To begin with, we should come up with criteria for giving time out. I believe that in situations where students impulsively act out by hitting someone, making inappropriate noises in class, doing something unsafe...I think these actions warrant time out because we hope that during the time out they will pause to think about how to avoid the impulsive behavior.

My book is in school and I'm responding to it without quotes. Overall, I have concluded several things that I personally think this book has helped me to reflect on and act upon. Firstly, I think we need to look at the books that we have in our classrooms and be sure to offer selections that spark the interest of our boys. Leslie and I will be spending more $$ on literature and if you have particular suggestions on topics, series or authors, please let us know. Another thing that I'm reminded about is the need for physical activity for boys. We will continue to talk about the gym situation at EVCS and the need for physical activity for all students because it is an area that we are deficient in. I'm not referring to that type of 'phys ed or recess activity'. I'm talking about students moving when we don't want them to. I can remember a parent conference where the teacher told me that Wesley was "fidgety," and he had a habit of stretching his legs...many of her comments were related to things that were happening to this tall kid who didn't really fit comfortably in the chairs, and he had lots of energy. As we concluded our meeting we decided that Wesley had to have seat at a table that was larger and he had a larger chair to sit on. Later, he joined the track team and we put him in little league. I had to push back on the teacher who thought that there was a problem. We can't get every student into a team sport but we have to improve our phys ed offerings and be sensitive to the natural growth needs that boys have.

Protect Recess

The selection from The Trouble With Boys that I chose to share in my small group today was from page 106. "...movement is important for the healthy development of all kids, but for [boys] it's crucial... Boys need movement to survive. At your son's school, recess should not be optional. Nor should it be given as a reward or taken away as a punishment. Protect recess. There is a strong connection between recess and the well-being and academic achievement of all children but especially young boys."

I think we would all agree that recess is a very important time in all of our students' days, and while 25 minutes a day is probably not even quite enough, at least it's something. But I do think that we could benefit from rethinking how we do recess at our school and particularly our use of recess in our system of consequences. Historically, taking away kids' recess has been the catchall carrot and stick response for undesirable behaviors or unfinished work in the classroom. It often seems like the kids who need the recess time the most are the ones sitting on the bench, and taking away their recess may not be helping to achieve desired behaviors. It also makes me think about the Responsive Classroom idea of logical consequences. The consequences for egregious behaviors should flow directly from the behaviors themselves. Taking away recess time for something that happened in the classroom does not seem particularly logical. I would propose that we stop the practice of taking away recess as a consequence for things that happen in the classroom. Thoughts?