The Importance of Recess

This week's article summary is What Recess Looks Like Around the World.

‘Recess’ is the most typical response from kids when asked what their favorite class in school is. The reason for this is recess time is one of the few less structured times during the school day: it’s when kids get to be social, creative, innovative, exploratory, imaginative, and collaborative.

Take a few moments to see the photos of recesses around the world in the link below. The settings are different but the takeaway for me is kids are clearly kids regardless of where they live, what school they attend, and what resources they have.

Similar to last week’s summary about kids wanting calmness, clarity, and compassion from their teachers, this week’s reminds us that kids want teachers at recess to watch over their physical and emotional safety. They want the latitude to work out their squabbles with peers at recess, yet they recognize that sometimes they need teachers to, as the article states, ‘coach them through social conflicts.’

Last week a number of us chaperoned the sixth graders on their fall outdoor education trip--in many ways an extended recess where kids get a lot of free, down time to just be kids and savor a little freedom while also honing their evolving social-emotional skill development, or as Trinity says, shaping their sense of self and sincere care and concern for others. I recently reviewed another school’s website for SAIS accreditation and was struck by how the school combined these two critical aspects of human development: ‘our students learn about self within the context of others.’ While we are all individuals, we all must get along with others.

Helping our students learn about self in the context of others is what the sixth grade teachers did last week and what we all do every day in our classrooms, at school, and at recess!

Joe

 

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Children may play in fundamentally similar ways everywhere but recess unfolds very differently around the globe.

In elementary school classrooms around the world, kids strain to contain their energy until recess. When the bell rings, they burst onto rooftop playgrounds in Tokyo, hopscotch courts in Los Angeles, and concrete yards in the West Bank to race, fight, joke, bounce, sing, tease, and squeal. 

Their experience on the playground — joyful or vicious — will impact their development much as any math or science class. Kids aren’t just returning to school this month; they’re returning to the wilds of recess: spontaneous, unpredictable, and an essential respite from the strictures of in-class learning. 

And out of all that unstructured play comes some of the richest social-emotional learning — provided the recess is well run. That’s harder to do than it sounds.

“There’s a mismatch between what kids and adults expect supervision to look like at recess,” says William Massey, who studies the intersection of play and child development at Oregon State University. “Adults think they should ensure kids don’t get hurt; kids want to be free to jump off high structures and risk physical injury — but they want adults to ensure they don’t get picked on or beat up.” It turns out that, in this case, what kids want is what’s best for them. They need the freedom to take physical risks during activities of their choice, while caring and supportive teachers stand by to coach them through social conflicts.

One of the most compelling studies on recess globally is James Mollison’s photo collection entitled Playgrounds. Mollison’s images of school kids playing during breaks — whether on a mountainside in Bhutan, on train tracks in Mexico City, in a refugee camp in Jordan, or on a schoolyard playground in Massachusetts — contain familiar vignettes: school children cheering in groups, playing ball, sitting alone, tumbling on the ground, or pointing and teasing.

The photos show us that regardless of the backdrop, given the freedom, kids are boundlessly energetic and creative; for thousands of years, they have invented their games using stones, marbles, and drawings in the dirt as well as chants, songs, riddles, and handshakes

The games kids play and songs they sing — from kickball and kick the can to double Dutch— give kids the chance to work through tough feelings when they lose, deal with a cheater, and negotiate rules. They also preserve culture — many have been passed from big kids to little kids for hundreds of years.

Around the world, nations are committed to giving children space to play. The U.N’s Child’s Rights Treaty, which lists play as a right, is one of the most ratified human rights treaties in history. Just three U.N. nations have yet to ratify it: Somalia, South Sudan, and the United States. Here, we offer up an argument for this right through images and tales of play around the world that show play to be both infectious and essential — something we all should advocate for in our children’s schools.

While some of us may take recess for granted in the United States, there are no national guidelines requiring breaks during the school day. Only 10 states have signed laws that require schools to provide recess to elementary school children. Georgia is the latest state to guarantee recess, with a bill signed into law this summer that not only demands recess but prohibits teachers from withholding recess as punishment. “It’s still about time and minutes, not about quality,” says Massey of the new state standards, “but it’s a step forward.” In most states, there are no set requirements, and recess is in constant peril of being cut from the school day wholesale — or cut as punishment. 

