2 HAPPINESS AT SCHOOL Acknowledgements I would like to thank my committee who have supported and taught me through my course work and this project. Dr. Nadia Wrosch has guided me through her steadiness, humor, and valued advice. Dr. Louise Moulding has gifted me with wise assurances and shown me how to expand my thinking. Janeal Magalei has led me to stretch and helped me to succeed professionally. I would also like to thank my friends and family for their love as I have pushed forward. Especially, I would like to thank Matt for being the best partner. The world is not made out of rainbows so thank you for being next to me to face it and there every time the dust settles. 3 HAPPINESS AT SCHOOL Table of Contents NATURE OF THE PROBLEM...................................................................................................... 6 Literature Review .............................................................................................................. 8 Definitions of Happiness ....................................................................................... 8 Happiness as a Goal at School .............................................................................. 9 Learning and Emotions are Connected ............................................................... 11 Happiness Included in School Curriculum .......................................................... 14 Summary ......................................................................................................................... 16 PURPOSE .................................................................................................................................... 18 METHOD .................................................................................................................................... 19 Participants ...................................................................................................................... 19 Procedures ....................................................................................................................... 20 Researcher Bias ............................................................................................................... 21 Lessons ............................................................................................................................ 22 OUTCOMES................................................................................................................................ 24 Discussion ....................................................................................................................... 28 Recommendations and Limitations ................................................................................. 31 Conclusion ....................................................................................................................... 31 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................. 33 APPENDICES .............................................................................................................................. 35 Appendix A: Lesson Plans .............................................................................................. 35 Appendix B: Pictures of Artifacts ................................................................................... 40 4 HAPPINESS AT SCHOOL Art from Student One .......................................................................................... 40 Art from Student Two ......................................................................................... 40 Art examples from other participants .................................................................. 41 Appendix C: Permission Letters ...................................................................................... 43 5 HAPPINESS AT SCHOOL Abstract Happiness is something that people can improve through intentional actions aimed at increasing feelings of personal happiness. At school, students are expected to accomplish all the tasks that are presented to them daily as teachers guide through the process. Students will achieve better academically and socially at school if they feel happy. However, students are not taught how to gain a sense of happiness or how to work to change any feelings of unhappiness. Teachers should show and be able to provide students with opportunities to self-assess how they are feeling as well as how to do activities that will increase their feelings of happiness. This arts-based study utilized seven different lessons with activities meant to improve feelings of happiness. In the project, students first created an original art product which answered the question: How happy do you feel at school? After the creation of the first artifacts, students were taught lessons and practiced the learning strategies included in the lessons. Students spent time discussing as a class and expressing self-reflections with the researcher regarding how they felt at school and which activities they could use to develop stronger feelings of happiness at school. After seven weeks of lessons and happiness strategy practice, the students were asked to create a second artifact to answer the question: How happy do you feel at school? When the students completed the second art product, they compared their two artifacts and answered the researcher’s final project questions. The results of this project focused on two specific students and their feelings of happiness at school. Student one felt unhappy at school and student two felt both happy and unhappy at school. Through the seven lessons taught over the seven-week period, both students were able to identify the causes of the unhappiness they felt at school and worked towards improving their personal feelings of happiness. Comparing the first and second artifact, both expressed that they were able to improve their feelings of happiness at school. 6 HAPPINESS AT SCHOOL NATURE OF THE PROBLEM We can control what we choose to do to increase our happiness and life satisfaction. Being happy is a self-interested skill that benefits all aspects of life (Nicolson, 2017) and any person who wants to be happy can become a happier individual (Howell & Rodzon, 2009). Howell and Rodzon (2009) and Schiffer and Roberts (2018) each concluded that 50% of happiness is determined by genetic predispositions, 20% is controlled by life circumstances, but 30% of our happiness levels are generated by our own intentional activities. Both Howell and Rodzon (2009) and Schiffer and Roberts (2018) explained that through carefully chosen actions, individuals can increase the levels of happiness they feel. Parents and teachers want students to grow academically as well as socially at school, and a key element to reaching these goals is helping students be happy. Happiness is seen as a measure of personal success and if someone is unhappy or has a low morale, it is seen as a personal failing (Howell & Rodzon, 2009). Howell and Rodzon (2009) explained that unhappiness is felt by people of all ages from all backgrounds and in any location. This means that all students are capable of thinking that their own unhappiness felt at school is a personal failing. The issue of unhappiness and low morale can be improved through teaching students strategies that focus on increasing their happiness (Seligman, Ernst, Gillham, Reivich, & Linkins, 2009). Students experience a range of reactive emotions throughout their school day and if some of those emotions are not related to happiness, then students are regularly practicing unhappy feelings. Feelings of being unfulfilled are prevalent among youth and a cause for concern as children grow into adulthood (Seligman et al., 2009). If a student can experience these attributes related to happiness, as explained by