Student breaks and Manageable Educator Workloads

First and foremost, administration needs to recognize and prioritize mental well-being of both students and staff.
Different students respond to different strategies at different times. The one strategy that I found very effective was to take a 15 minute movement break outside, mid morning. Instead of having a "working snack", for 2 school years I took my 20 students outside where they ate a snack, socialized and played a game such as four square or wall ball. This break allowed them to practice social skills, get some exercise and when we re-entered the class, I found my students to be more focused and enthusiastic about the lessons. I started this during covid, when we were not able to eat in the classroom, and very quickly realized the many additional benefits.
Unfortunately, in year 3, I was discouraged from this practice as it took away from "time on learning" and in order to hit the target for required minutes for reach subject, we reverted to a working snack. Denying the option of a 15 minute outside break does not recognize the social-emotional needs of students.
Teachers:
Improving mental wellness for teachers is so important, since an educator's mindset and mental well-being directly carries over into the classroom. Encouraging educators to limit the work they take home is extremely important. Making sure the workload is manageable, such as through reasonable prep periods where teachers determine what they work on, regular common planning time where educators can pool resources and share lesson plans would also help. Limiting the amount of new programs and pacing implementation will also help manage the workload. Making sure content of staff meeting is relevant is another important step in valuing educators' time.
Overworking staff, piling on new initiatives, requiring more of educators yet decreasing their available time does not recognize or prioritize the mental well-being of staff.

(2) |

Comments (1)

Follow Idea