Garnering Knowledge for Teaching

To no surprise my thoughts are inspired by the NYT Education Desk.  I am a big supporter of the news they get out about education.

I was busy last week and missed this in the Times.  Some days I just can’t get around to reading the online paper.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/24/health/24well.html

Essentially, in last month’s Pediatrics journal, a study demonstrated that young students studied (ages 8 and 9) who had 15 minutes of recess during the school day, showed better behavioral control than those who did not.

I don’t want to be rude here, but duh.

I’ve been touting the wonders of recess for years to my teacher education students.  They hear my mantra of “kids need a little bit of unstructured time to their day.”  PE does NOT substitute for recess because it is still a structured activity that requires students to follow an instructor.  Recess, on the other hand, is a free form activity that allows all students to act as they wish (in accordance to the general rules of the playground of course.)  It is the one moment of the day when kids can truly choose their own actions without the guidance of an adult.  It is their moment to be themselves, and breathe, and exist as free boys and girls.  They can talk as much and to whomever they choose, they can run, or walk, or just stand if they like.

I found that my public school students (who were always students with IEPs) had a sense of renewal after we took a little time outside.  It was a chance to run and sometimes scream when the inside voice was just not expressive enough.  After a few moments of swinging and sliding and simply being themselves, they were more open to returning to the work at hand.  Honestly, we don’t ask many adults to work under the pressure or circumstances in which we ask children.  Although they need the stimulation, they also need some processing time.  I’ve always believed recess provided that.

The study in Pediatrics finally gives me evidence that my belief is a valid educational concern.  Although I don’t feel that everything we do must be backed by a scientific study, it always helps to have one available in case one is required to support a position.

I feel sad when my students come to me and say their students do not get recess time or much of any undirected time.  How do children learn to manage their own time and create their own meanings when they do not get opportunities to do so?  We have been pushed into the belief that accountability only means test scores and intensive core subjects time.  However, how are we accountable to the student who can do well when fed this information, but has no concept of how to engage with it on his own?  Kids need time! They need time to process, file away information, create new schemas for new information, and then organize all of that information in time for the next batch to be served up.  It is a lot for a growing brain and although we are built for such activities, we also need to give that growing brain a fighting chance to hang on to the information recently stored.  Sleep does most of this work but It seems little breaks through the day help.  I know they help me.

Time needed to absorb and time to comprehend are not things that come easily in a classroom focused on the big test coming up. I am hoping the new administration is able to make the NCLB laws more sensible and meaningful, so that practice can reflect that.  But in the meanwhile, just give the kids some recess will ya?

It is a month into the new year, and what do I have to show for it?  No posts since October!  I would be a terrible blogger, if I had any current readers.  Perhaps that is what I wish to change.

I am a teacher without a class at the moment.  I know eventually the dissertation will be complete and a job will be pursued and my class will return as will my audience.  In the meanwhile….(notes of Steven Sondheim roll through my head everytime I see/hear that phrase) I will re-establish this place as a place of educational awareness and discussion, or my meandering blatherings, whichever seems appropriate for the context.

My thoughts for the new year:

-I hope that reason will soon prevail in the Department of Education.  I know for a fact that students in many major metropolitan areas are being left behind more now than they were eight years ago.  The financial repercussions of policy gone wild have left many districts scrambling, strapped, and deeply mis-managed.  A prime example is that of the St Louis Public Schools in Missouri.  You can catch up on what’s going on specifically by checking out the St Louis Schools Watch blog here.

-I also hope to eventually hear something good and child-focused that was accomplished by an educational consulting firm.  Something actually serving the public and not self-serving.  But then again, that’s what business is all about, and that’s why we have something called public service and public interest.   Somehow the people need to be served.

-I want to hear that funding has returned to public education, and creativity, and happiness and RECESS!!!

I really want to hear that Recess is back.  Kids need recess.  Kids need recess.  Kids need recess.