organizational framework for the development, application, and evaluation of action plans.

This three-level decision-making process also serves as the framework for each unit in Wellness 10. Repeated use of the decision-making process enables students to assume increasing personal responsibility for their own wellness. Students need to become more independent and learn how to assume more responsibility for their wellness outside of school. The decision-making process shifts responsibility from the teacher and school to the students. The process is designed to support students in taking charge of their own wellness.

Sample Wellness 10 Fall Semester Plan ~ Teacher A