Recess is often thought of as an “extra” activity in the school day. Sometimes it’s even taken away from students as a punishment.
But some schools think about recess as an integral part of the school day, where students get the opportunity to connect, practice important social and problem-solving skills they’ll need for life.
Others are taking it a step further and using it as a tool to help students feel more connected to their school experience, and to decrease chronic absenteeism and establish a school culture where kids feel like they belong at school.
That’s why I was so excited to connect with Elizabeth Cushing from Playworks.
Elizabeth Cushing is CEO of Playworks, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to using the power of play to bring out the best in every child. Elizabeth joined Playworks in 2004 and was named President and COO in 2011 and CEO in 2020. She leads Playworks’ Executive Team and is responsible for the organization’s strategy, operations and fiscal health. During her tenure Elizabeth has played a lead role in designing Playworks’ national scaling strategy including engaging national investors. Alongside founder, Jill Vialet, Elizabeth led the organization through a sustained period of growth from a San Francisco Bay Area-focus to a national organization with 14 teams across the country. As a result of strategic expansion, Playworks shares its unique brand of play and physical activity with 1,000 elementary schools reaching more than 1M children annually. For more than 30 years Elizabeth has served in leadership roles in nonprofit organizations focused on youth development, children’s advocacy and women’s issues. Elizabeth is a product of Oregon public schools, Stanford University and the Coro Fellows Program in Public Affairs.
In this conversation, we discuss:
- Simple ways educators can set expectations and rules to create structure and a sense of safety around recess
- How to use play as a reset and a preventative measure, instead of something that’s taken away from kids as a punishment
- How training kids as peer coaches can help decrease disruptive behaviors and help kids discover their own leadership potential
You can listen to the entire interview here:
You can learn more about Playworks on their website at: https://www.playworks.org/
Resources mentioned in this interview include:
Comprehensive Game Guide that Outlines Games Across Grade Levels: https://www.playworks.org/indiana/game-guide/
The sister website for Playworks with tools for assessing the health of your school’s recess: https://www.recesslab.org/In this conversation, I mentioned School of Clinical Leadership, my program that helps related service providers design scalable executive functioning interventions to ensure students get the scaffolding they need across the school day. You can learn more about the program here.