Scoffham and Barnes (2011), he or she will engage in the learning process, which will bring 7 HAPPINESS AT SCHOOL happiness and a greater opportunity to learn. Unhappy and negative feelings impact the motivation of students which will then affect the success of their learning (Scoffham & Barnes, 2011). Teachers can be better at contributing to the skills related to the development of happiness in students. Ivens (2007) explained that students should be taught how to self-assess their feelings in order to have a starting point to increase their level of happiness. In addition to a student understanding how he or she feels, Seligman et al. (2009) explained that if students are not taught in the classroom how to be happy, they will have trouble progressing in their education process. While at school, students will learn lessons and form life habits. In order to experience advancement in the learning process, students need to form habits aimed at happiness as opposed to forming habits that lead to unhappiness. Students should be given opportunities to assess their own feelings at school and then be taught how to make personal goals aimed at increasing their happiness levels while at school (Scoffham & Barnes, 2011). Feeling happy should be a goal that teachers instruct their students to reach while at school. The ability to learn and practice ideas and skills is related to happiness in that studying information becomes easier if the individual is feeling happy (Seligman et al., 2009). In order to achieve traits which are linked to happiness, there are different strategies which students should be taught in order to understand how they can personally feel happy (Scoffham & Barnes, 2011 and Seligman et al., 2009). Both Seligman et al. (2009) and Scoffham and Barnes (2011) explained that traits helpful to learning which are linked to happiness are exploration, imagination, inquisitiveness, playfulness, and the ability to form relationships. These traits can be developed by: gaining perspective through understanding that beliefs and attitudes make you happy, cultivating a sense of belonging, creating a purpose, doing what 8 HAPPINESS AT SCHOOL makes you feel lasting happiness, making and keeping realistic goals which have the ability to be flexible and change over time, thinking about how you feel and what you can do to change, and allowing for a sense of gratitude. An instruction of strategies related to achieving a feeling of happiness can be included in the school curriculum through asking students to assess their level of happiness felt at school and then teaching and allowing students to utilize different methods to practice happiness. The following literature review will discuss why happiness needs to be included in the school setting and how including strategies to increase feelings of happiness will ultimately increase students’ morale. Literature Review Definitions of Happiness While considering how to teach strategies for feeling happy at school, it is essential to acknowledge that there are many definitions of what it means to be happy. Because of the variety of concepts related to happiness, teachers should be able to provide their students with the available theories related to happiness (Scoffham & Barnes, 2011). Two common definitions of happiness are (1) the feeling of having a fulfilled life and (2) that of being morally good. Scoffham and Barnes (2011) explained that being fulfilled and having strong morals align with the goals of education and would be a benefit to students if they were focuses within the classroom. Another common definition of happiness is the interpretation set by the World Health Organization (WHO). The WHO explained that happiness is “a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” (WHO, 1946/1992, p. 1). This explanation also conforms with the goals of including well-being education so that students have a place where they can learn in a healthy and holistic manner 9 HAPPINESS AT SCHOOL (Scoffham & Barnes, 2011). Students need to have access to different concepts of happiness for them to assess their own definition of happiness in order to create their own feelings of happiness within the classroom. To achieve a sense of happiness at school, students must be shown how to gauge their own happiness and create a goal for what being happy feels like for them. Happiness as a Goal at School School is a place where teachers strive to help students reach the goals of learning and emotionally growing. Boniwell, Osin, and Martinez (2015) explained that teachers have a strong influence on how a student achieves mastery of materials as well as how the student learns to interact with his or her community. There are many expectations placed upon students while attending school. Because the school experience is integral to the future success of the student, teachers desire a positive outcome for their students. The feelings and emotions of students relate directly to their learning and, because of this connection, students will have a greater chance of school success if their feelings are happy at school (Boniwell et al., 2015). Seligman et al. (2009) began their research on the basis that there is a high rate of depression among school-aged youth as well as the concept that there is a connection between learning and happiness. They illustrated that true prosperity comes from the happiness level of an individual and because of this connection of prosperity (life-satisfaction) and happiness, they stated “that happiness should be taught in school as an antidote to depression, as a vehicle for increasing life satisfaction, and as an aid to better learning and more creative thinking” (Seligman et al., 2009, p. 295). In their study, Seligman et al. tested two happiness-based programs: The Positive Psychology Program (PRP) and Strath Haven Positive. Both the PRP and Strath Haven Positive were taught in 20-25 80-minute lessons over the course of a school year. These programs were taught across four public middle schools in Pennsylvania to 200 teachers 10 HAPPINESS AT SCHOOL and 1,500 students through a 24-month period. Both programs focused on teaching skills which would increase feelings of happiness in the participants. These included skills were called signature strengths and based in cultivating a sense of belonging, creating and following through with a purpose, and allowing for a sense of gratitude. In each study, teachers helped students to identify their own strengths and to work towards increasing a skill level within those signature strengths. Teachers focused on using gratitude to bring value to life through discussions of what went well during the day. Each example utilized a control group during the time period. Seligman at el. found that in both the PRP and Strath Haven Positive programs, the happiness levels of the control group was stagnant or decreased whereas the happiness levels of the participants increased. Teaching happiness strategies within the school system is a successful practice and should be utilized to increase the impact that school has on a student (Seligman et al., 2009). There is an anchored connection between a student learning and how that student is feeling. Although students will be naturally rewarded academically and socially if they are able to work towards their own well-being in happiness, there is no standard curriculum for teaching well-being practices within the classroom (Seligman et al., 2009). Collet-Sabé and Tort (2015) expanded on Seligman et al. (2009) and stated that both parents and teachers want well-being for their students, but teachers don’t actively make time within the curriculum to draw well-being connections to the classroom and real-life. This lack of instruction and practice of well-being on the part of the student, leaves he