UWP 101
1,326 words
Exercise Still Possible For Students
Introduction:
Recess and Physical Education is about more than the small amount of time these programs slice out of the day. It is about setting up appropriate activity patterns for a lifetime. We all know that childhood and adult obesity and diabetes are not the only trending concerns today. There are an increasing number of carpal tunnel and other posture and osteopathic work related problems among adults. Any osteopathic physician will tell you the solution is to stop periodically and stretch. Doctors recommend that people break up their work day with brief periods of exercise, to take short 10 or 15 minute walks during the day, to take the stairs instead of the elevator. Yet we remove the very programs that establish these behavior patterns in childhood. The argument is that the other serious problems that parents and schools need to deal with supersede the problems created by shortening or cutting recess out of elementary school schedules. This also applies to cutting down or cutting out physical education classes as well. All parents and schools want the best for every child. But there are societal pressures that forcing them to focus on ratings over happiness. This did not occur suddenly. It is a problem that has been evolving since President Johnson’s Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965(ESEA). The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) is just the most recent revision to this act. Unfortunately, although well intended, this ongoing policy seems to be a educational, health and social failure. Schools must focus on test scores instead of teaching children how to learn. Cutting recess and physical education is just the most recent method employed to find more study time without creating longer school hours. It does not promise good results.
Discussion
Now, eliminating recess, especially as it was experienced by students in the previous century does have positive features. It takes time just to get the children ready to go outside, and to then get their outdoors clothes taken off and put away afterwards. In some climates, this can take longer on some days than the time the students actually have to enjoy the outdoors. Physical education programs add additional time when students must “suit up” for a particular sport and shower afterwards. Another problem arises when there are “playground bullies” who take advantage of the less supervised time to terrorize other students. A third problem that recess creates is that structured recess times can interrupt a successful learning experience such as a lively discussion or a science project.
There are also negative aspects to cutting recess. The more sedentary students are on an ongoing daily basis, the more it is likely that those children will suffer from obesity and related complications like childhood obesity. Recess play activity is important to give children the physical exercise every day that they need to increase their fitness and build strength, coordination, and build up their cardiovascular systems. These activities are necessary if children are to avoid becoming obese. Recess and gym class with strenuous activity for an hour a day prevents obesity (Pappas). Another known fact is that people of all ages benefit the most when that hour of strenuous activity is supplemented with shorter periods of activity during the day that allow the metabolism to maintain a higher general level of engagement. In other words, it is not enough to get the students moving once a day, they should be kept moving from time to time throughout the day. This is an argument for more, rather than less recess periods. First Lady Michelle Obama’s healthier lunch program helps but eating better is only part of the solution. To make matters worse; students, parents and schools have more than the two difficult challenge, and seemingly opposing problems of obesity and academic performance. They also have to deal with stress. These unfortunate children are simply stressing out too much trying to balance useful education, learning to take tests and maintain a healthy level of physical activity and conditioning. As a result, academic success is actually lower. (Sandie-Marie Williams). Fair Test argues that recess allows students to blow off steam. A school in Nevada tries cutting physical activity programs and increase academic hours and discovered that even with more time spent on academics the students did not learn more. This indicates that a balance must be struck and maintained. (Williams). Some of the learning benefits children demonstrate when they have recess are that they; are less fidgety and more on task, develop more brain connections, have improved memory and more focused attention. Socially, the free play in recess helps them learn negotiation skills, exercise leadership, teach games, take turns, and learn to resolve conflicts. Personally children who get recess time at school tend to be more physically active before and after school, less stressed and therefore, happier.
These are the problems and benefits average children face in average schools. Very few true “average” students or schools exist. Everyone is unique and so are the schools. At particular risk are children with Attention Deficit Disorder, who are Hyper Active, and children who are both Attention Deficit and Hyper Active. Some additional factors to consider that some children may not have sufficient safe play grounds where there are other children to interact with because they in an urban area with no safe playground, a rural area where there are no other children nearby or because they have a physical disability and no handicapped play area is close to their home. To complicate things further, recess time can also be an opportunity for unstructured learning time for children who might need extra help.
