Scott's Education Blog

Is unstructured (or relatively unstructured) play time valuable for children in schools? This is a topic I don’t spend a lot of time dealing with as a high school teacher, but as a parent it is certainly a large concern of mine.

In a blog post featuring a video by Sir Ken Robinson ( https://rethinkingchildhood.com/2016/04/05/sir-ken-robinson-outdoor-play-dirt-is-good/ ), the author presents and expands on Robinson’s views on the importance of play. Robinson describes play as “a highly beneficial and deeply natural way in which kids learn…”. As a parent of a four year old I have to agree. While my son plays he is introduced to so many new ideas and has a chance to create. Sir Robinson says that play helps children develop social skills, empathy, creativity, and intellectual skills.

I spoke with Devon Webben, a former elementary school teacher and current middle school counselor in Fremont, to get his thoughts on play time in schools. Mr. Webben told me that it is a must in the school day for many of the reasons that Sir Robinson also listed. Mr. Webben also said that he feels two 15 to 20 minute recess periods should be built in to the school day schedule at the elementary level.

It seems that many schools, parents, and educators that are in favor of reducing or eliminating play time in schools are not against the play time itself, but feel that the time could be better spent on other things. According to an article by Tim Daloisio (https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ri-school-eliminates-recess-for-elementary-kids/), one of those options is a more structured physical exercise period. In the article, Daloisio discusses a school in Rhode Island that will be removing its recess period for more time spent focused on physical education. The reasoning behind it is to work to fight childhood obesity and keep children more active during the day. This is certainly a worthwhile cause, but I think as educators we need to find a way to keep kids moving, and also allow them to be creative with their play time. To me it seems that recess should be a part of each school day, but perhaps we could do more to keep kids active in short after school programs and extending the amount of physical education time that students get in a school week.

If you are an elementary school teacher please let me know what your recess and physical education schedules look like for a typical week. Please also let me know if you think it’s enough time or not.

I have a love/hate relationship with technology in the classroom. Over the course of my six year career the love side has grown, and the hate side has gotten smaller with the coming of each new year. From my experience, technology integration breaks down to two major ideas; the benefits and tools that technology in the classroom allow, and handling the classroom management issues that go along with having the technology available.

The reason why my hatred for technology integration has dwindled over my years of teaching is because my collection of strategies to manage classroom issues relating to technology has grown each year. Like all things in life, the more experience and practice you have at something, the better you get. The main issues with classroom management related technology that I have seen are cheating and plagiarism, technology distractions, and using an effective learning management system. I teach at a Google school. I think Google slides, sheets, and docs are amazing. However, they are very easy to share and copy and resubmit. This used to drive me absolutely insane. I thought there was no way to stop kids from copying each others work. It took a long time for me to take the time to understand that if a student wants to cheat on an assignment, they’re going to find a way to do it. After coming to that realization I started to use the technology to my advantage. On Google docs I can look at revision history or owners to see if a student actually did the work or not. The other thing I have found that is helpful as a teacher is copy and paste. Students use it to copy answers from the internet. I use it to search up segments of text that I don’t think student’s wrote themselves. Distractions are certainly a bigger issue for students on technology, but I have found that if you set an expectation to begin the year and stick to it, it quickly becomes just another routine classroom management procedure. My rule is that if I catch you on a video game, you’re going to come in before school at 7:50 for a shortened detention. Once students understand the expectation, it becomes a very minor problem. The last issue that has gotten better over the years is finding a way to use a learning management system. This one has gotten better as Google Classroom has evolved. When I first started using the system it was awkward and ineffective. Google has since done an excellent job of updating the program and now I love using it. The grading, quiz making, discussions, and posting options are all much better now and it is a big part of my classroom.

What I have loved about technology in the classroom has simply been the access to information and tools that are not available in a book or handout. Students can quickly find facts, images and videos to be able to participate in class discussions or work independently on an assignment. This video by the Heineman Blog shows a great example of blending traditional tools with technology tools in the classroom. It is an elementary example, but the integration method can be used at any level. This is the kind of classroom I strive for. Some students enjoy using technology, and some prefer pencil and paper. This provides opportunities for both and makes kids practice using a variety of skills. Alfie Kohn wrote an article critiquing the use and high cost of school technology. In the article he overlooks the value of moderated use of technology as a means of preparing for today’s widely tech integrated work force. The other large area that feels overlooked to me in the article is that today’s students and have been using technology since their toddler years. They are accustomed to using technology, it is not as burdensome to them as it is to many of the people teaching them to use it. This TeachHub article by Janelle Cox reinforces the idea of using technology in the classroom to bolster “21st century skills” and provide a platform for collaborative work online.

Technology integration in the classroom isn’t without problems, but the benefits it offers students and the preparation it gives them for a career in the 21st century make it essential for all classrooms that have access.

I teach in an elective area that rarely allows students the opportunity to practice skills at home because they are hands on skills that require a lot of equipment and safety supervision. That does however still leave me lots of options for assigning homework outside of hands on skills; vocabulary practice, content specific reading, online discussions, introductory videos, etc. But, I very rarely assign homework. The homework that I typically assign would be short writing assignments relating to questions about skills currently being taught in the class, and even then an overwhelming majority of my students are able to finish the assignment during class time. Typically students that are off task during class are the only one’s that need to finish the assignment outside of class time.

So, I know that I have options for giving students homework, why do I not utilize those options on a regular basis?

The reason that I rarely give homework to my students is that I think their time is better spent on homework for their core classes. I know that my content is important, the students that sign up for my classes understand the importance of it as well, but the skills that students are going to practice for their core classes are necessary components of the career skills they will practice in my class. In my eyes, the overlap between the classes is already allowing students to practice and grow in areas that homework from my class would also be reinforcing. According to the Salon article by Heather Schumaker, studies show that high school students receive a positive impact from doing homework, but only in moderation (https://www.salon.com/2016/03/05/homework_is_wrecking_our_kids_the_research_is_clear_lets_ban_elementary_homework/ ). In other words, more homework does not equal more growth. A Life blog by Diane Ravitch raises a counterpoint to my thoughts on assigning homework (https://www.huffpost.com/entry/why-homework-is-good-for_b_44037). Diane asks when will students have the time to read a book or write a paper if not at home? It is a fair question, but teachers need to also be respectful of students’ time. Between school, jobs, homework, and activities we have students that are stretching themselves far too thin. There is a bright side to the homework being assigned in schools recently. According to a USNews World Report written by Allie Bidwell, homework has shifted from busy work or simple practices repeated over and over again to long term projects that allow students a chance to be more interactive with what they are learning (https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/02/27/students-spend-more-time-on-homework-but-teachers-say-its-worth-it).

Homework has a place in education, but we as educators need to be respectful of students’ time, and provide quality homework opportunities that will allow students a chance to be successful on the work they do outside of school.

After spending some time diving further into my philosphy on homework, I do have a few questions that I would like to hear other educator’s thoughts on. First, what type of homework or specific projects do teachers use that get students excited about working on something outside of school? How do other teachers grade homework and what value do they place on it in the grade book? And lastly, what are the homework policies in place in your district or schools?

All ideas shared on this blog are my own and do not necessarily represent the views of my employer.

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