or she to go through the school process without the opportunity to create connections between how to succeed at school and how to be happy. As Boniwell et al. (2015) explained, teachers care about their students’ general welfare and in order to work 11 HAPPINESS AT SCHOOL towards teaching happiness, teachers must learn how to train their students to create their own individual happiness so that all students can be supported. If a student feels happy at school, he or she is more likely to learn (Seligman et al., 2009). If a student has a teacher who helps him or her feel happy, then this environment will lead the student to greater opportunities for academic achievement. However, students cannot only rely on a teacher to bring feelings of happiness to their lives. A teacher who makes a student feel happy will not always be his or her teacher and furthermore, all students need to be able to learn how to rely on their own ability to create their own happiness. Boniwell et al. (2015) agreed with Seligman et al. (2009) in that when a student can learn strategies to feel happy, his or her life will be benefitted inside and outside of school. Boniwell et al. (2015) concluded that inside of the classroom, a happy student can learn material more effectively than an unhappy student. Learning and Emotions are Connected Teachers that cultivate an environment that is conducive to happiness engage their students in a variety of ways so that students feel happy. Students that are given meaningful challenges, which they can meet, feel happy due to the level of achievement experienced. Personal fulfillment that comes through accomplishing challenges put forth in the classroom allows the student to feel happy (Scoffham & Barnes, 2011). This type of fulfillment is relevant for the student but is usually a source of happiness that is experienced in a situation organized by the teacher. Scoffham and Barnes (2011) further explained that this type of classroom environment is an element included in the happiness levels of a student, but it does not grant the student the opportunity to seek out his or her happiness personally. Scoffham and Barnes (2011) described that happiness is enhanced through learned strategies. In their 2011 published work, Scoffham and Barnes focused on creating a pedagogy 12 HAPPINESS AT SCHOOL that was centered on happiness and well-being. The idea that happiness can be taught at school was the starting point for their work and they sought to find a middle ground where education, namely the learning process in the classroom, would become elevated through students learning how to be happier at school. The concept that fear and anxiety prevent the brain from being able to learn led Scoffham and Barnes to research a way to combat fear and anxiety through recalling and experiencing happy emotions thus allowing students to better learn. Scoffham and Barnes began from the idea that according to positive psychologists, happiness is a teachable trait and through their study, they showed that happiness grants physical, intellectual, social, and psychological resources. In their research, Scoffham and Barnes (2011) presented two case studies aimed at teaching happiness skills to students. In the settings of each study, they followed a classroom of primary aged students and student teachers over a semester in the U.K. In the first study, student participants were asked to engage in an activity which led the participants to develop traits connected to happiness. The traits that were focused on were: doing what makes you feel lasting happiness, making and keeping realistic and flexible goals, thinking about how you feel and planning for how you can change, and gratitude. The objective of these activities was to find the participants’ happiness levels through an engaging and fulfilling activity. The students created something of their own choice based on prompts from the teacher. In the second case study, leaders from schools were given similar prompts to answer. The objective was that the participants had the ability to choose how to answer. The result was a creative and cross-disciplinary product. Happy fulfillment of the participants in both studies was achieved. Scoffham and Barnes showed that we can achieve in learning through feeling happiness and that there is not just one way to feel happy. In their conclusion, Scoffham and Barnes stated that 13 HAPPINESS AT SCHOOL happiness enriches our sense of meaning; it will give school meaning and should be included in the school environment. For students to seek out happiness, they should be taught principles of positive psychology within the classroom which they can then put into practice to find their own happiness (Seligman et al., 2009). Seligman et al. (2009) stated that gratitude and finding personal meaning are elements of positive psychology which aid in feeling happy. When students can be authentically thankful for specific things, they experience meaning within their world which drives their happiness levels higher. Scoffham and Barnes (2011) agreed with Seligman at el. (2009) that traits connected to positive psychology will aid in increasing feelings of happiness of students at school. They both explained that the ability to explore and use imagination are also principles in positive psychology which help students to feel happy. When students are shown how to be inquisitive without the constant aid of a teacher, they will experience the space to feel happy (Scoffham & Barnes, 2011). To learn how to utilize actions that lead towards happiness, a student must first be aware of his or her own self and emotions (Seligman et al., 2009). This concept of self-awareness applies to what is already set up in education in that teachers ask their students to self-assess what they know about a topic and to consider what they still need to learn to accomplish mastery. After achieving a starting point, the teacher will move forward with instruction and then the students will apply their new knowledge. This formula, already used in teaching the general curriculum, could be easily transferred into teaching about feeling happy (Seligman et al., 2009). To teach happiness strategies, teachers need to ask students to define how they feel at school in order to have a starting point for teaching happiness (Ivens, 2007). A student’s understanding of his or her emotional strengths and weaknesses is part of self-awareness. Ivens (2007) and 14 HAPPINESS AT SCHOOL Seligman et al. (2009) both agreed that an education concerning emotions should not be separated out of the general curriculum because it already fits into the model of teaching. Happiness Included in School Curriculum Unhappy feelings and emotions in the school setting impact the motivation of a student which will then affect the student’s ability to learn. Seligman et al. (2009) noted that in terms of school becoming a better environment in which a student can learn, we have continued to progress except when considering morale and increasing feelings of happiness. This stagnation, when compared to other elements of education that have progressed, is striking (Seligman et al., 2009). Teachers are asking and showing students how to do more but are not teaching them how to handle their own feelings to cope with the rigor of the school day. Since education has progressed through programs and curriculums, implementing a happiness curriculum would be the next logical step to increasing the progression of teaching students how to have higher morale and how to be happy (Seligman et al., 2009). However, Scoffham and Barnes (2011) explained that educators don’t focus on a happiness curriculum because it is hard to define across different classrooms and because it is difficult to grade. Although a curriculum aimed at increased