{"id":34226,"date":"2021-03-23T19:33:59","date_gmt":"2021-03-23T19:33:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cityyear.org\/?p=34226"},"modified":"2023-07-27T13:26:43","modified_gmt":"2023-07-27T13:26:43","slug":"the-value-of-social-breaktime-activities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cityyear.org\/los-angeles\/stories\/education\/the-value-of-social-breaktime-activities\/","title":{"rendered":"The value of social breaktime activities"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Alejandro Higareda, Â鶹ÊÓƵ Los Angeles AmeriCorps member, NOW Academy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Given the\u00a0virtual learning\u00a0setting resulting from\u00a0the COVID-19 pandemic,\u00a0in-class spaces for\u00a0social activity\u00a0have become more crucial than ever before.\u00a0Not only has the\u00a0pandemic affected scholars\u2019\u00a0personal lives with unpredictable\u00a0financial hardships, emotional stressors, ailing family members\u00a0and separation from\u00a0their friends, these decreasing opportunities for socializing increase\u00a0instances of depression, anxiety and\u00a0other mental health\u00a0concerns. As a result, City\u00a0Year AmeriCorps members, along with\u00a0their partner teachers, are exploring\u00a0innovative ways of reintroducing opportunities for\u00a0socialization within\u00a0the virtual classroom, to mitigate\u00a0the\u00a0consequences of\u00a0social isolation by\u00a0nurturing\u00a0scholars\u2019 social\u00a0and emotional abilities.<\/p>\n

Social\u00a0activities\u00a0provide\u00a0an\u00a0outlet\u00a0for scholars\u00a0to express themselves\u00a0and build a sense of community.\u00a0Scholars benefit from\u00a0both structured and unstructured\u00a0opportunities to socialize with their peers, as they continue to develop the social skills that will help them build relationships, advocate for themselves,\u00a0adapt\u00a0to different situations and navigate the world\u00a0in a competent, authentic and meaningful way.<\/p>\n

\"\"Unstructured breaktime spaces\u00a0are important because they\u00a0develop scholars\u2019 sense of agency, giving scholars the chance to\u00a0either volunteer to lead an activity, participate in an ongoing or pre-planned activity or enjoy their break on their own terms.\u00a0For example, one day\u00a0I was unable to create a breaktime activity for our usual breaktime space during class,\u00a0and one of our scholars,\u00a0who throughout the course of the year had grown more assertive and participatory within the classroom, asked me if they could lead an unstructured activity in lieu of myself. Not only did our scholar confidently request a leadership role, they also spontaneously led an activity that required them to delegate tasks, call on their peers and keep track of time. As a result, this scholar\u00a0was able to\u00a0establish and communicate\u00a0their needs and goals, gained rapport among their peers and has become more vocal within the classroom.<\/p>\n

This demonstration of participation and authenticity during breaktime translated\u00a0into\u00a0having more engaged scholars during class time. When partner teachers and corps members\u00a0take\u00a0a step back from directing the virtual space, scholars are given the opportunity to be active participants in their breaktime and shows them that their words and voluntary actions have positive outcomes within their classroom.<\/p>\n

Structured spaces, however, prove to help\u00a0develop a\u00a0strong\u00a0sense of\u00a0belonging within the classroom.\u00a0Morning\"\" enrichment spaces are a\u00a0great\u00a0example of\u00a0this. During this time, activities range from social-emotional development exercises, show-and tell presentations,\u00a0artwork walkthroughs\u00a0and Kahoot quizzes on a variety of topics. Within these spaces,\u00a0the most engaging activities appear to be those\u00a0that allow scholars to express their talents, as scholars are always thrilled to share their artwork with the group\u00a0throughout the\u00a0process of the\u00a0activity.\u00a0The creation of recurrent spaces with well-structured activities can go a long way in providing structure to scholars\u2019 lives within an uncertain environment that all too often seems unpredictable and out of their control.<\/p>\n

In closing, a holistic, or \u201cwhole-child,\u201d approach implemented within structured and\u00a0unstructured breaktime\u00a0activities returns scholars\u2019 feelings\u00a0of agency\u00a0and belonging,\u00a0as it\u00a0gives them the\u00a0opportunity\u00a0to talk to their peers and\u00a0direct their learning. Having spaces where scholars can\u00a0interact with their peers, whilst learning to grapple with the risks, challenges, disagreements, disappointments and successes inherent within social interactions, is crucial as it relates to scholars\u2019 individual growth.<\/p>\n

Although we cannot predict the long-term effects of virtual learning, we can begin to mitigate the readily apparent challenges by emphasizing\u00a0a holistic approach to learning that addresses scholars\u2019\u00a0social and emotional\u00a0well-being,\u00a0alongside their\u00a0academic performance,\u00a0to ensure that they\u00a0are engaged deeply enough to learn in the long term.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A holistic approach to learning that addresses scholars\u2019\u00a0social-emotional\u00a0well-being and academic performance will ensure they\u00a0are engaged to learn long term.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":110,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,3,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education","category-our-impact","category-the-corps","locality-los-angeles"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe value of social breaktime activities - Â鶹ÊÓƵ<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"City\u00a0Year AmeriCorps members and\u00a0their partner teachers\u00a0explore\u00a0innovative outlets for\u00a0socialization within\u00a0the virtual classroom.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cityyear.org\/los-angeles\/stories\/education\/the-value-of-social-breaktime-activities\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The value of social breaktime activities - 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