Tucson’s incorrigible Steve Gall won’t give up. State bills he’s worked on to mandate structured recess in Arizona schools, or recommend structured recess, or recommend a certain amount of weekly physical activity for kids during school hours, have gotten close but never made it into law in recent legislative sessions. He’s volunteered for years in TUSD, organizing physical activity with kids in a number of schools. His urging helped lead the district to recommend 90 minutes of physical activity a week in its schools.
Steve is one of the voices in an article, Active ‘Brain Breaks’ Increase Focus, Leaning, Teachers Say, in the Arizona School Boards Association newsletter, AZEDNEWS. We shouldn’t need an article to tell us that kids’ brains go numb after sitting in class too long, and there’s nothing like moving the body for a few minutes to get their brains moving again. What group of people should be least in need of that reminder? Educators, of course. But in today’s “skill building,” test-driven educational world, seat time is too often equated with learning time, and recess, or even stretch, jump and run-in-place exercises in the classroom, are considered time wasters.
It’s a good article with lots of links to other resources, including GoNoodle.com, a site devoted to helping teachers create quick, fun brain breaks for their kids.
This article appears in May 21-27, 2015.
Steve is correct!
I am so glad you wrote about someone who really advocates for kids and their needs as well as being an extremely active volunteer. I know they are there, everywhere. We just don’t see them in the news a lot. A applaud so many of these wonderful people.
I can attest to how good an idea this is. I can also attest to the fact that teachers already knew this, and have been implementing for at least 4 years. Some of the less physical teachers may not have had “structured” play in place, because they were often required to participate (something some older and physically challenged teachers have difficulty with), but where there’s a will, there’s a way! Gonoodle.com is a LIFESAVER! Students respond to it in a big way, and during transitions of 3-5 minutes, it barely takes from instructional time…in fact, compared to all the time wasted redirecting and dealing with behavior issues, getting up and moving to goofy music videos or almost meditational offerings is much more preferable. At first, “structured play” sounds very 1984, but if done right, can give the kids a real boost physically, mentally, as well as emotionally. And since PE teachers are a thing of the past, we need this. I hope it becomes part of our “mandated curriculum”, but really, it’s a no-brainer idea that we don’t really need to legislate, unless we are protecting it!
Not sure what this is all about but if it creates brain connectivity, 😄remember playing tether ball at recess
Yes, in between working on our infantile legislators to pass such a no-nonsense bill, Steve volunteers by offering PE classes to REAL children, mostly underserved ones, in TUSD. He came to one school saying “these math scores are low–these kids need PE”…thats how clear the connection is. He also has written a super cool children’s story and has boundless energy and smiles for everyone at the school site. As he says, he’s never met a kid he didn’t like and the kids return the favor!
Steve’s ideas absolutely should be a part of our mandated curriculum if we have to have one at all. The high-stakes standardized tests and all of the endless “assessments” sprinkled throughout the mandated curriculum, and then the fact that school grades and teacher pay are affected if the kids do poorly essentially mandate that no such fun “brain-breaks” will be considered otherwise.
Who cares if the kids are undeserved? Kids need PE, all of them. It’s good for them. I don’t care if they are on state assisted lunches or are a minority, physical activity in school is necessary and provides real, tangible benefits.
If we are going to take away the arts, music AND PE, let’s just start building robots.