GothamSchools — daily independent reporting on NYC public schools

It’s practically criminal, is what it is. Remember that in addition to all of the good points you make above, our city and country have a crisis on our hands with inactivity, diet, and obesity.

We’re paying something like $200/student to provide bus transport, we give them starchy breakfasts and lunches, and then we limit them to an hour or so a week of physical activity.

It just doesn’t seem rational to me.

Luckily my daughter’s school has recess almost every day. Many of the parents insisted on it during PTA meetings and at Parent-Teacher conferences earlier this year. I think gym should be at least three times a week, and I’m worried because our school is getting crowded and the gym is looked at (supposedly) as an area that can be used for more classrooms. What????

My partner teaches kindergarten in Bushwick, Blyn, where her school has no yard or gym. This is a major problem for her school, for all the reasons mentioned above. Any half decent educator, which does not include the lawyers and business men of education (Klein, bloomberg, Duncan, gates, broad, moskowitz, and Obama) knows that children, especially our young children in the early grades learn some of their most important lessons through play. Play also functions as a break that refreshes the mind so that it can strengthen the ability to sustain focus. Children burn out and tune out when pushed beyond their threshold. Recess and breaks are very important to the learning process.

My partner picks her class up from lunch early everyday. Students who are maintaining control of their bodies and their vocal volume in the sometimes chaotic lunch room are rewarded by invitation, after a short rest time in the classroom following lunch, to a five minute Dance Party. Almost every student gets invited everyday, but there are always some who do not get invited. Those who are not invited become engaged with my partner in a teachable moment, where she teaches them self awareness and self monitoring.

You make such a good point about how great educators make lessons look like recess; it’s fun and games. But students still need time to go outside, run around and decide for themselves what and how they will play. At Playworks, I hear the same thing you’re saying: that there’s not enough playtime for kids in the day.

I’d encourage you, the rest of the staff, the parents to fight for more recess time for students. Schools all over are cutting recess because they say it impinges on instructional time or feels unsafe. But schools that want to help have found that we can help make it possible for kids to play together safely AND have fun, giving them an alternative to cutting recess.

One of the problems teachers face when dealing with students from elementary levels to high school is behavior.  We must first ask, what causes bad behavior in students? A mistake that many educators make is not taking the student’s income, living environment, mental, physical and social health into account.  When students think school they are automatically overcome with images of never ending assignments, books to read and hours of homework.  Students spend most of their time sitting behind their desk and observing the instructor.  It is my belief that school should not encourage a sedentary lifestyle. What teachers need to bring to the table is belief and imagination.  Let’s face it, it is a challenge for students to soak up the knowledge that is given without any expressive outlets for reflection.  Learning should be an experience that the students will dwell on after school is in session when they are on their way home. However, students find it hard to focus without actually experiencing much and as a result they illustrate bad behavior.  Often times, teachers may have one or two students with bad behavior but are they aware of the factors that are influencing the children? An article that illustrates reasoning on my opinion is taken from the Kappa Phi Delta Record, “Are Teachers Responsible for Low Achievement by Poor Students” by David Berliner. African American children are more likely to have low birth weight as children. “Many low birth weight children display cognitive and behavioral difficulties soon after birth, often due to hemorrhaging and oxygen deficiencies affecting brain function, particularly memory.” In my opinion, a child is affected by a number of influences located outside of the school.  For instance, Alcoholism, cigarette use, and poor eating habits can greatly affect a child in development, before and after pregnancy. In addition, pollution is another factor that affects the quality of life a child can have.  Another good statistic to illustrate this would be, “Between 3 and 10 million children witness family violence each year.” It is no surprise that children who experience this, tend to develop health problems and stress disorders and an increase in anxiety.  Students may come to school and have so much energy because they are unable to find proper outlets.  Teachers may think it is important for students to learn core subjects at school but does the mental and physical health of students also matter?  In my opinion, students need to have more outlets in school that promote an active lifestyle that they can rely on.  A recess-less school is detrimental to the student’s health and will only promote bad behavior.  Another good statistic is, according to health professionals nine million kids are affected by child obesity, this amounts to 15 percent of American children ages 6-11 years old.  The rates for obesity are greater for minority children.  Academic Institutions should promote the health and well being of the student in both mind and body.  To strengthen this point, an East Caroling University researcher, one of many, has found that children who are active during the school day are more likely to be better focused and more on-task than their more sedentary peers.  Students had a 20 percent increase of on-task behavior after ten minutes of physical activity compared to their sedentary classmates.  Educators and administrators should take into account the factors affecting their students in their living environment, and also face the fact that it may be beneficial to allow students to have more time in recess or in physical education.  This can help them focus more on their various assignments in class.  In addition, the communication with teachers and students can progress as well.