Recess and other unstructured play time serves another less measurable role in creating healthy children that will grow up to be healthy adults. Children need unstructured play in order to develop socially. In that, recess is needed for children’s social development. Children already do not have the same level of social skills and their already low levels are dropping. . Children need the experience to learn social skills from each other, face to face and they need to learn from more than the children in their immediate neighborhood or their Internet friends. Taking all recess out of the system denies them the opportunity to get to know their peers and possibly interact with other students in the school as well in a more normal social setting that what they get from a classroom. A statement often attributed to Plato is that “You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.” While the “Father of Discourse” my never have said that, children do need to have the chance to interact and learn to judge others not just by what they say but also what While the “Father of Discourse” my never have said that, children do need to have the chance to interact and learn to judge others not just by what they say but also what they do when they have the freedom to do more of what they want.
It is obvious that something, or several “somethings” need to be done. As with all complex problems everyone has their own ideas. There are a few that might even work. It is obvious that elementary and primary schools need to supplement their educational programs with physical activity if they want to increase academic success and graduate students who have good lives as well as good grades. One that seemed to make sense was to let the students go outside for the last fifteen minutes of the day. . This would give them a chance to interact and play without having to engage in the time consuming ritual of putting on, taking off and stowing away “outside clothes.” This also would give children who wanted to ask a question, get some extra help or clarify an assignment the unstructured time with their teacher in which to do it. Other options are having more free form outdoor activities during the days when the weather allows it. This could include school yard nature walks, and going outside to read or draw. These are potential outside activities and are subject to teacher and administrative participation. The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USF&W) offers programs free to school systems that use a cross curriculum approach to teach several subjects at one time and cover the subject matter that the Federal Government tests on. This is a wonderful opportunity to get students engaged in learning, cover the test material, reach out to students who may be having difficulty and show students how their lessons are relevant to the “real world.” .
Susan Saulny of the New York Times reports there is another solution created by a sixth grade teacher from Minnesota; that is a desk meant for standing. This defies the notion that children must “sit still” in order to learn. Some students agree because they enjoy the greater freedom to stand and move. (Saulny). The other states including California are going to start using this desk. As a bonus, standing burns more calories than sitting so it is another good reason for schools to start offering this desk as well. Another solution is quite simply to allow students the time to walk around the classroom, stretch, and talk to each other or the teacher. If the students are told that they must use the time to talk about the class work you can be sure they will use it to socialize. Other potential solutions are creating individual study groups so the students get to experience a team project like this one, but on their level. Make it a rule that they cannot always stay in the same groups with their friends but that they must learn to work with everyone else in the room. Another simple solution is to teach students the right way to sit stand and even breathe so their lessons are less fatiguing (see: Attached Addendum A). Now it is entirely appropriate that students learn how to manage their days so that they balance mental and physical activities. They will need these skills all their lives. Work situations do not automatically come with recess breaks; neither does college. But to give them an effective alternative to recess and physical education cuts is only part of the solution, resources simply must be allocated to provide the schools with the educational weapons they need to properly serve the children.
Conclusion:
One thing is sure, the parents, teachers and the public can no longer let the government make the decisions about what goes on in the classroom. They need to take charge and force the legislatures to stop using the students, teacher and schools as pawns in their political maneuverings. Each school faces its own challenges and a school in New York City has a decidedly different set of factors to consider than one in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas. Two things are certain; if the public does not insist the government change the law it will not do it. Secondly, the parents and schools have to act now in order to protect the children from unjust legislation. Parents and teachers cannot just sigh and say that they cannot make the government change the laws. Governments only exist with the consent of the governed. If the laws do not serve the people the people must insist they are changed. The concept of “No Child Left Behind” is leaving a whole generation behind and that cannot be tolerated.
Works Cited
Adams, Caralee. Makes Recess Kids Smarter. Scholastic Instructor. n.d. Web. 7 Sep. 2013.
Bossenmeyer, Melinda. 60 Alternatives to Withholding Recess. Peaceful Playgrounds. n.d. Web. 7 Sep. 2013.
Fair Test. No Time for Recess, No Need for Nap. The National Center for Fair and Open Testing. n. d. Web. 7 Sep. 2013.
Grant, Virginia. A Deep Beauty. Hartford, CT, USA: Create Space, 2009. Print page 63 et sec.
NEA. No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB)/ ESEA. National Education System. 2002. Web. 7 Sep. 2013.
