Acting Crazy

In The End of Freedom from Sioux's Page, Sioux asks,

“What is the craziest thing you ever did as a kid?”

I remember playing outside in the neighborhood when I was a child. When it was time for dinner, mothers would stand on their front steps and call their children by name. Sometimes you waited and let them call you twice but if your middle name was ever used along with your first name, you went running…or else. You never wanted to find out what the “else” was! In the summer, after dinner, we were allowed to play in the neighborhood but you were told to come home by dark.

We used to take big refrigerator boxes and make towns out of them. We would draw on them and paint them and cut holes for windows and doors in them. The imagination made the possibilities endless.

I was a quiet kid who followed the rules. I really never did anything crazy that I can recall. I was the youngest of three girls and my sisters were ten and twelve years older than me. I never really had a chance to do anything rebellious or crazy. I felt like I had three mothers watching me every minute and I couldn’t wait to go away to college.

I think the craziest thing I did was when I applied for college. I was underage and knew my parents would never let me go far away to college because we couldn’t afford it. I applied to the one university and forged their permission on the application. I never thought of the consequences I would face if I was accepted. I never thought about the financial implications of being accepted either. I just had faith that I would be accepted and that I would find a way to pay for it. This faith helped me get through the tough times over the four years I attended the university of my dreams.

I like to share this craziness with my students (not the part about the forging my parent’s names) but about doing what was necessary to go after my dreams. I believed in myself and knew that I had it in me to do what I needed to do to achieve my goals.

What is the craziest thing you ever did as a child? How has it helped you later in life. Please share.

Image: 'FULL OF ENERGY!'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/44345361@N06/4472813704
Found on flickrcc.net

The Importance of Recess

In Kids just wanna have fun? from No Margins, ejr tells about

“An article in The Chicago Tribune informed its reader that "[m]ost CPS schools haven't had recess in 30 years."”

I find this truly amazing and absurd! How can we do this to our children? I just hope this is not the direction that most schools are going.

I remember learning most of my early social skills during recess. We played lots of tag and jump rope. I even remember learning how to play jacks during that time. I learned how to take turns, wait patiently, and enjoy life. I learned to sharpen my fine and gross motor skills as well. I also learned about cooperation with others and being a team player. There is so much to be learned during unstructured play which happens mostly during recess.

It seems like we are taking the joy of childhood away from our children.

It is a great opportunity for teachers to observe students and reinforce teachable moments.

When these children grow up, they will be given “breaks” during their work day. It helps workers be more productive and lowers the chance of on the job accidents. So, if adults get a break, why would take this away from our children?

Everyone needs a break from whatever activity they are doing for long periods of time. It helps the muscles relax as well as the brain. Like a rubber band that is pulled too tightly, if continued to stretch, it will break. Mental and physical tension can wear our bodies out.

I wonder if that is why so many people do not know how to relax because they don’t know what to do with any free time they have. That may also be one of the factors in obesity in our children. If we want them to sit and work all of the time, when do they get physical activity outside of a physical ed class (where in many elementary schools, only happens once a week). I wonder if that is one of the factors in stress related conditions in our children.

There are so many reason why recess needs be included in our children’s day and these are some of them. What other reasons can you think of? Please share!

Image: 'Portal'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/37585370@N00/61376762

On the Playground

I just can’t seem to get playing games out of my head. When we drove past a playground the other day, it seemed that the children were walking aimlessly around the playground wishing they had something to do. Of course you had the usual amount of children on the swing set but the others seemed lost. That is when I began to remember all the fun I had at recess when I was in elementary school.

What happened to all the wonderful games we used to play? I remember playing jumprope, hopscotch, tag, dodgeball, kickball, and even marbles. Do any of the children play these games anymore?

Why don’t kids play jacks anymore? It taught counting, dexterity, speed and was just plain fun.

This summer we tried to teach the children hopscotch and they looked like it was some foreign activity. They didn’t know how to hop on one foot in the squares and they didn’t understand how to turn around and go back. It was fun to watch though.
Marbles was fun because the winner got to keep the marbles. It seemed like the marbles went back and forth among the players though because you realized if you got all of the marbles, no one had anything to play so you played alone.

Have we gone so rigid that we keep the children from playing these games in fear of them getting hurt? I realize that they may swallow jacks or marbles but the little ones usually didn’t have them and the older kids did. Many schools are banning tag because someone might get hurt. But if the children are well supervised, why can’t a teacher explain that they need to play gentler or the person will be sitting out of the games. How will children learn if we don’t let them play and explore their boundaries while we are there to guide them?

I feel like lately society is too quick to react out of fear of injury and litigation. My cousin’s child fell off the slide this week on his first day of kindergarden and broke his arm in two places. My cousin said the school and the hospital treated them wonderfully and she has no intention of suing anyone because it was just an accident. Thank goodness for that attitude or I’m afraid they will take the playground equipment out next!

As adults, I think we need to use more common sense. Accidents will happen. Children can play rough and someone might accidentally get hurt but if a teacher acts early, many times this can be prevented.

