Every day, the
Kindergarten teacher who I am learning from takes away or threatens to take
away a child’s recess because of bad behavior. The first time he did it I was surprised.
However, after a while it stopped phasing me. Then, during the school’s student
of the month ceremony, I was supposed to keep an eye out for children who
behaved well to give them “Caught Being Goods” (the schools reward system).
After the program, which lasted around 30 minutes, I handed out the CBG’s to
all but four students who had moments of less than good behavior. It wasn’t
necessarily bad behavior, but it wasn’t good. I explained to the teacher why
they didn’t receive them and he took away their recess because of it. This made
me the bad guy, which I could care less about. The part I didn’t like is taking
away recess in general, especially from kindergarteners. I can barely sit
through a half hour presentation without getting antsy, and these kids are 5.
They need to be able to run around outside to burn off their energy so they
will be able to be calm and ready to learn in class.
Taking away recess is a bad alternative because kids need to burn off the energy. I'm wondering if the students who are continuously threatened to have recess taken away are no longer phased by that consequence? I have a hard time believing that you needed to be the "Bad guy" or that these students needed to have recess taken because the students didn't portray "bad" behavior thats worth reporting them as "troubled kids". Especially since my first grade students, during the assembly, wiggled, looked around the gym, and giggled at the gym teacher trying to lift the CBG's bin. With that many students in one place, it is easy for young students to get distracted and it was easy for me myself to be a distraction because I had taken someone else's student to the nurse's office for a bloody lip, then walked with her back to her class so she didn't have to walk in front of the group alone, and this distracted my students because then I was no longer sitting by them.
ReplyDeleteI was really surprised that your co-teacher does this with kindergartners. Recess is such an important part in a child's day. Especially which so much of a school day now being centered around a smartboard/whiteboard and the use of technology. Students need that time to get outside and run around. I feel like we should reward students for positive behaviors, not punish them for negative ones.
ReplyDeleteMy teacher does this as well but not for behavior. If a student does not get their class work done during work time they have to stay in during recess until it is done. Usually this either gets them to finish during work time or if they are kept inside during recess they get their work done at a quick pace. I am not sure how I feel about this because I have only spent a full day in the classroom once and their recess is something I am not apart of during my time there.
ReplyDeleteMy teacher also threatens with taking away recess ALL THE TIME but never follows through with it. She mostly just says they'll miss a minute or two of it, but to a kindergartner that means absolutely nothing. I think she mostly just forgets who she warns, because she'll consistently reprimand the same students but never take away recess. It seems to not even phase the students anymore. I'm surprised he would take away recess that much from so many students at one time. That really upsets me.
ReplyDelete