As a result, some schools do recess well, and others don’t do it at all.

Calm, Clear, and Kind

This week's article summary is Calm, Clear, and Kind: What Students Want From Their Teachers.

The past two summaries have centered on the importance of teachers developing a strong, supportive, trusting relationship with their students.

This week’s summary asked students exactly what they want and need from their teachers: Calmness (specifically their teachers always appropriately regulating their emotions regardless of the stress of the moment), Clarity (with instructions and explanations), and Kindness (being fair, understanding, and compassionate).

I particularly enjoyed the actual words students used to provide examples of calmness, clarity, and kindness.

We all know that kids are always watching adults and learn much from observing adults in action—in and out of school. As such, “remaining calm, being clear in our communications, and treating others with kindness and consideration” is a simple but effective mantra for all of us to guide our lives, not only our classrooms.

Joe

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Years of research in the field of social-emotional learning (SEL) has demonstrated that when students have supportive relationships with their teachers, they experience better well-being and success in school. 

What does it mean to be a caring, supportive teacher? 

I recently published a study in the Journal of Adolescent Research in which I asked students what makes a caring teacher. Their responses aligned with education research: that the most authentic, wholehearted educators are calm, clear, and kind. 

Be calm: This refers to a teacher’s ability to remain calm and regulate their own stress in the face of the challenges inherent in teaching. In doing so, teachers are less reactive and better able to support students with their own emotion regulation. Students describe a caring teacher as one who “does stuff calmly like not yelling” and “takes time to explain the work” and “creates a calming environment to work in.” Some other comments from students were “be patient when someone doesn’t understand the material,” “they don’t yell,” and “they help you calm down.”

Be clear: This is a teacher’s capacity to remain present with their students and to stay curious and in tune with their needs. It also emphasizes the importance of teachers listening and maintaining clear, democratic communication with their students. For students being clear means “They explain the work well”, “They listen to your ideas”, “They listen with their eyes”, “Notice your feelings even if other people don’t”, and “Resolve a problem before it gets big”. 

Be kind:  This encompasses more than just having a nice personality. It includes practicing non-judgment and expressing warmth and connection, cultivating trust and respect, and attending to the needs of students. Student responses:  “They say hi to you in the morning”, “They understand how you are feeling”, “They help you when you’re sad”, “Helps me when it looks like I don’t understand”, “Helps with friends”.

It is not always easy to be calm, clear, and kind in every moment. Particularly when we ourselves are stressed or busy. Fortunately for teachers, there is an inextricable link between being calm, clear, and kind and your own well-being.

In essence, what students say they need from their teachers may in fact be exactly what teachers need, as well. So, what can teachers do to show they care?

Ask students directly for what they need. Much can be learned by listening to students’ own voices—in research and practice.

Feel empowered in what you are already doing. So many teachers naturally show up in the ways their students need, in part by knowing the importance of truly listening to them. Students did not identify complicated teaching strategies or skills. Instead, they admit to needing their teachers to be present, warm, kind, and helpful, and to listen to them. So many teachers already put this at the forefront of their teaching and should feel empowered that they are already doing exactly what their students need.

Be kind to yourself. It is not easy to be calm, clear, or kind all the time. It is OK to not get it right all the time.

In the end…try to do your best to be calm, clear, and kind with your students and yourself. For many, this may just mean committing to be more intentional about trying to be mindful throughout the day. Or it could mean seeking out additional training or resources to help you build and strengthen your mindfulness muscles!

Perspective Taking in the Classroom

This week's article summary is article summary, a follow up on last week’s summary about classroom management, is about how teachers can use ‘perspective taking’ in dealing with students who act up in class.

Similar to a recent article summary in which I contrasted the teaching styles of my 6th grade and junior history teachers, classroom management systems similarly run the gamut from strict, no nonsense discipline to more collaborative, flexible classroom practices.

