Give The Kid A Break!

All day long kids are expected to sit still, be quiet, and stay on task.  To a child these things can be difficult to do for long periods of time.  During a school day children need a break from the traditional lessons and a chance to just play.

Research supports that kids benefit in cognitive, social-emotional, and of course in physical ways from play time.  

Research also shows that children who get breaks and play time:

-Are less fidgety and are more on task.

-Have improved memory and more focused attention.

-Develop more brain connections.

-Learn negotiation skills.

-Exercise leadership, teach games, take turns, learn to resolve conflicts.

-Are more likely to be physically active before and after school.

So with benefits like these why on earth would schools be taking this time away from their students?  There are a few simple reasons.  Recess takes time out of the school day.  The trend of decreasing recess time began in the late 80's and has accelerated under the pressures of No Child Left Behind.  The pressure for schools to increase their standardized test scores has schools looking for ways to cram as much educational time into a school day as possible.  However, is it better to take 20 minutes out of the day to let kids take a break, and have them more attentive for the rest of the time?  Or better to teach all day long with no interruptions, but have restless inattentive students?  Imagine your employer telling you that you must work the day straight through, no down time, no relaxing, no fun.  Kids need to like school in order to want to excel in it.  Over working a child causes anxiety and frustration, and in the long run it could make that child not want to learn anymore.  

Some schools also cut recess due to its cost.  Jungle gyms are not cheap, and neither is maintaining them so they remain safe.  However there are other alternatives to expensive school yard set ups.  Blacktop can be painted with games and activities for kids to play one.  Jump ropes, sidewalk chalk, and a basketball hoop can all be added to a section of blacktop for a relatively low cost.  This would still give kids a chance to explore and play.  Some schools have hired a "recess coach" who actually guides the play time so that it keeps all the kids safe and active.  This is an option, however it sort of crushes the kids freedom and chance to explore and simply enjoy not being told exactly what to be doing for a while.  

Kids need to be kids.  So give them a break!

Here is some of the debate for your viewing pleasure.

 

Twitter

Today in class we had an interesting discussion about Twitter and other social networking sites.  The debate was whether or not all this social networking and text messaging is ruining our social interactions or helping us stay connected.  I feel that these tools have great potential.  However, I feel that having ten different sites you have to stay plugged into is not beneficial to a healthy social life.  I had Myspace for years, and then I moved on to Facebook, so I am not exactly unplugged, but I think that it is overwhelming having to maintain a blog account, email accounts, a Facebook account, and now a Twitter account on top of my real life, social relationships, work,  and my studies.  If I were to actually dive into all these networks as thoroughly as suggested by the authors of the book we are reading for class, I would be glued to my electronic devices perpetually.  Like I said before, I think that they have great potential.  I think it would be better to be efficient and thorough on a select few sites rather then join a bunch and not be able to maintain them all.      

Power Point Triumph

My presentation was meant as a follow up game to a first grade math lesson.  In the PPT presentation there are a few examples of addition problems, and a few examples of subtraction problems.  I used a lot of hyperlinks throughout this presentation.  For example, if the student clicked on an incorrect answer an "oops let's try again" slide would pop up, whereas if they clicked on a correct answer, it would move along and show them a visual of the correct answer.  I also found a website that did something similar and I linked it to the presentation so that the students could explore the math problems further.

I forgot how much I actually like power point.  I used to use it a lot in high school for various reasons, but it has been years since I even looked at the program. I forgot how easy it actually is to use.  As I explored the things you can do with it, it all sort of came back to me.  Granted, I am not exactly a wiz at it or anything, but compared to some of the programs out there it is really user friendly.  It is a program that even if you do not know how to actually do something, you can sort of figure it out by trial and error.  The only thing that I lost my patience and just didn't include within my presentation, was a video I found on youtube of a silly song to help kids learn to add.  I had never tried to do something like that, and I felt proud enough of embedding a link to a website, so I decided to just pick my battles, and didn't include the video.

I think this is a tool that can be used for a lot more than it is typically used for in classrooms.  It is a great lecture tool, and gives a visual for students to take notes, and the teacher to stay on topic, but it has potential for much more than that.  These presentations we have put together here in class are an example of how interactive you can actually make a lesson for your students.  

Network Effects in Chapter 1

While reading chapter one in the textbook "Personal Learning Networks" by Will Richardson and Rob Mancabelli, several thoughts started to bounce about in this head of mine.  I started to wonder what it would be like to have every classroom wired into the wonderful world of technology.  What effect would it really have on the children in our classes?  Are all of the benefits worth the downsides? 

There is actually a section in the first chapter that discusses the "Network Effects."  It lists off seven benefits to setting up our schools in this manner:  

1. Students are better prepared for life and work in the 21st century.

2. Classrooms are more engaging.

3. Students are responsible for their own learning.

4. Instruction is more individualized.

5. Adults become better at their jobs and build problem-solving capacity.

6. Students are safer.

7. Schools save time and money.

Although I agree with several of the points mentioned, I also have some concerns.  For one, classrooms may be more engaging with more technology involved, but they will also be full of a lot more distractions as well.  How can one teacher give a lesson and make sure that their entire class is paying attention, or is actually doing what they are supposed to be doing when they have the world at their fingertips?  Even while sitting here writing this blog I have Facebook beeping at me, Email notifications, and the temptation of looking at something a lot more fun than a semi-blank composition screen.  It is hard to stay focused. 

If taught properly on how to do so, I think a child could use a computer to learn things a teacher or a handful of books couldn't teach them half as fast.  But on the other hand anytime my 15 year old brother asks to use my computer the only thing he chooses to look at is something like Youtube, and let me tell you, the videos he watches on there are not at all the educational sort.  I think kids will be kids, and the internet is a toy to a lot of them.  

Students are safer.  Debatable. Yes you can tell  a kid it is unsafe to give out their personal information, but until they are old enough to actually understand the importance of just why it can be so unsafe, it is a little scary.  I remember how upset my mother was when my 13 year old sister put her cellphone number up on her Facebook page.  My sister had no idea what the big deal was, or why on earth my mom demanded that she take it off immediately.  The internet brings a whole new world of dangers to a kid.

Schools save money.  The book discusses how they will save money in terms of professional development for the teachers; it might even save some of the costs of paper too, but what about how much a computer costs to purchase?  Or a smartboard?  What about the costs to actually run them?  To maintain them?  20 kids in a classroom, each with a device?  That is a lot of money.  Some schools at this point are cutting art programs because they cannot afford the supplies.  Some schools are letting teachers go because they cannot afford to pay them.  If a school cannot afford to pay teachers to actually teach in their schools, how on earth can they afford to create the type of school that the authors in this book suggest?  It just seems impractical to me.  

Although I think that in a perfect world students would have this sort of access to technology; as of right now however, I just don't see it actually working.  Technology brings many advantages to this world, and it has potential to change the way children are educated, but it has a very long way to go though in my opinion.