De Facto Leaders: Using Recess to Build Social Skills and Help Students Discover their Leadership Potential with Elizabeth Cushing of Playworks

About this episode

This episode discusses the importance of recess in schools and how it can help students develop social skills and leadership potential.

Recess is often thought of as an “extra” activity in the school day. Sometimes it’s even taken away from students as a punishment. In this episode recorded for De Facto Leaders , host Dr. Karen Dudek-Brannan talks to Elizabeth Cushing, CEO of Playworks, to understand why recess is actually an integral part of the school day. In fact, it can help students feel connected and reduce chronic absenteeism. The conversation covers: 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 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/

People in this episode

Host: Dr. Karen Dudek-Brannan

Guest: Elizabeth Cushing

Topics covered

• recess
• social skills
• leadership potential
• education
• play
• student engagement

Keywords

• recess
• social skills
• leadership
• education
• Playworks
• peer coaching
• student engagement

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Playworks, Recess Lab

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