Critically Analyze a Mentor Text

Critically Analyze a Mentor Text:

Link to Article: https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/06/how-finland-keeps-kids-focused/373544/

Link to Timothy D. Walkers Blog: http://taughtbyfinland.com


1. Timothy D. Walker is the author for this article. He is an American teacher, blogger, and contributing author for The Atlantic education issues. Along with those contributions and daily updates to his blog, Timothy Walker has released his new book, "Teach Like Finland:33 Simple Strategies for Joyful Classrooms," which details his experience in education in Finland and the topic of "brain breaks" in more detail.  
In the article we used as our platform to researching our topic, he is describing his experience teaching in Finland. Like most of us in this classroom, we are only familiar with the teaching styles here in the U.S., but outside of the country school environments are quite different. He uses this article to inform readers what a difference 15 minute breaks made within his classroom. He has the knowledge and experience teaching in the United States and compares that to his first year teaching in Finland. He continues to write his experiences on his blog daily about life and teaching in Finland.  

2. Here we are able to relate to the authors point of view, because we are all to familiar with the school and classroom time frame. It is not out of the ordinary for teachers and students to go hours in a classroom without a break in the course work. We are programed to think the more time we spend with instructional time, the better the academic results will be. This has been challenged in other countries, and research has found that frequent breaks in between instructional time has improved academic success rates. The article and author showed the comparison between schools in Finland vs. schools in the United States, and made it easier to understand. While normal for Finland schools to take 15 minute breaks after every 45 minutes of instruction, in American we find that as a "waste of time." But studies have shown that these small breaks during the school day have encouraged and improved academic success for school that have implemented this style. Related articles and data will be posted on the Facebook page shared with the group.

3. These articles and research finds would best be beneficial to instructors with a fixed mind sets who might question the need for breaks. Some teachers may be more concerned with standards rather than meeting all of student needs. The challenges teachers face include high-stake testing, prescriptive standards, and evaluations. The stress that is put on teachers can also be transferred to our students. High expectations and course load are found throughout schools in America. While some may believe increasing course work and time will cause an increase in test scores, Finland and many other countries who put "brain breaks" in place displayed higher achievement scores. The education system puts pressure on our teachers and students do excel at achievement testing or standardized testing. Most schools rely on federal funding to operate, but annual achievement testing that measures student's knowledge can alter that funding. There have also been cases where schools have tied teachers performance, student success in testing, to salary. The United States puts so much emphasis on in class learning and test scores, that physical education and recess are often left out.

4. The main point of view was Timothy, the teacher who presented the lifestyle of Americans and Finnish students. The teacher displayed various experiences, specifically the fifth grade student in Finland whose face displayed frustration after an hour and half straight of instructional time. He explains in the beginning to readers,

"I didn't see the point of these frequent pit stops. As a teacher in the United States, I'd spent several consecutive hours with my students in the classroom. And I was trying to replicate this model in Finland."

He then changed the classroom schedule from having a 15 minute break after every 45 minute of instructional time to teaching two 45-minute lessons in a row, followed by a double break of 30 minutes. Although the break was longer, the back-to-back instructional time was overwhelming the students to the point where they felt "burnt out."
When he regrouped and realized the importance of providing "brain breaks" in the classroom, his students regained their enthusiasm and focus to succeed in the classroom. Timothy explained this to the reader by saying,

"Throughout the school year, my Finnish students would- without fail- enter the classroom with a bounce in their step after a 15- minute break. And most importantly, they were more focused during the lesson.


5. Walker referenced another author in his article who witnessed the same results as he did in Finland. Author and professor at the University of Minnesota, Anthony Pellegrini and his colleagues ran a series of experiments at a public school to prove that timed breaks in between instruction and attentiveness were strongly correlated. They retrieved the same results every time: Students were more attentive and ready to learn after their break compared to before the break. They also witnessed that if a break was prolonged, or a lesson dragged on, the students attention span decreased. This was a similar situation to what Timothy was describing in the beginning of the article. In his scenario, he thought combining two 45-minute lessons and giving the students a 30-minute break was more beneficial. He soon found out this was just the opposite. 
The purpose of including another American author and teacher as data in this article was to show the reader that it's not just Finnish students who need these breaks, but all student's benefit from them. Walker mentions that it does not matter where the break/ recess takes place, but it's the freedom we give them from their structured, instructional time. Anthony Pellegrini found that recess isn't a waste of time as some may believe, but that it encourages communication, socialization, and a time period for students to "rest and recharge."