Why You Should Look Forward to Recess Duty

During a hard day at school, knowing that you can’t relax for the time that the students are out to recess can be rough!  Why should you look Forward to to Recess Duty ? Although most schools can’t afford to hire other qualified adults to monitor recess, even if they can, there are compelling reasons to be the teacher out on the playground.

Observances in Younger Students

In the younger grades it’s a great time to observe:

  • gross motor skills
  • social skills
  • exclusions within the class framework
  • interests of the students in your class
  • friendships
  • how students deal with problems

Observing these thing helps you understand your students better, hence, being a more effective teacher in the classroom.

Observances in Middle School

This can be even more important when it comes to middle school students.  They have so much happening for them socially.  While you may not want to be interfering all the time, keeping an eye on the social situation can help you work with your students through tough times, consequently, avoiding calamities.

Whether middle school or elementary school, you know your students better than other teachers.  Especially when there is a special needs student, you may be able to catch an incident before it becomes a huge problem.

Joy

Sometimes as teachers, we work so very hard that we may forget the small joys of being with our students.  If we can head to recess with a positive attitude, we may find that we have the special opportunity to share in, or observe some of the most joyous moments in our students’ day. We may find that observing our students at play may bring a refreshing smile to our own face!

 

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