Does anyone have any ideas on what alternatives there are to recess detention? I still see these types of detention in our schools too.
To the OP, one thing I have noticed is that the first couple days of school can be very stressful for children. They are BOMBARDED with the rules from each classroom that they go to, and it seems like teachers really lay it on thick to try to be serious about it. I wish that this year I had warned my kids about this so they would have had a better first day. If they knew that it was just something the teachers HAD to do at the beginning of the year, I think they would be less stressed about it.
Agreed re: teachers coming down harder at the beginning of the year. I have tried to let our kids know to expect this, and also to know that they should be especially careful to follow classroom rules at the start (not that they can break them later, but that they need to make a good first impression).
Came across this article, which seems pretty logical to me. Caveat, I'm not a teacher, although I'm from a family of teachers.
http://www.nea.org/tools/10-approaches-to-better-discipline.html
I'd say it's been about 50-50 whether or not a teacher is willing to alter the approach in light of the policy.