happiness is not typically available, teachers shouldn’t back away from the concept of teaching happiness in the classroom. One of a teacher’s roles is to help students reach goals and a common life goal is to be happy. Fishman and McCarthy (2013) agreed with Scoffham and Barnes (2011) that students who are happy at school are students who are more fulfilled at school as compared to students who are unhappy and less fulfilled at school. It is not the teacher’s responsibility to make students feel happy but rather, as explained by Fishman and McCarthy (2013), teachers should teach the targeted happiness skills and then it is the students’ duty to utilize the acquired happiness skills. The instruction of life 15 HAPPINESS AT SCHOOL values, including happiness, is the responsibility of the school and while a student will learn important life values outside of the school setting, it is within the school environment that these skills can be readily put into practice within the community of the classroom (Seligman et al., 2009). This ability to know how to be happy, as explained by Seligman et al. (2009), is about knowing what is good about one’s life. When a student is happy, it is easier for him or her to learn the material presented by the teacher. In addition to becoming more capable of understanding the school curriculum, Scoffham and Barnes (2011) described the relationship between creativity and happiness. When students are happy, they are more open to being engaged creatively, which in turn allows the student to further their learning to a deeper level. This type of learning is developed in the environment of the student, and although the student can contribute, it is the teacher’s obligation to create the opportunity for an increase of well-being in learning. There are many students at school who are unhappy or who do not know how they can become happier (Seligman et al., 2009) but through teaching happiness strategies, students can learn how to help themselves become happier at school. If students are not taught how to be happy in the classroom then they will have trouble progressing in their education. Happiness is not something that is unchangeable but is described by Scoffham and Barnes (2011) as an attainable feeling. A student who works towards being happy can become happy according to Scoffham and Barnes (2011) and this increase of emotional happiness is connected to positive personal growth. Fishman and McCarthy (2013) further explained that even a student who enters a classroom with unhappy feelings can change into a happier individual through the effort of both the teacher and student. Happy emotions and personal satisfaction can be achieved within education regardless of the happiness levels of 16 HAPPINESS AT SCHOOL students when they begin the process. Part of this transformation relates to the ability to choose between options and to make personal decisions according to Collet-Sabé and Tort (2015). They also explained that if a student isn’t taught the skills to adapt and make self-assessing resolutions, then it is difficult to become happier (Collet-Sabé & Tort, 2015). Scoffham and Barnes (2011) clarified that a class-specific happiness curriculum would alter the role of educators from curing specific problems that students encounter, to aiding in showing students how to prevent the negative aspects of unhappiness. To accomplish this goal, teachers must help students create personal definitions of happiness. Scoffham and Barnes (2011) demonstrated that after students have created their own idea of happiness, they must learn lessons related to happiness that will help them to do intentional activities which lead to happiness. In considering how to organize a happiness curriculum, Seligman et al. (2009) explained that teachers should think about what a happiness goal is for their classroom as well as what kinds of methods should be taught for the students to reach their happiness goals. Summary One of the problems that affects the school performance of students is their ability to be happy. While at school, students that struggle with feelings of unhappiness will often struggle with motivation which will then make learning problematic. Since motivation and happiness are connected, learning and teaching how to be happy should be a goal for both teachers and students. There are numerous learning goals that are put on students daily and the expectations for what students should be accomplishing in their schoolwork are considerable. Teachers have taught their students how to reach new learning goals, but they have not taught how to handle the low morale that is common among students. 17 HAPPINESS AT SCHOOL When students are happy at school, their learning is enhanced but when students are unhappy in the school setting, their learning suffers. There is a connection between being emotionally self-aware and developing traits that will aid in the increase of individual happiness levels at school. Happiness can be a taught as well as a learned skill. Traits that will increase a student’s happiness are: understanding that beliefs and attitudes make you happy, cultivating a sense of belonging, creating a purpose, doing what makes you feel lasting happiness, making and keeping realistic goals which have the ability to be flexible and change over time, thinking about how you feel and what you can do to change, and allowing for a sense of gratitude. Students can define what happiness means for them and as a result, they can take on the responsibility of using happiness strategies to increase their feelings of happiness while at school. Intentional activities related to happiness strategies are elements that teachers can utilize in the classroom. 18 HAPPINESS AT SCHOOL PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to explore student happiness by students expressing themselves through the use of art to show perception of well-being and happiness at school. In this study, students used an art medium in order to focus on art as a representation of the level of personal happiness felt at school before and after being taught how to implement happiness-based actions. Helping to improve students’ feelings of happiness should be discussed in the school setting because this instruction will positively affect their experience at school (Boniwell et al., 2015). Students need to be able to self-assess how happy they feel at school in order to create a baseline from which to grow their own level of happiness (Ivens, 2007). For students to understand how they can increase their level of happiness, they need to be taught different strategies related to traits connected to happiness. Through this study, students learned different activities and strategies meant to increase feelings of happiness. The interpretation of the art products was the basis for determining an increase of happiness. 