Why are there so many kids who can't sit still in class? How do we get kids to sit still in class? These are the questions that pediatric occupational therapist, Angela Hanscom writes about in her posts about movement in classrooms. Valerie Strauss from the Washington Post, writes the article How Schools Ruined Recess- and four things needed to fix it from Hanscom's research and posts.
Angela Hanscom took a trip to Auckland, New Zealand to talk to the principal at Swanson School, Bruce McLachlan. His school has a very unconventional but very successful approach to recess. During recess there are no rules! When the rules left, so did the behavior issues. Having no rules allowed the children to be creative, take risks, be independent and pay attention in class. This made me think, why do we put so many restrictions on our kids during their play? If we let kids play, they would learn how to problem solve and learn lessons on their own. So why are we taking away the skill development that we want them to be learning?
Bruce McLachlan's recess has 4 main things that has changed their recess. He refers to these as their "recipe" for a successful recess:
1. Space: We need to give kids ample amounts of space to play in. If we keep kids in a restricted area, we will have more behavior problems. It is important to let the kids run and go explore, bring their bikes for recess and do the things they like and want to do.
2. Trust: We need to trust the kids by having adult supervision less obvious. We should let the kids lead the play. If adults are less noticeable the tattling will cut down and students will learn how to solve problems on their own. 
3. Time: McLachlan's school has two recess periods for 40 minutes each day. We need to allow our students to have enough time to explore and move their bodies, work through their emotions and dive into their imaginations. Allowing students to get outside and move will help reduce the attention problems in the classroom. 
4. Loose Parts: McLachlan added old tires, wooden planks, etc. to the recess area for the kids to explore. Having objects like these allows the children to create their own worlds and try new things. The more objects we provide them with, the more experiences they will have and their creativity will unfold before us.
As educators for our children, we need to help our students improve their attention in the classroom by rethinking our recess and including these four pieces. Recess is an important time that kids need each day. We should look at recess as a learning time for students instead of just time for kids to get out their energy. Recess is important for learning social skills and kids need to this time each day to work on them. Recess will not only improve children's social skills, creativity and problem solving skills but also their attention in the classroom. When student's attention in the classroom is improved, then more productive learning will take place. It is a win-win for teachers and students.
Thank you for sharing this article. The majority of the behavior problems in our school happen at recess. Thanks again for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI wonder if your students attention in the classroom would improve if they were allowed this type of recess? I agree that it "seems like" a win win situation in regards to attention. However, like Bill I wonder about behavior issues. Maybe if the kids were given more space to roam with more things to do they would stay away from each other! :)
ReplyDeleteThis is definitely interesting. I know I could go a month without hearing how my boys are playing tackle football again. I learned a lot growing up as we played tackle football by ourselves. We never needed anyone to supervise us. One way or another, we worked out problems ourselves and made up our own rules. Today, students don't play enough. They always want a set of rules and then someone to officiate. This kills all forms of creativity and they never have to think out of the box or work through problems. They always have someone else to do it for them.
ReplyDeleteI wonder how much students would benefit academically from these problem solving skills being worked on during recess, instead of hindered by the amount of rules we have.