As with most things, effective classroom management involves bits and pieces of different techniques and strategies with the ‘firm-but-fair’ style being the most effective.

The recent study from Johns Hopkins discussed below grounds classroom management in classroom relationships, specifically between the teacher and his/her students. When this relationship is strong and trusting, classroom management and student behavior are better. 

Perspective taking is an additional tool where the teacher empathetically thinks about why a misbehaving child acts up and how he/she may feel about the way in which the teacher dealt with him/her. Viewing misbehavior and consequences/punishments through the eyes of the child can help a teacher better understand a wayward student, further enhance that relationship, and ideally improve the child’s behavior.

I have always subscribed to the Positive Discipline tenet that everyone wants to behave, fit in, and get along well with others. Yet even though we all want to behave, there are sundry reasons why people act out, push boundaries, throw tantrums, and mistreat others. (I’m currently dealing with this with my 3 and 5 year old granddaughters.) There have certainly been a few students I’ve had through the years that seemed innately obstinate, yet most of the troublesome ones simply needed me to better understand and relate to them. (You like me may have had similar experiences with colleagues.)

It’s not always easy for a teacher to see an incident through a child’s lens, as there are often strong emotions (exasperation, anger, etc.) involved. Still, as the article concludes, perspective taking is one classroom tool we can use to strengthen our relationship with that child, which in turn leads to better classroom management and student behavior.

Joe

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One of the most vexing dilemmas for teachers is finding the best way to respond to students who misbehave. Experts argue over whether the best classroom-management approach is a consistent, strict discipline or a more forgiving response where students discuss their grievances with an adult’s guidance, a process called restorative justice. Who can blame  teachers for feeling confused and ill-prepared to manage classroom disruptions?

In this column, I’m going to explain an idea that steals a page from marriage counseling: perspective taking. Its advocates advise teachers to put themselves in the shoes of their most perplexing, misbehaving students and simply imagine what they are thinking and feeling. 

It might seem far-fetched that a simple, imaginative exercise inside the mind of the person who isn’t misbehaving – the teacher – would make any difference to the classroom atmosphere. But a Johns Hopkins study found that students of teachers who were so trained reported better relationships with their teachers and earned higher grades. “We know, unequivocally, one of the best things that anyone can do for classroom management and for teachers to be effective at their jobs across a whole array of outcomes, is to improve teacher-student relationships.”

The theory is that students’ need or desire to misbehave might be reduced if they feel a positive connection with the teacher at the front of the classroom. 

In the Johns Hopkins study, kindergarten through ninth grade teachers received a 90-minute workshop. The session resembled a theater workshop. Teachers sat in pairs and were instructed to begin by thinking about their most frustrating student with whom they often had conflicts. “There’s some child who takes up like 70, 80, 90 percent of your emotional bandwidth.”

Teachers were then told to think of a particularly puzzling behavior or an incident with the student and tell her workshop partner about it. Then, the teacher was asked to retell the story from the child’s perspective. If I were a teacher in this workshop, playing the role of the student, I might say, “Mrs. Barshay always picks on me. I think it’s because she doesn’t like me. She’s out to get me. I think she’s just mean.”

For many teachers the juxtaposition of the two perspectives got them to internalize. “This is more of a two-way street. And I’ve gotten sort of sucked into my own perspective, a little too much.”

A couple of months later, teachers who had taken the workshop reported more positive relationships with their students than teachers who hadn’t taken it. Students in their classrooms, similarly, reported more positive relationships with their teachers.

A 90-minute session on understanding someone else’s perspective will never be a complete answer to student discipline.  And, more broadly, all of these preventive discipline ideas are not a substitute for the need to react to student disruptions in the moment. But it’s an interesting theory that appears to do no harm, and this thought experiment might be a helpful addition to the teacher’s toolbox.

Gentle Parenting

This week's article summary is What is Gentle Parenting?

As you’ll see in the article, while the term ‘gentle parenting’ is relatively new—and in my opinion poorly named —it advocates the age-old parenting (and classroom management) technique of being ‘firm but fair’.