19 HAPPINESS AT SCHOOL METHOD To fully understand happiness at school, this arts-based study allowed students to represent the way they felt at school and then work to implement strategies to becoming happier while at school. Art is a product that can demonstrate feelings and is symbolic of attitudes, the cognitive process, and emotional mindset (Schihalejev, 2018). Happiness can increase through intentional activities (Howell & Rodzon, 2009 and Schiffer & Roberts, 2018). In this study the seven intentional activities taught were: gaining perspective through understanding that beliefs and attitudes make you happy, cultivating a sense of belonging, creating a purpose, doing what makes you feel lasting happiness, making and keeping realistic goals, thinking about how you feel and what you can do to change, and being grateful (Scoffham & Barnes, 2011 and Seligman et al., 2009). Students self-assessed how they felt at school through the creation of an artifact, then spent time working towards improving their morale through intentional activities, and finally creating a second artifact. Participants Participants were 82 5th grade students from three different classes, all taught daily by the researcher, in a Utah school during the beginning of the 2019-2020 school year. The school was in a residential neighborhood in which the school population was 94% Caucasian, 6% minority, and 4.2% considered low-income. Of the total school population, 12.8% of the students received Special Education services and 1% of the students were classified as English Language Learners. Of the 82 5th grade project participants, 78 were Caucasian, 4 were minority, and 2 were considered low-income. Of the 82 students, 6 regularly received Special Education services and 1 student was an English Language Learner. Two students were chosen by the researcher as the 20 HAPPINESS AT SCHOOL focus students for the project. The selection of the focus students was to identify contrast, and the selection of these students was intentional. Student one was a girl in another 5th grade teacher’s homeroom group. This student was chosen because the researcher was curious to see if, through this project, she would be able to feel happier at school. Before beginning this project, the researcher knew that this student wasn’t always happy at school because she would often say that she was unhappy at school. The researcher was confident that since they already had a good rapport with one another, the student would share how she felt about this process. Student two was a boy from the researcher’s homeroom group. This student was chosen because the researcher knew that he was mostly happy at school because he acted happy. However, the researcher felt that there were a few times during regular school days where he wasn’t happy based on how he would react. The researcher was curious to see if he could identify the reasons why he sometimes felt unhappy at school. Like student one, student two and the researcher had a good speaking relationship so the researcher believed that he would express how he felt through the project. Procedures After receiving IRB approval from Weber State University, district, and school (Appendix C), at the beginning of the 2019-2020 school year the group of students were asked to create an artifact using materials in the classroom to answer the question: How happy do you feel at school? The artifacts were turned in and kept in a locked closet. The seven intentional activities of Scoffham and Barnes (2011) and Seligman et al. (2009), were then taught through direct instruction for five minutes a day, four days a week, for seven weeks. Over the seven-week period, each strategy was taught for two consecutive days in which students were taught 21 HAPPINESS AT SCHOOL two strategies per week, starting over in week four. Directly after daily instruction, students were given five to ten minutes to personally implement the intentional activities which were connected to happiness traits. Students could choose to work on the activity that was taught that day or to do an activity from a posted list of one of the previously taught activities. After the seven-week period, students produced a new artifact that answered the same question: How happy do you feel at school? Students then reflected on their first and second artifact to determine any changes that they noticed in how happy they felt at school. All students made written statements based on what they noticed using the three questions below. 1. How did you think about your own happiness before you worked to implement happiness strategies? 2. How did you feel about doing happiness strategies? 3. What do you notice about your art when comparing beginning and ending products? The results presented focus on two students selected by the researcher. Daily observations, comments, and conversations with the researcher were used in compiling student results. Researcher Bias Happiness is something that I have been interested in since I was young. I enjoy figuring out what kinds of actions impact the way I feel as well as what feelings I can change when I am feeling unhappy through engaging in specific activities aimed at becoming a happier person. I believe that we are more capable as individuals when we are feeling happy. The students that were participants in this project were students that I had taught when they were in kindergarten and was teaching again in the 5th grade. I was curious to see how these students, who I knew well, would react to spending time learning strategies aimed at increasing happiness. I believe that it is important for individuals to feel that they can increase aspects of personal happiness if 22 HAPPINESS AT SCHOOL they find themselves feeling unhappy. I don’t believe that happiness is a feeling that can be thrust into every moment of the day, but rather a purposeful cultivation that occurs when moving through life. My definition of happiness is a feeling of life satisfaction and enjoyment. Lessons The process of selecting the happiness strategies to teach in the classroom came through synthesizing the research and results from both Seligman et al. (2009) and Scoffham and Barnes (2011). Both research groups had similar concepts of how to increase a person’s feelings of happiness and this guided in the creation of the lessons which I aligned to Utah Health Education Standards (Appendix A). The lessons were meant to expose the students to strategies that might help them to feel happier as well as give them the opportunity to express how they felt at school through the creation of an art product. The selection of the seven strategies taken from these research teams was based on my experience in teaching 5th graders and what they would be capable of understanding and able to practice. When I created the lesson plans, I decided to begin each lesson with question prompts because I knew that as a class we would need to be able to compare concepts of the topics we would be discussing. Scoffham and Barnes (2011) emphasized that teachers should be able to provide their students with multiple theories and ideas related to happiness and as a result, I ensured that as a class we would try to be open to all ideas relating to the topics in this project. A week before I began the project, I explained to the class the plan for the next seven weeks. I sent home the explanatory letter and consent form to the parents of the students and we talked about any questions that came up. The concept of doing this project as a 5th grade seemed interesting to them. They were excited and focused most of their energy on the prospect of creating original artifacts that would represent their thoughts and feelings. Each day I would post 23 HAPPINESS AT SCHOOL the specific happiness strategy from the lesson plans, then I would pose the group questions and we would discuss. After the group discussion, I would give the students specific activities that were connected to the specific topic we were studying. They would have individual work time to practice these activities or one of the previous strategy activities. All through this experience of discussions, lessons, and practicing happiness strategies, the students were consistently referring to their art to reflect how they related to the topics connected to happiness. 