Let’s Play! Maybe Older Students Need Recess, Too!

SHARE THIS STORY:

Today was the first day of AZELLA testing for my 7th grade introduction level English Language Development class. They were very nervous during the first subtest (Listening), and then we had quite a bit of time to relax. It wasn’t worth starting the next subtest until after lunch.

We thought about watching some Spongebob, but one of the proctors reminded us that screen time is not good for testing brains. So I pulled out my trusty Yoga Pretzels card pack (best thrift shop purchase ever), and gave the kids some guidelines, mostly just to avoid injury! We moved to the auditorium lobby and I spread the cards out on a table, recommending poses that kids had enjoyed in the past and letting the students shuffle through the cards.  

They immediately paired up or went into a corner alone and started trying out poses, giving up, doing it their own way, laughing, falling over, trading the cards that described poses for new ones. It made me smile to see them interact without devices or the pressure of the cafeteria line. 

The scene soon evolved. The cards returned to the table one by one. The three girls in my class of 14 moved toward the corner of the room and demonstrated for me various techniques of getting into an upward bow pose (apparently popular among child gymnasts and cheerleaders) while the boys began devising other games. 

First they did a wall sit challenge where each boy sat on the other’s lap to make a long line until the one doing the wall sit was ready to collapse. Then they played tag. That transitioned into them doing a conga line, which turned into holding hands and running in a circle as fast as they could until they flung apart from one another. I was completely charmed by the sepia-toned nostalgia of this last moment.

After several configurations of this less-annoying version of the circle game than is usually witnessed in junior high, they decided to build a human pyramid with the three largest boys on the bottom (although I never saw this happen, in case anyone asks. I am sure it is not regulation.) Next they started riding each other like horses, like your dad would have given you a ride across the living room when you were four years old. The ones who weren’t riding were laughing and enjoying the whole scene. Then they moved to leapfrog. Then Marco Polo, with a hooded sweatshirt put on backward over their face as a blindfold.

Students take a brain break during testing.

I could hardly believe what I was seeing, but didn’t want to look too astounded and break the spell. I knew that these boys loved to go to the park on weekends and play soccer more than anything else, but I didn’t realize their complete capacity to entertain themselves with social and physical play. 

Throughout most school days, any time kids get a break, someone will bust out a cell phone and three others will gather round and witness whatever goofy video pops up on Snapchat or Tik Tok next. Either that or they meander through the hall, shoving into their friends, “necking” each other, committing PDA (which, these days, necking is not), saying things just low enough so a teacher can’t hear, yelling in the bathroom or just trying to negotiate their way through all of that to the next class.

Our brain break was a whole other scenario, one of camaraderie, inclusivity and friendly competition, and one of joy. Maybe my students are just special, or maybe our school is onto something.

Here are some things I thought and wondered about during and after our break:

1. Many 7th graders are not as engrossed in the digital world as we may think they are, or at least that is not their natural habitat the way we sometimes assume.
2. These kids are really, truly still children, although we sometimes forget that in the midst of our high expectations. 
3. Giving older kids the opportunity for unstructured outdoor play (recess) may really be paying off for our students. In addition to opening up the fields during lunch recess, at least once a week our team takes all 185 kids outside for 20-30 minutes of supervised, but unstructured, play. Some gather at the garden to nibble or see what is new, some organize basketball games, some play frisbee, some look at photos and videos on their phones, and more than you would think choose to run around like little primary grade kids and play tag. I wonder what long-term benefits might come from this opportunity for interactive play?

At the end of our break, the students returned to their testing seats flushed, several with sweat running down their temples. I knew that after lunch they would return in good spirits, ready to tackle their reading test with whatever language skills they could muster, and hopefully that will pay off. 

Amethyst Hinton Sainz

Amethyst Hinton Sainz is National Board Certified Teacher in Adolescent and Young Adult English Language Arts, and is constantly trying to live up to that standard! This year she will begin teaching at Westwood High School in Mesa, Arizona as an interventionist. She has taught junior high ELD and high school English in Arizona for 25 years. She has been a Stories from School blogger since 2012. Amethyst’s alma maters are Blue Ridge High School, the University of Arizona and the Bread Loaf School of English at Middlebury College. Her bachelor’s degree in Creative Writing and Philosophy led her toward the College of Education, and she soon realized that the creative challenges of teaching would fuel her throughout her career. Her love of language, literature, and culture led her to Bread Loaf for her master's in English Literature. She is a fellow with the Southern Arizona Writing Project, and that professional development along with, later, the National Board process, has been the most influential and transformative learning for her. As a board member of the Mesa NBCT Network, she works with other NBCT’s to promote this powerful process throughout the district. She supports candidates for National Board Certification, and loves seeing teachers realize and articulate their teaching and leadership power! She enjoys teaching students across the spectrum of academic abilities, and keeping up with new possibilities for technology in education. Last year she had the privilege of running our school garden, and will really miss that this year. She is currently learning more about social and racial justice and is striving to be an antiracist educator. She lives in Mesa, Arizona with her family. She enjoys time with them, as well as with her vegetable garden, backyard chickens, and the two dogs. She also enjoys reading, writing, cooking (but not doing dishes), kayaking, camping, and travel, among other things.