Archive for: January 2010

Schools are finding that something as simple as the timing of recess makes a difference in health and behavior of their students.   Rescheduling recess to play outside before they sit down to eat lunch has resulted in less food waste with higher consumptions of milk, fruit and vegetables and fewer behavior problems.

Children are calmer during lunch when they’ve had time to play first.  They slow down eating because they’re not trying to rush outside.  Nine years ago a school nurse in Scottsdale Arizona suggested the switch.  The school conducted a pilot study and discovered multiple benefits one being that when students returned to the classroom they were calmer.  Lunch served as a cool down time.  Since that pilot program 18 of the districts schools have adopted recess before lunch.  With many other schools across the country now doing the same.

Despite this common sense approach promoting healthier children many schools resist simple changes because doing so always creates logistical problems. Difficulties like children returning to hallways and classrooms to return coats and get lunches becomes excuses.   Many schools stay stuck in the status quo.  Even simple scheduling changes like recess and lunch can quickly become hot issues with staff. 

The word simple change is a contradiction because change is always an adjustment.  And depending on the personality or the resistance it can fall anywhere on the continuum from difficult to intolerable.

So how do any of us switch gears and accept change? 

To be successful in life we must be willing to evaluate ourselves and work to improve. That means dedicating time to align our work with our goals and our purpose. 

For schools this must be a constant.  Every school administrator and every teacher should accept that there are no sacred cows and approach new ideas with the mantra “we can make it work” instead of excuses.

Mediation teachers like to use two animal metaphors for the mind, doggy mind and monkey mind.  Doggy mind is like the dog running after every bone, every impulse, every desire and every aversion.  Any thought can occasion the chase.  Monkey mind swings from tree to tree from thought to thought.  It is active restless and wild.  Whether it is doggy mind or monkey mind this restless activity of thought keeps your from being in the present moment.  Children are unskilled and undisciplined in the arena of self-control.  Their impulses lead them not only into the doggy chase or the monkey climb but also into inattention and distraction.  A growing body of research indicates that many children start school not ready to learn because they lack the critical ability of self-control.  Self-control has a stronger association with academic achievement than either IQ or reading readiness.  The encouraging news is the elements of self-control can be taught.  Tools of the Mind  is a  program that promotes intentional and self  regulated learning.  In Tools:

• Teachers use scaffolding to structure activities.  Children have learning plans and play plans.  Their activity is more more interactive and sustainable.
• The notion of being able to sustain one’s own interest is the core building block.  Children are less distracted because they are so consumed in the activities they have chosen.
• Development of the internal voice or thought conversation helps children avoid distraction.

The exciting results of this program are children who are not merely behaved but self-organized and self-directed.  Tools teachers in New Mexico reported fewer classroom incidents and less need for discipline.  And while these techniques might sound fuzzy and theoretical the program has support in neuroscience.  The development of the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain that controls impulses begins in early childhood.  This high level executive function can be developed and strengthened using the Tools techniques.  When I first read about Tools I was struck by how similar this teaching was to the practice of mediation.  The goal is not to eradicate thinking but to observe what is going on in the mind.  Neuroscience is finding amazing implications for learning.  Any school looking for methods to promote self-control and intrinsic motivation needs to look to the research.  It’s there for those willing to take a risk and look outside of the box  for new applications to promote learning.