24 HAPPINESS AT SCHOOL OUTCOMES The first day of the project I told the students that the next day they would be creating an artifact that would answer the question: How happy do you feel at school? I showed them the supplies and gave them 10 minutes to write down their plan and sketch what art they wanted to represent. The next day I gave each of the three 5th grade classes one hour to create their art representing how happy they feel at school. Although I gave the students time the day before the art project to plan out what they would be doing, I didn’t give them time to share their ideas with each other. Since I didn’t have them share their pre-art plan with other students, I was surprised when I noticed common creations across all three classes. The four most common art products were drawings and sculptures based on a maze, a roller coaster, the sunrise, and a prison. As a 5th grade group, all the students completed the first artifact and at the beginning, expressed their willingness to try this project. I felt curious which students would feel like the lessons and activities would be worthwhile and which students would dislike the process. For the most part, I felt like the students were positive and willing to try throughout this process. I did have three students who put in effort through the seven weeks but when we got to the end of the project, they asked if they could not make the final artifact because they felt saturated with thinking about happiness. I had several students who expressed that they didn’t realized they were unhappy at school as well as other students who I would have guessed were happy but who disclosed to me their unhappiness with school. Since I had taught most of these students when they were in kindergarten, I was curious if the natural happiness that accompanied some of these students as kindergartners was something that could be reignited in 5th grade. I had several students, who I felt were less happy than they were as younger students, convey to me that this project helped them to understand how to feel happier at school. While all 82 of the 5th graders 25 HAPPINESS AT SCHOOL participated in the process of this project, I focused specifically on the effects I observed in two students. Student one created a prison for her first artifact (Appendix B). While she and the other students were working on their art, I asked her why she chose to make a prison and she explained that she made a prison because school doesn’t make her feel happy and while at school it feels like she is trapped. She further explained that she feels trapped because she is constantly being told what to do by her teachers and other students throughout the day. After she explained her feelings of unhappiness to me, I asked her if she thought that she would ever be able to control her ability to feel happy. She told me that she thought she’d be able to feel happy when she is finished with school because sometimes, she feels happy outside of school. Student two created a scale with the things that made him happy about school on one side: recess, language arts, science, and the things that made him unhappy about school on the other side: P.E., math, friends (Appendix B). He explained that he made a scale because when he is engaged in the activities or lessons that make him feel happy, he is guaranteed to feel happy at school. However, when he is doing the things that make him feel unhappy at school, the scale shifts and he will always feel unhappy at school. I asked him if he thought he would ever be able to feel happy with the elements of school that make him feel unhappy and he explained that he didn’t think that was possible because he is required to do those things and that the only way he would feel happy about the unhappy parts of school on the scale would be to not do them. The first lesson was on gaining perspective through understanding that beliefs and attitudes make you happy. After the class discussion and lesson, I separately checked in with both students to see what they were thinking. Student one explained that her beliefs and attitudes about school are that she is good at some things but that the experience is complicated so there is 26 HAPPINESS AT SCHOOL no possibility that she will be happy about whatever might be happening at school. She liked the learning activity of thinking of something happy because she could change from thinking about the unhappy feelings. Student two explained that he felt unhappy about beliefs and attitudes because he feels so much pressure from friends, family, and himself to be the best. He said that people automatically think he’s the best, but he feels that he isn’t true so that makes him feel unhappy. He liked the activity of positive self-talk and he spent the practice time writing potential positive talk sentences that he could say to himself in the future. Both students expressed that they liked the second lesson, cultivating a sense of belonging. Student one referred to her prison artifact to explain that when she’s with her friends, she feels like she belongs but when she is with people who aren’t her friends, she feels like she is in prison again. When I asked her what she’d like her sense of belonging to feel like, she said that she’ll probably always have the feeling of the prison for some people but that she’d like it to be more of a gradual feeling instead of either feeling like she’s in prison or not. She said she was going to use the strategies of thinking of someone she loves next time she is not with her friends and feeling like she’s in prison. Student two explained that he feels like he belongs at school, so he already feels happy about belonging but that he feels like the competitiveness of school sometimes takes away that sense of belonging. He explained that he feels trapped in the competition and that makes him feel unhappy. The strategy he liked was to express his feelings to someone when he starts to feel unhappy about the competition of belonging. The three lessons: creating a purpose, doing what makes you feel lasting happiness, and making and keeping realistic goals were taught on separate days but unexpectedly morphed into the same discussion for all three classes. All three groups, including student one and student two, drew connections between maintaining a purposeful life through working towards specific goals 27 HAPPINESS AT SCHOOL and ensuring that this purpose is helping to feel real happiness. Student one explained that at school she would sometimes feel like a boat being moved by the wind and waves without having the ability to control the direction she wanted to go. When I asked her if she knew where she wanted to go, she said that she didn’t. Student two disclosed that feelings at school are like a roller coaster and that all he can do is sit in the cart and roll through the experience of the happiness and unhappiness. As we moved into the next two lessons, we focused on visualizing what you want to complete as well as identifying what makes you feel happy for longer periods of time in order make and work towards chosen goals. For student one, the concept that she could choose her direction and goals through doing what makes her feel happy was exciting. She liked the concept of being connected to a purpose and focusing on a goal that she had chosen. Her favorite practice activities were to write her plan for purpose, activities related to feeling happy, and how to reach her goals. As we practiced the learning activities for these three lessons, student two began to state that maybe it was okay that his feelings changed throughout the day. He explained that at first, he felt that the roller coaster of ups and downs in feelings was scary but now, maybe it was okay to feel happy and unhappy throughout the day. He liked being able to identify activities that made him feel happy as well as focusing on the purpose he created through the goals he set. Lesson six was thinking about how you feel and what you can do to change. Of the seven lessons the three classes learned, this lesson and the activities attached to it were the most practiced during our daily allotted practice time. The process of self-reflecting on feelings wasn’t difficult