Withholding recess in 1st grade - ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

That's not research, that's anecdotal information which isn't valid to support conclusions.

When a child repeatedly does not finish work, and you make him stay in one day and finish. And, he finishes thereafter, I think I'll go with the anecdotal observations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

That's not research, that's anecdotal information which isn't valid to support conclusions.

When a child repeatedly does not finish work, and you make him stay in one day and finish. And, he finishes thereafter, I think I'll go with the anecdotal observations.

This is why my kids know to report any teacher that withholds recess. I let the administrators deal with the likes you.

[Anonymous]

As a parent, for my specific kids I would be fine with this consequence. If you're goofing off in class wasting your time and the teacher's time when she has to deal with your behavior, you get to "pay back" the wasted time during what should be your free time. If you haven't finished your work it's not yet time to play. It seems logical and it echos how we do things at home.

However there is now research, including from groups I typically respect such as the AAP, recommending against this. The arguments seem to be (1) childhood obesity, (2) not linking exercise or lack thereof to punishment, and (3) the school day is too long and kids who don't get to move around at recess aren't able to behave well for the rest of the day.

The first two points seem like nonsense to me and more of the coddling our (society's) kids with decreasing personal responsibility trend that I hate, but the third argument is slightly more convincing. I'm not convinced that it would be too harmful as an occasional consequence and my thought would be that if recess is that important the loss of it would make an even stronger impact on the kid and hopefully cut down on future behavior infractions. It generally worked pretty well when we were in school, from what I can recall.

However, just because I would handle my kids a certain way doesn't mean that's the best way in a large-scale setting with a variety of different kids such as what public schools are dealing with. They pretty much have to go with the recommendation of the experts, so even though I personally disagree, I think the OP's child's teacher's consequence was inappropriate for the public school setting.

[Anonymous]

Missing recess on an occasional basis--and sometimes just for a few minutes--is not going to hurt a child. It may teach him that behavior has consequences.

[Anonymous]

This is why my kids know to report any teacher that withholds recess. I let the administrators deal with the likes you.

The sad part is, I think you are serious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

This is why my kids know to report any teacher that withholds recess. I let the administrators deal with the likes you.

The sad part is, I think you are serious.

The sad part is you don't know the difference between 'research' and 'anecdotal' and why anecdotal information isn't valid to support conclusions. It's your willful ignorance that gets you in trouble.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"Anonymous
She gave your child extra time to complete the assignment. That extra time is during recess."

Which would be one thing if the HW counts for something that could negatively impact the grade in class, but since ES kids don't really get grades I fail to see how this benefits the kid in this particular case.
- OP

It benefits her the same way that doing it in the first place would benefit her.
- simply answering your question, not agreeing or disagreeing on withholding recess as a consequence

[Anonymous]

The sad part is you don't know the difference between 'research' and 'anecdotal' and why anecdotal information isn't valid to support conclusions. It's your willful ignorance that gets you in trouble.

Oh, Honey. Bless your heart. I've got advanced degrees. I know the difference between real life experience and research.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

The sad part is you don't know the difference between 'research' and 'anecdotal' and why anecdotal information isn't valid to support conclusions. It's your willful ignorance that gets you in trouble.

Oh, Honey. Bless your heart. I've got advanced degrees. I know the difference between real life experience and research.

Seems your education - academic and otherwise - remains incomplete.

[Anonymous]

Seems your education - academic and otherwise - remains incomplete.

I'm beginning to suspect that you have no life experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just curious: What do you think the teacher should do for kids who do not finish their work or misbehave?

Great Question! No one has answered it. I agree with taking recess. Or would you prefer taking lunch, centers time or give after school detention? What other consequences for bad behavior are there? And if your precious child does not listen to you at home - what do you do?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just curious: What do you think the teacher should do for kids who do not finish their work or misbehave?




Great Question! No one has answered it. I agree with taking recess. Or would you prefer taking lunch, centers time or give after school detention? What other consequences for bad behavior are there? And if your precious child does not listen to you at home - what do you do?

I think I know the answer: NOTHING! That's why the teacher must do something.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just curious: What do you think the teacher should do for kids who do not finish their work or misbehave?

Great Question! No one has answered it. I agree with taking recess. Or would you prefer taking lunch, centers time or give after school detention? What other consequences for bad behavior are there? And if your precious child does not listen to you at home - what do you do?

It's only a great question if you lack critical thinking skills, imagination and experience. There are many things a teacher could do instead of withholding recess. First, the kid could walk laps instead of playing with her friends. During free time in class - when a kid gets to choose the activity she wants to do - she could instead to her homework. The kid could do homework during lunch (eat and work at the same time). If misbehaving, the kid could eat lunch at a different table away from everyone. The kid could eat lunch in the office or with the guidance counselor. There are many other ways work and misbehavior could be addressed depending on the issue and age of the child. If the only thing you know how to do is withhold recess, you have no business being in the teaching profession.

[Anonymous]

It's only a great question if you lack critical thinking skills, imagination and experience. There are many things a teacher could do instead of withholding recess. First, the kid could walk laps instead of playing with her friends. During free time in class - when a kid gets to choose the activity she wants to do - she could instead to her homework. The kid could do homework during lunch (eat and work at the same time). If misbehaving, the kid could eat lunch at a different table away from everyone. The kid could eat lunch in the office or with the guidance counselor. There are many other ways work and misbehavior could be addressed depending on the issue and age of the child. If the only thing you know how to do is withhold recess, you have no business being in the teaching profession.

Shaming the child by making them eat lunch alone? Rather than missing five minutes of recess to finish work he/she should have already finished? Have you ever heard of "natural consequences"?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just curious: What do you think the teacher should do for kids who do not finish their work or misbehave?

Great Question! No one has answered it. I agree with taking recess. Or would you prefer taking lunch, centers time or give after school detention? What other consequences for bad behavior are there? And if your precious child does not listen to you at home - what do you do?

It's only a great question if you lack critical thinking skills, imagination and experience. There are many things a teacher could do instead of withholding recess. First, the kid could walk laps instead of playing with her friends. During free time in class - when a kid gets to choose the activity she wants to do - she could instead to her homework. The kid could do homework during lunch (eat and work at the same time). If misbehaving, the kid could eat lunch at a different table away from everyone. The kid could eat lunch in the office or with the guidance counselor. There are many other ways work and misbehavior could be addressed depending on the issue and age of the child. If the only thing you know how to do is withhold recess, you have no business being in the teaching profession.

An experienced teacher knows that trying to make a child do homework during centers time and make sure that it's done with a class of 25 other children is IMPOSSIBLE!
An experienced teacher also knows that making a child eat and do homework in a chaotic cafeteria at a separate table (if there is one) and make sure that it's done is IMPOSSIBLE.
An experienced teacher knows that in public schools, there is NEVER anyone who can sit in their office and watch children. Everyone in a school building has lunch or recess duty along with a hundred other responsibilities- none of which include making sure your child does their homework.

When you enter the teaching profession and realize how truly limited your resources and time are, come back and post on this thread!

In the meanwhile, other teachers including myself are taking recess because YOU, the parent have not taught the importance of doing homework at home nor have created the structure in your home to get it done. The hope is that your child will miss recess enough to teach themselves that they must do their homework because the loss of recess is a consistent reminder that they want to play and need to do their homework. Believe me, it will get done after awhile. Lesson learned.