IMPLYING THERAPY DOGS IN THE SCHOOL CAMPUS FOR MENTAL HEALTH OF

THE STUDENTS AND FACULTY STAFFS

A Proposal Paper
Presented to
Adventist University of The Philippines
Silang, Cavite

In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Subject
Reading and Writing
Grade 11 – Emerald

Marcos, Gewel Angeline

Suñga, Keone Cloude Joshua
Aguilar, Mark Leo

December 9, 2019
Rationale

School is an interactive place for the students. It is considered as the second

home whereas they spend a major part of their day. Doing school activities,

socializing and trains for service. Nowadays, students experience stress and anxiety

that may result into depression. This project proposal will be the answer for this

issue. That is, implementing of having therapy dogs in the school campus.

Therapy dogs are pets that provide emotional support to improve people’s health. A

guided interaction between the individual and the trained animal. It also involves

the handler of an animal. The goal of this is to help someone recover from or cope

with a health problem or mental disorder (Giorgi, 2016). Therapy dogs are trained

to be patient, unbothered and always have a welcome vibe to every person or

patient (Torrey, 2019)

Every friendly breed of dog can be considered a therapy dog with some training.

Larger breeds such as golden retrievers, St. Bernards, and Labradors are widely

used as therapy dogs. Nevertheless, smaller breeds such as Poodles and

Pomeranians are good choices when the dog and the person share a small space. A

good behavior of the dog may be partly a result of its breed, but it depends mostly

on how the dog is treated and how its temperament evolves equally. Before being

approved as an animal for therapy, dogs are tested and examined for their response
to stimuli such as noisy or disturbing sounds, unexpectedly seized, or even

equipment such as canes or wheelchairs (Torrey, 2019).

Statement of Purpose

Since the conventional approaches in writing pedagogy failed to put

emphasis on developing the critical thinking skills of students, this paper aims to

use sociocognitive-transformative approach in developing the critical thinking skills

of tertiary students.

This paper will attempt to address the need to effectively promote the critical

thinking development of the learners by proposing the use of sociocognitive-

transformative approach in writing pedagogy. Though the course is focused on

academic writing, this study will primarily focus only on learners’ critical thinking

skills and disposition as a component of 21 st century literacy of tertiary students at

selected universities in Metro Manila. The study will be conducted at the National

University Research Center (NURC) which houses some of the top educational

researchers who specialize in critical thinking skills. NURC has a track record in

conducting educational researches that focus on developing the cognitive skills of

students. Some of these projects were backed by some of the biggest funding

agencies.
Statement of the Plan of Action

To actualize the proposed approach into specific classroom practices, it has

to be fused with process genre approach and reading-into-writing approach. This

fusion was premised on the assertions of Condon and Kelley-Riley (2004) that

reading quality written texts and writing about what students have to read is the

best way to learn to think and of Ramsey et al. (2009) that students would benefit if

they practice reading and writing in various genres and text types.

The proponents intend to execute the following plan of action after the

approval of the Commission of Higher Education: (1) Planning and Pilot-testing

which includes researching, sending communications to participant-implementers,

orienting and training the participant-implementers, pilot-testing the approach in

classroom setting, observing classes, and conducting a conference with the

implementers; (2) Actual Implementation that comprises implementing the

approach in classroom setting, administering pretest in writing and self-report

questionnaire, observing classes, administering posttest in reading and writing and

self-report questionnaire, interviewing the participant-students via FGD, and

interviewing the participant-implementers; (3) Data Analysis and Writing which

involves transcribing and encoding of interview data, tabulating and analyzing

pretest and posttest results and self-report questionnaire, writing of analysis,

interpretation, presentation, and discussion, report writing, reviewing and revising

the analysis, interpretation, presentation, and discussion, writing the report, and

submitting the final paper for publication.

Benefits

Therapy dogs in schools help children focus on things outside of their own

emotional struggles. These pooches bring a lightness and joy into the classroom and

offer students an opportunity to feel loved and accepted, which is so important.

Unrecognized anxiety disorders may lead to poor performances in class work and

lack of social connections, among other things, so having a therapy dog on hand to

help students cope is beneficial on so many levels.

Having a therapy dog at school actually helps students get better grades. Anxiety

disorders may cause students to turn in low-quality work, if they turn it in at all. But

therapy dogs offer loads of cognitive assistance. In fact, they’ve been known to

enhance problem-solving skills and even increase retention rates in the classroom.

When one student feels drawn to a particular dog and so does another student, they

suddenly have something in common. There is a kinship. This helps students feel

like they are part of the whole. Therapy dogs in schools help to forge a feeling of

togetherness among the students. A benefit of all this is better self-esteem among

some students, which increases coping skills.

When the unspeakable April 16, 2007 Virginia Tech shooting occurred, therapy dogs

were employed to help people deal with the tragic loss. Likewise, when the Sandy

Hook Elementary School shooting happened on December 14, 2012, therapy dogs

were dispatched immediately. There is specific evidence that therapy dogs were

useful in assisting students, teachers, faculty and staff through the stress,

devastation, and overwhelming sadness that accompanies such an event (Cornwell ,

2018).

Proponents

Name Role Summary of Qualifications

Jess Blauta Project Leader  completed PhD in

Lead Investigator Reading and Literacy
Lead Researcher  served as a consultant for
Reading Literacy
Association, USA
 served as principal
investigator in various
international projects
 published papers in top
international journals
 authored textbooks in
reading and language
Lina Pedro Investigator  completed PhD in
Researcher Reading
 served as a consultant for
various literacy programs
 served as editor of
Journal of Arts and
Sciences
 Gina Mirasol Co-investigator  completed PhD in
Researcher Applied Linguistics
 served as a consultant for
various literacy programs
 published papers in top
educational journals
*CV attached separately

Project Description

Methodology Timeframe Budget

Planning and Pilot-testing
 research
 communication
 orientation and 10 weeks Php 18, 000
training
 pilot-testing
 observation
 conference
Actual Implementation
 implementation
 pretest and self-
report
questionnaire
administration 3 months Php 30, 000
 observation
 posttest and self-
report
questionnaire
administration
 interviews
Data Analysis and
Writing
 Transcription
  Tabulation and
analysis of results
 Writing analysis
and interpretation
7 weeks Php 30, 000
 Review and revise
analysis and
interpretation
 Write the final
report
 Evaluate the
entire paper
 Revise and finalize
paper
 Submission for
publication
Monitoring and 3 months Php 30, 000
Evaluation

Conclusion

Various reports have proven that tertiary students have deteriorating critical

thinking skills. To this end, this project is proposed to developed the students’

critical thinking skills using the sociocognitive-transformative approach. The

implementation of this project will prove useful to curriculum developers who will

gain an increased knowledge base for curriculum development. This project shall

also help teachers expand their repertoire of techniques and best practices to help

learners improve their critical thinking skills for their social futures. The approach

with its informative rather than prescriptive stance will enhance the teachers’

creativity as they adapt the approach to their own specific learning contexts. As for

the policy makers, the findings will help them recommend educational policies that

will further promote 21st-century literacy.

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