for students to understand, but the concept of deciding what they could individually do to change their feelings was somewhat new for some of them. Student one liked the two activities of taking deep breaths and identifying your emotions. She explained that she felt like 28 HAPPINESS AT SCHOOL there are so many layers to school and that it is hard to identify her overall feelings. She liked the deep breathing because she said that it allowed her to identify which parts of school made her unhappy and happy. At this point in the lessons, she had created goals and activities that helped her feel happier so she decided to identify unhappy emotions and then to implement things that would make her feel happier. Student two liked the practice of meditation to both think about how he felt and to plan for what to change. He explained that it’s okay to feel unhappy because, with time, he could figure out what to do to feel better. The last lesson related to happiness was being grateful. Student one was already starting to change her beliefs and attitudes about school, so she enjoyed listing the positive things in her life. She explained that creating and adding things like her dog, friends, soccer onto her gratitude list was helping her to choose how she felt and that the sense of gratitude typically was helping her to feel happy. Student two liked the activity of telling someone you are grateful for them. He explained that when he feels unhappy, thinking about the things he is grateful for helps him to tip his scale towards feelings of happiness. Discussion This process was the most interesting thing I have done throughout my time as a teacher. It was fascinating to watch my students either decide that they wanted to work towards feeling happier or to stay with whatever emotions they were feeling. When we first started this project, I knew that some of my students would not get excited about the prospect of working towards feeling happier at school but I was surprised that as the process continued, some of these students changed their minds and tried to personally implement the activities and discussions we were practicing. I was proud of my three groups for trying and sticking to what I was asking them to 29 HAPPINESS AT SCHOOL do and I was glad that most of them expressed that they did find moments where they felt happier at school. Listening to the discussions and perspectives of the students through this project reminded me that as explained by Scoffham and Barnes (2011), the lack of choice and pressure that students can feel at school are both contributors to feelings of unhappiness while at school. Indeed, this was the situation for students one and two. Student one felt as if she had no control while at school which was leading her to feel unhappy every day. Through the process of this project, I noticed that she became more able to find control through the decisions she would make, and this helped her to feel happier while at school. Student two felt a huge amount of pressure concerning the school experience and as Seligman et al. (2009) described, this can be a cause of feelings of unhappiness experienced throughout the school day. As we went through the lessons, I noticed that his perspective changed in what he thought was important about school and his new focus helped him to feel happier at school. For the final artifact, student one created a maze out of popsicle sticks, and she was quick to point out that the maze had a solution of how to get out instead of a prison which has no exits for the prisoners (Appendix B). She explained that she made the maze because she feels that school is a puzzle to solve but that with work, she can discover the solution. In her written response to the three follow-up questions to this project, she answered: 1. How did you think about your own happiness before you worked to implement happiness strategies? I didn’t think that happiness was something that you could control. I thought happiness was something that just happened to you. 2. How did you feel about doing happiness strategies? 30 HAPPINESS AT SCHOOL I liked doing the happiness strategies because they helped me feel like I could make some decisions and they helped me feel happy. 3. What do you notice about your art when comparing beginning and ending products? My first art was a prison which makes sense because I felt trapped at school. I still don’t like everything about school, and I don’t always feel happy. But I feel like I can figure it out and that helps me to feel happier. Student two created a model with several paths and a telescope in the center (Appendix B). He explained that there are many choices for which paths to take at school and before he would just go down whatever path was in front of him. Now, he explained that he feels like he can decide which way to go instead of just having his feelings scale tip to either happiness or unhappiness. In his written response to the end of project questions, he answered: 1. How did you think about your own happiness before you worked to implement happiness strategies? I didn’t think about happiness as something that I could change through actions. I always felt stressed at school and that made me feel unhappy. 2. How did you feel about doing happiness strategies? I liked doing the happiness strategies because they weren’t hard to try, and they usually helped me feel happier. 3. What do you notice about your art when comparing beginning and ending products? In my first art project, I noticed that I was just feeling a certain way because of what was happening. I like my second art project better because I get to choose how I’m going to feel because I’m going to use the telescope to look on the path ahead and see if it is going to help me feel happy. 31 HAPPINESS AT SCHOOL Recommendations and Limitations If I were to do a project like this in the future, I would focus more time on the beliefs and attitudes lesson. The other lessons were important to the process, but I noticed that for students to use the project to feel like they could feel happier, they had to understand that they could work to change some of their personal beliefs and attitudes. Many students felt that they could change their beliefs and attitudes, but a limitation for some students was that they didn’t want to do activities which would help this adjustment to occur and instead would try to change into feeling happier by trying to force their mind to change. If I were to do another happiness project, I would follow more than two focus students to highlight the different experiences each participant had. As the project went on, I noticed that writing during the allotted practice time became the norm. I would focus on writing out feelings since this proved to be helpful for the students and then I would use lesson time to connect the written ideas and feelings to beliefs and attitudes. Conclusion Art is a powerful way for students to express and notice how they are feeling and because of the changes I noticed I will use this project again with future students as well as continue referring to happiness strategies with my current students. This project allowed the students to consider their happiness through art and then work with strategies meant to increase their feelings of happiness while at school. The most meaningful moments of the project came through the group discussions as students were sharing their perspectives on the topic questions and what activities they were going to do as they attempted to feel happier at school. The ability to feel happier increased, as evident through the second artifacts of both student one and two. Student one and two expanded their capacity to self-reflect on their feelings and based on daily 32 HAPPINESS AT SCHOOL observations, comments, and conversations, they both worked to empower themselves to feel happier at school. 