Recess time is just as essential as classroom time but I feel only if we allow the children to play. If we put too many rules and limitations on them where they can’t do anything but walk slowly in aimless wandering, we are defeating the purpose. Children need to get out their excess energy as well as learn how to play with others. This is a natural part of their development. It is important to being successful as they grow up.

What kind of games did you play as a child that you don’t see them playing anymore? Maybe this would be a good time to teach your students some of those games.

Original image: 'vandalism?' http://www.flickr.com/photos/70267096@N00/184421601 by: Who Am I?

Playing Board Games

As we sat waiting for our breakfast in Cracker Barrel yesterday, I saw a checkers board set up between two rocking chairs. This entertains those who are having to wait for a table and I thought about my students who play board games. Nobody seems to play board games any more. I hear students say they play video games and game boys and maybe even Wii but what about the good old fashioned board games?

I remember Milton Bradley (now Hasbro) games like Trouble, Parcheesi, Sorry, Monopoly, Risk, Headache, Clue, Mouse trap, Chutes and Ladders, and Candy Land. Also older games like checkers, chess, and backgammon. Those were so much fun, not to mention all the skills that I was learning at the same time. I loved to play games so much and hated when I couldn’t find anyone to play with me. When I wander through flea markets and antique shops now, I feel nostalgic as a I see these board games sitting out gathering dust or being ignored for game boys and Xbox stuff.

Many of the technology based games seem to isolate the students and keep them from interacting with others. Even if they play online games, they are missing out on seeing facial expressions and body language which are very important in learning communication skills. Learning interpersonal skills is an important job skill needed in the adult world and many people are looking for jobs without these skills. As stated in Wikipedia, “Having positive interpersonal skills increases the productivity in the organization since the number of conflicts is reduced. In informal situations, it allows communication to be easy and comfortable. People with good interpersonal skills can generally control the feelings that emerge in difficult situations and respond appropriately, instead of being overwhelmed by emotion.”

Elementary level board games can be used to teach counting, colors, and reading. Learning to plan strategies is an important skill on the higher level games. By learning to take turns, laughing, and having fun without being hateful, students learn many social skills through playing board games. Critical thinking takes place during these games.

When I first introduced Trouble to my students, they acted like I was teaching them a foreign language. Eventually they understood what they had to do and they loved it! After that we moved on to the game Sorry, and I even made them apologize to the person when they landed on them and sent them back home. It was so refreshing to see them playing nicely and having fun. During these games, we even had to address the issue of cheating so it was truly a learning experience for all.

I know technology is important and I even feel it is essential to the learning environment but I feel that we can’t throw away many of the earlier methods of learning either. Many of the “old” ways were effective and just as important as technology is. I believe that playing board games teaches many skills that are needed in order to be successful in life.

Original image: 'Wanna play?' http://www.flickr.com/photos/85966598@N00/293314242

Taking Breaks are Important

Detentionslip.org shared the article Recess Makes for Better Students in last week’s Carnival of Education.

The article states, "Children learn as much on breaks as they do in the traditional classroom, experimenting with creativity and imagination and learning how to interact socially."

I think this is so true no matter what age the student is and play time is very important. I was always amazed that we only gave our students 27 minutes to eat for lunch. This was from bell to bell and included time to use the restroom, wash hands, stand in line to buy lunch, eat lunch, and clean away trash. Many of my students cut out a lot of those steps and I cringe to think of which ones they leave out. I know that the administration had to fit in three lunch shifts and that the less free time they had, the less trouble the students would get in, supposedly. But what are we teaching our students by doing this? We teach them things like poor hygiene, rude behaviors such as cutting in line, poor nutritional habits (like not eating lunch or buying junk food so they don’t have to stand in line), and leaving trash on tables. They chew with their mouths open and talk with their mouths full (and both totally gross me out!). We don’t have time to teach social behavior in classes because we are too busy trying to cover standards and prepare for testing. Social behavior is not an inborn trait and needs to be taught so when do we let our students practice these skills? How do we teach them what is appropriate and what is not appropriate when we don’t allow them time to demonstrate any of the skills?

I have had many students who leave school and go immediately to their part time jobs. The conscientious ones do their homework when they get home from work. There aren’t enough hours for them to socialize with friends or family. If we remember things that we learned in our development classes, students go through different stages of social development and we need to rethink our system if we aren’t allowing time for our students to develop socially. Yes, having more free time may mean more conflicts at the time but what if it actually improves their social behavior in the long run?

I try to give my students a 5 minute break before the end of class as long as they act appropriately. I know many teachers who teach from bell to bell which I find totally exhausting. Even I need that little breather at times just to get to know my students better. This is a great time for me to model appropriate social behavior also. On special Fridays, I may give a 10-15 minute break if they earn it. I know that meeting standards and passing tests are important but at what point is it more important that we sacrifice our students for the sake of statistics? I feel that by giving these small breaks is well worth it if I help a student be more successful in life. Isn’t that what our job is all about? What do you do in your classroom or school?

Original image: 'Zion and Tracy jumping' http://www.flickr.com/photos/81859405@N00/260323975 by: Robert Conley