First Education

A More Strategic Approach to Taking Breaks

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I’ve recently been implementing breaks differently throughout my sessions than I’ve done so in the past.

When I first started, I thought that taking a break at the end of sessions was the best way to do them. I found, however, that especially the students who had grown quite comfortable with me would slack off in the final fifteen minutes or so and continually ask if we could “play UNO a little bit earlier today.” This style of break became counterproductive, especially considering that the first quarter of my sessions are dedicated to making sure all of my students’ homework was completed and that everything made sense to them.

As of late, I’ve still been starting my sessions going through each student’s homework with them, and then beginning to chip away at the next topic. Once they’ve had a decent crack at a couple of examples and I can see that they’re feeling relatively confident with the material, I commend them and we take a 2 game UNO break (these go by fast). On an ideal day, we win one game each and this sets up our tiebreaker at the end, depending of course on how focused they are for the remaining half hour.

In my opinion, this is highly effective for a couple of reasons.

1. It breaks the session into two halves, bringing the checkpoint until some sense of “macro-accomplishment” is felt much closer (twice in one hour instead of once at the end).

2. It allows the students’ batteries to recharge midway through, and so I’ve seen much higher spirits on their ends, especially as we get closer to the end of the sessions; instead of being flat and over it, they’re still energised, plus they’re looking forward to winning the final match of UNO.

Give it a try and see how you go!

Thomas Koutavas