33 HAPPINESS AT SCHOOL REFERENCES Boniwell, I., Osin, E. N., & Martinez, C. (2016). Teaching happiness at school: Non-randomised controlled mixed-methods feasibility study on the effectiveness of personal well-being lessons, The Journal of Positive Psychology, 11(1), 85-98. doi: 10.1080/17439760.2015.1025422 Collet-Sabé, J. & Tort, A. (2015). What do families of the 'professional and managerial' class education their children for? The links between happiness and autonomy. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 36(2), 234-249. doi: 10.1080/01425692.2013.814531 Fishman, S. M. & McCarthy, L. (2013). Conflicting uses of 'happiness' and the human condition, Educational Philosophy and Theory, 45(5), 509-515. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-5812.2012.00856.x Howell, R. T. & Rodzon, K. S. (2009). How happy can you be? The Journal of Positive Psychology, 4(5), 434-436. doi: 10.1080/17439760902992514 Ivens, J. (2007). The development of a happiness measure for schoolchildren. Educational Psychology in Practice, 23(3), 221-239. doi: 10.1080/02667360701507301 Schiffer, L. P. & Roberts, T. (2018). The paradox of happiness: Why are we not doing what we know makes us happy? The Journal of Positive Psychology, 13(30), 252-259. doi: 10.1080/17439760.2017.1279209 Schilhalejev, O. (2018). Ten-year-olds in Estonia and Sweden draw what makes them happy: A research story. International Journal of Children’s Spirituality, 23(4), 401-411. doi: 10.1080/1364436X.2018.1536649 Scoffham, S. & Barnes, J. (2011). Happiness matters: towards a pedagogy of happiness and well-being. Curriculum Journal, 22(4), 535-548. doi: 10.1080/09585176.2011.627214 34 HAPPINESS AT SCHOOL Seligman, M. E. P., Ernst, R. M., Gillham, J., Reivich, K. & Linkins, M. (2009). Positive education: positive psychology and classroom interventions. Oxford Review of Education, 35(3), 293-311. doi: 10.1080/03054980902934563 World Health Organization (WHO). 1946/1992. Basic documents. 39th ed. Geneva: WHO. 35 HAPPINESS AT SCHOOL APPENDICES Appendix A: Lesson Plans 1. Gaining perspective through understanding that beliefs and attitudes make you happy Content Core Standard 5.MEH.3 Express positive attitudes about intervention and seeking help to eliminate stigmas regarding mental health. Lesson Objective Students will consider how their perspective influences their beliefs and attitudes. Students will make connections between their perspective and their own happiness. Learning Activities As a group pose the questions: 1. What are beliefs and attitudes? 2. How do beliefs and attitudes influence how happy you feel? As a group discuss: How we can change our beliefs and attitudes to help ourselves feel happier? Individually, the group will try any of the following activities: • Use positive self-talk/say something kind to yourself • Think of something happy • Compliment yourself • Write down your thoughts and identify a positive thought 2. Cultivating a sense of belonging Content Core Standards 5.HF.3 Define and practice positive self-talk. 5.HF.4 Demonstrate ways to express gratitude and treat others with dignity and respect. Lesson Objective Students will learn ways to improve their ability to feel that they belong. 36 HAPPINESS AT SCHOOL Learning Activities As a group pose the questions: 1. What does it mean to belong? 2. What actions can we take to better help ourselves feel like we belong? As a group discuss: How we have some control our sense of belonging and what we can do to improve those feelings of belonging? Individually, the group will try any of the following activities: • Talk to a friend • Talk to an adult • Think of someone you love • Think of a pet you love • Write a positive note to someone • Express your feelings to someone 3. Creating a purpose Content Core Standard 5.HF.1 Define SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely) goals and identify how SMART criteria improve the effectiveness of a goal. Lesson Objective Students will explore what it means to feel like they have a purpose and how to work towards a purpose. Learning Activities As a group pose the questions: 1. What does it mean to have a purpose? 2. How can you work towards a purpose? As a group discuss: What a SMART goal is and how to engage in a purpose. Individually, the group will try any of the following activities: • Make a list for the future • Visualize what you want to complete • Build something 37 HAPPINESS AT SCHOOL 4. Doing what makes you feel lasting happiness Content Core Standard 5.HF.2 Describe how the positive and negative consequences of a decision can have short and/or long-term effects. Lesson Objective Students will decide and do activities that will make them feel long-term happiness instead of short-term happiness. Learning Activities As a group pose the questions: 1. What does it mean to have lasting happiness? 2. How do we decide what makes us happier for longer periods of time? As a group discuss: The differences in how our activities influence our mood. How choosing meaningful actions typically helps us to feel happier. Individually, the group will try any of the following activities: • Do a positive activity • Do something you love • Identify what makes you feel happy for longer periods of time 5. Making and keeping realistic goals Content Core Standard 5.HF.1 Define SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely) goals and identify how SMART criteria improve the effectiveness of a goal. Lesson Objective Students will practice making and keeping realistic goals. Students will learn how and when to adjust their goals. Learning Activities As a group pose the questions: 1. Why do we make and work towards goals? 2. How do you measure a realistic goal? As a group discuss: 38 HAPPINESS AT SCHOOL The differences between long-term and short-term goals as well as how to adjust our goals to keep them realistic. Individually, the group will try any of the following activities: • Set a goal • Write in a journal • Write plan for how to reach a goal • Talk to a friend for how you plan to reach a goal 6. Thinking about how you feel and what you can do to change Content Core Standard 5.MEH.1 Practice a variety of stress management techniques. Lesson Objective Students will practice self-reflecting on their own feelings. Student will practice making changes when they are feeling unhappy and notice what they are doing and how to replicate when they feel happy. Learning Activities As a group pose the questions: 1. How to decide how you feel? 2. Can you change the way you feel? As a group discuss: How to self-reflect how we feel, how to notice when we are feeling happy, and what we were doing when we felt that way. Individually, the group will try any of the following activities: • Take deep breaths • Take a time out • Meditate • Identify your emotions • Ask yourself, “What do I need right now?” 7. Being grateful Content Core Standard 5.HF.4 Demonstrate ways to express gratitude and treat others with dignity and respect. 39 HAPPINESS AT SCHOOL Lesson Objective Students will recognize and experience the feeling of happiness when being grateful. Learning Activities As a group pose the questions: 1. What is gratitude? 2. How does feeling gratitude affect us? As a group discuss: How gratitude and happiness are connected. Individually, the group will try any of the following activities: • Write a gratitude list • List the positive things in your life • Tell someone you’re grateful for them 40 HAPPINESS AT SCHOOL Appendix B: Pictures of Artifacts Art from Student One Art from Student Two 41 HAPPINESS AT SCHOOL Art examples from other participants 42 HAPPINESS AT SCHOOL 43 HAPPINESS AT SCHOOL Appendix C: Permission Letters 44 HAPPINESS AT SCHOOL 45 HAPPINESS AT SCHOOL