A recent tweet from @dancallahan led me to an article in today’s NYT, which explains why it might be better for kids to play and then eat.
My eighth-graders come racing to class after their 30 minute outside “play” time after lunch, and I’ve often wondered if they are just too excited to buckle down at that point. Eating after play might be just the ticket!
ahh, school schedules…you gotta love them. Often times we end up with schedules and systems of convenience that are simply backwards.
In addition to the relationship between the eating and recess activity, I question the kind of food that we are feeding youth in our schools–often times it is of the poorest nutritional value possible, which obviously isn’t helpful for their performance in school. Anyway, there are many systems that we end up with that are a result of convenience, habit and history. Here are are few other systems that I have questions about:
1. Why is are classes like art, music, etc the often times the same amount of time as every other class? How will students ever experience ‘flow’ working on their art within a 45 minute time constraint?
2. So many high schools start at the raw hour of 7:00 am. Given what we know about adolescent development, this seems just crazy.
I’ll stop here, but I’m thinking right now about how this list could easily go well into double digits…sigh.
Ah, Matt. I think you and I should start a school together!