What’s the most important thing to middle school students at Westminster? Recess. Recess used to be 20 minutes long, but this year it was cut down to ten.
Students want all the recess they can get because 7 hours of school can be a lot for a kid. When I go out to recess, I see most kids sitting or not playing, which, compared to years prior, is a very strange sight. I was wondering if the students really did not play, so I asked them about what they actually liked to do at recess. 6th grader Walker Noell said, “four square and basketball.”
When he told me this, I wondered how did he have enough time to play these games at recess with only 10 minutes? So I asked another 6th grader. 6th grader Troy Egan said, “I like to play soccer, basketball, and four square.” But when asked if the time of recess affected what he decided to play, he said, “Yeah, I usually play shorter games.”
The sixth graders haven’t experienced a 20-minute recess, so I asked some eighth graders who have been in the Middle School for two years and who know what recess was like. Virginia Davis and Brennan Owen said, “Sometimes we’ll play four square, but that’s only if we can find a ball.” When they said this, I wondered if they even got to play because it often takes a long time to find a ball.
When hearing similar answers from students, I kept thinking about how this rule of having a 10-minute recess was made and who was involved.
Middle School Director of Operations Anne-Sophie Hankla told me that when preparing for the school year to start, the Middle School Leadership Teams talked about the schedule and how it could be altered in order to prioritize the students and their learning. They decided to cut time from recess, lunch, and Office Hours, in order to not lose time from classes. Another reason the Leadership Teams decided to make recess shorter was that in order to start the day later, they had to make the morning programs later, so that the students didn’t have such long days.
I asked Hankla why recess was cut down to only 10 minutes, and she said, “We try to have the day start later and have time and have all of the morning programs like the affinity groups and the Bible studies and all these things start later . . .” She also commented on how balance in the day is key. “We tried to get a few minutes everywhere . . . so not to lose too much class time.”
I then asked both Reverend Tina McCormick and Hankla their own opinions on the 10-minute recess change. McCormick said, “I think 10-minute recess with no pass time is too short.” And Hankla said, “I think it’s going okay with only 10 minutes. My preferred time is 15 to 20,”
When I heard both of their opinions, I was surprised. I knew that students would think recess is too short, but I didn’t think teachers would agree. Now I think that the teachers want the best for their students and their learning, but they also want us to have fun and be social. Some teachers don’t like the fact that we only have 10 minutes because they believe that kids need more time to be free.
Before investigating, I thought that adults didn’t want us to have recess, but after interviewing students and teachers, I can confidently say that there is an agreement between both groups. So, can we have more time for recess?