Stress, Play and 21st Century Skills

While discussing stress with his students, our building's Health Teacher invited me up to discuss students' concerns - at their request.  Students felt strongly enough that they wanted to speak about stress, homework and academic pressure with the principal.  Seventh graders!  I popped up to his classroom, and what I heard was alarming, upsetting, and a bit sad.  Students reported things such as "there is so much pressure, that sometimes I have to decide between playing with friends or doing my homework" and "I'm thinking about dropping out of playing on my sports team, because I don't have time to be on a team and time to finish my schoolwork."

I polled the students, and on average, students have over two hours of homework a night, often not including studying for tests and quizzes.  What does this tell me?  We need to do some work with students around study skills, backwards planning and executive functioning skills.  In her article from the fall of 2012 "Homework: An Unnecessary Evil?," Washington Post author Valerie Strauss cites multiple studies that fail to paint a particularly persuasive case for homework - or at least for avoiding excessive amounts of homework.  

What can we do?  Yes, we can keep the amount of homework moderate; yes, we can provide more support and structure around study skills and staying organized; but ultimately, as a community, are our expectations for students where we want them to be?  Are we permitting our students to be kids, stressing the values that are important, and preparing students to play, to have fun, to be creative, to pursue their passions?  Are they avoiding these things because there doesn't appear to be value - either in their own eyes, that of their parents/guardians or the school?  Our schools need to ensure that
Play is crucial to building 21st century skills.
students have time - to be kids, to play, to find their passions.  

With spring finally upon us, I brought students outside during lunch for 15 minutes.  15 minutes, unstructured, and what I witnessed was amazing.  Students played, they solved problems on their own, created games, and had fun.  And I would imagine, more focused, energized and ready to learn for their afternoon classes.

Regardless of the path or the strategy, students need to be provided with time to be kids, to pursue passions, and have down time - and ultimately, they will build 21st century skills - problem solving, creativity and communication skills - and be more engaged in their learning.

Works Cited:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2012/11/26/homework-an-unnecessary-evil-surprising-findings-from-new-research/

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Maslow's Hierarchy of School Needs (Steve Guditus)

Image
The pace of schools today is frantic.  So little time is left in a child's 24 hour-day to play and explore - both in and out of school.  Unintentionally, we may be pushing students to think and learn at high levels when more basic needs are not met.  For a student to be available for learning, basic needs need to be met - in both school and at home.  We need to shift our paradigm from student supports as "extras" and "add-ons" to prerequisites for a student to be available for learning.  I created this Maslow's Hierarchy of School Needs to highlight the need for other pieces to be in place for students to be available to learn (and to learn at high levels, reach their potential, and increase their potential). Any thoughts, feedback, edits, subtractions or additions?
Read more

37 inspirational ideas to kickoff your school year (Steve Guditus @sguditus)

I just participated in a great brainstorming session with some outstanding educational leaders at the MSSAA summer institute , and made note of 37 different ideas to inspire your school and have a successful kickoff to the school year.  The best educators beg, borrow and steal ideas and adapt them to be their own - so I offer this list to be borrowed, stolen and adapted (no need to beg!). Have staff write one fun fact about themselves on a post-it note on their classroom door. Create a scavenger hunt and have folks hunt down items, discover new info about fellow staff members, the school or the community. Create a teacher survival kit: a mini hershey's bar for a pick-me-up, a K-Cup for a jolt of caffeine, some office supplies, etc. Have staff set a personal goal, in addition to their student learning and professional practice goal: make it about personal health, nutrition, work/home balance, family, etc - and have check-ins! Leave a personal note, post-it, memo or quote on ...
Read more

Grades: Understanding, not Obedience

The New York Times got me thinking, in its November 28, 2010 article " No More A's for Good Behavior ."  The Potsdam, NY Public Schools, led by Superintendent Patrick Brady, are right on.  As I concluded in a previous blog post, " Extra Credit: The Downfall of America ?", grades must be a reflection of knowledge learned, information synthesized, skills demonstrated, not a reflection of behavior. I have opened up the following conversation individually with teachers, but have not yet taken it on with the staff of the whole school in which I work - yet.  Grades must not be a reflection of behavior, but of understanding.  This includes the a big piece of student responsibility: homework.  The excuse that "if students do not homework and are not penalized for not completing it, then won't ever learn to do it!" is simply hogwash.  We should be creating homework assignments that are essential, and if it uncomfortably illuminates our own homework polici...
Read more