Whether in regards to parenting or teaching, firmness means being consistent with behavioral expectations/limits and structure/routines. Kids actually crave firmness with clear expectations and guidelines, yet they inevitably will still stumble and misbehave. It’s in their nature to push up against limits and see what happens when they exceed expected boundaries.

As authority figures, parents/teachers often struggle with how to deal with a misbehaving child. 

This is where fairness comes in. 

The article below—like the philosophy of Positive Discipline, Responsive Classroom, etc.—begins with the premise that all kids want to belong and do the right thing. Punishment for misbehavior can temporarily stop the infraction, yet unless the parent/teacher tries to identify the reason behind the misbehavior, it will more than likely continue.

The article, Positive Discipline techniques, and our discussions during preplanning all recommend that supporting children in their social-emotional growth (both their sense of self and care and concern for others) means having them gradually learn to recognize and name the panoply of emotions they feel, and then over time learn not to instinctively react to those feelings and emotions--which often result in exceeding expected rules and boundaries--but to thoughtfully respond in a manner that is within the expected norm.

Re-read that previous paragraph: it’s a tall order, but being able to control emotions and deal with obstacles is the key to a successful life. 

When I taught 8th grade, it seemed all I did was help young adolescents deal with their emotions, frustrations, feelings of inadequacy, etc. Yes, I taught history and coached soccer, basketball, and baseball, yet I was really guiding my students through one of the most tumultuous years of their lives. It took a lot of repeating, modeling, coaching, counseling, and consequence/punishment follow through, but more often than not I developed strong, trusting relationships with them and saw much growth and progress within them.

And as we all know, EQ ultimately is more important than IQ.

Joe

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In the past decade, the concept of “gentle” or “respectful” parenting has gained considerable traction. 

The foundation of the idea is in being a parent who is emotionally attuned to their child, and tries to understand the reasons behind their behavior.

There is great value in this, but it is not the whole story. Children also need their carers to set clear limits.

A common theme of gentle parenting is that parents should not rush in and immediately condemn their children if they don’t like what they’re doing. Instead, they should stop and listen to their child, then validate their feelings. For example, they might say, “So you are shouting because you think your brother was being unfair when he took your toy, and that upset you.”

Gentle parenting suggests that when a parent shows understanding of the child’s emotional state, it will help the child to calm down. Only after doing this should the parent decide what to do. This approach also has the longer-term aim of promoting emotional intelligence. The idea is that as children grow older they will learn to identify their own emotions more thoughtfully and act more appropriately.

But we also know that, when it comes to the parent-child relationship, how the parent responds to their child is crucial. After listening and clarifying what the child is feeling, the parent then needs to build on this to help the child think calmly and positively about the problem and find a good solution.

Parents who do this are, in the language of child development, “responding sensitively” to their children, both when the child is upset and when they are happy. Research shows that children whose parents responded sensitively in their first three years of life had better social skills at age 15 and also performed better academically.

In addition to the warm, close relationship created by sensitive responses to a child, boundaries need to be set as well. Children need to be able to live in the world with other people and get on with other children and adults. They need to learn how to fit in with externally imposed rules and that there are consequences if they do not. Children need both love and limits.

The trick is to set limits calmly and not be angry or explosive as a parent. A frustrated reaction is often unconscious and related to the way the parents themselves were brought up; they may not know any other way.

The good news is that parents can learn calm, effective discipline. If parents pay lots of attention when children are misbehaving, they are more likely to continue to behave badly. The drive for children to feel connected to their parents is so strong that, especially in a background where there is not much attention to go round, they will prefer negative attention to none. They soon learn that they need to play up to connect, so misbehaving becomes more frequent.

The solution is to briefly withdraw attention when children are misbehaving, followed by engaging with them warmly when they are behaving better. At this point, emotional feelings can be aired and an appropriate response should be set. Such an apparently simple regime takes a bit of learning, but usually has a striking effect on improving behavior. 

Also, crucially, if children are encouraged and paid warm attention when they are behaving well, they will do more of it.

There is good evidence that listening to your child and showing that you have understood them can be helpful, so long as the next step is to respond sensitively and if necessary set a calm limit. All this needs to be in the context of a positive relationship where the parent takes the time to have fun with their child