Pappas, Stephanie. As Schools Cut Recess, Kids’ Learning Will Suffer, Experts Say. Live Sciecne. 14 Aug. 2011. Web. 7 Sep. 2013.
Pellegrini and Bohn-Gettler. The Benefits of Recess in Primary School. Scholarpedia. 11 Jan. 2013. Print. 8(2): 30448.
Saulny, Susan. Students Stand When Called Upon, and When Not. New York Times. 29 Feb. 2009. Print. Section A1.
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. "FWS - Special Report." January 2013. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. 07 09 2013. <http://www.fws.gov/refuges/education/pdfs/FWS_specialReport.pdf>.
Williams, Sandie-Marie. Recess in Schools: Disposable or Essential? PDF. n.d. Web. 7 Sep. 2013.
Wood, Benjamin. Several Ogden Schools to Cut Recess for More Teaching Time. KSL.com>Utah. 26 Mar. 2013. Web. 7 Sep. 2013.
Viswanathan, Padma. Alternatives to Recess. Open Salon. 8 Mar. 2009. Web. 7 Sep. 2013.
Breathe
I know, breathing is well as natural as breathing. That does not keep most of us from doing it poorly most of the time. Just try it. Take a deep breath. Did you lean forward, arch your back a little, tighten your stomach muscles and fill your lungs? Think about it, you constricted the space that your lungs have. This is not the best way to take in as much air as possible. Now, when you exhale a breath like this, you loosen your stomach muscles and squeeze your lungs. This forces most of the old air up, but some goes down, towards your diaphragm. On the next inhale, the old air mixes with the new. The effect is that you never get a full breath of fresh air.
The way we usually breathe out is like squeezing a tube of toothpaste from the middle; some goes down, some goes up, some goes out; it is sloppy and inefficient. Try this instead, put your feet flat on the floor, rest your weight evenly, and start your exhale by squeezing your buttocks together. Tighten each muscle group as you work your way up your spine. Hold it for a moment. Then relax and let yourself fill with air. Do it again , again , and again. Now don't you feel so much better?
Play with this type of abdominal breathing for a while. Relax and observe your breathing patterns while you practice deep breathing. Circumstances could be a set morning or evening routine. They could also be as casual as; while waiting at the drugstore, take your blood pressure on their free machine, practice your calming exercises, and then take your blood pressure again.
It is interesting to observe that babies naturally breathe from their abdomens. Somewhere in the process of becoming adults, we abandon this practice. Learning, or re-learning, how to breathe is hard. Consistently putting it into practice, breath by step is beyond me. This does not stop me from trying. It should not stop you either. I have seen people who are so unconsciously self-aware that every breath is a symphony, every step a dance in a primal flow of intention. They are an unending source of inspiration, role models to emulate.
It is also interesting to note that the English language is one of the few in which the word for breath is not the same as the word for spirit. In our Newtonian-Cartesian concepts we have reduced our reality to one in which the whole is only equal to the sum of its parts; no more, no less, is required in a mechanistic universe. We need to return to a more Platonic way of thinking, which recognizes that the whole can be greater than the sum of its parts. If you observe a truly grace-full creature; a saint, a dancer, or a creature of the wild, you cannot help but become aware that grace includes a universal sense of the infinite that encompasses more, so that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts
Stand
You should stand with the awareness that you are balanced between earth and sky. When you stand feel your feet planted firmly on the earth, now imagine an invisible thread drawing you upwards to the sky. Do not lock your knees, or any other joints. Feel your balance. Look straight forward, feel the balance of your head on your neck. Your spine should not be ramrod straight, but should retain its natural curve. Use your core muscles to tilt your pelvis slightly forward until you feel you weight rest firmly on your hips and legs.
Sit
When you sit, retain the same sense of balance: Head, on neck on spine; erect but balanced; spine curved naturally; and, feet on the ground. Your focus should be on an erect posture, not a straight one.
When you move from sitting to standing and back savor the movement. The first element of movement is decide where you are going, the next, how are you going to get there. Just like the cat, do an inventory, smooth any clothes that may have gotten rumpled and stretch any muscles that may have grown stiff, lacking whiskers, (ok, you guys can have whiskers, but I think like a lady) smooth your hair. Now you are ready to choose you path and head out to your destination.
