The Free and Easy Way to Improve School Culture
By: Emily Kingsley
Tags: Society, Schools, Culture, Health, Education

All it takes is 30 minutes and a pair of shoes.

Photo by Arek Adeoye on Unsplash

What’s the purpose of school?

No, really. I want you to think about that question for a few minutes before you read on.

Did you come up with an answer? I bet it has something to do with educating kids so that they can grow up into fully functional adults. If it is, then I would pretty much agree with you.

My next question is this: are schools serving their purpose?

I wish we were at a coffee shop so you could really give me your answer to this question. I know it’s a complex question, and your answer will depend on your own experiences in school, where you live and any number of other factors.

I would bet you an avocado toast and an Americano that your answer to the above question is no. Schools are easy to criticize and hard to defend. Everyone feels like schools are failing, students are failing and teachers are failing.

If you feel like this, it’s not that you’re wrong. The thing that bothers me though, as a high school teacher and strong proponent of public education, is that while nearly everyone agrees that schools need to do better, it’s rare for people to galvanize their support behind common sense ideas and initiatives that work for students.

There are no shortage of federal programs, private software companies, professional development consulting agencies, whack-a-doo secretaries of education lining up to push products, mandates and curriculum onto schools. Probably some of them are great, or they could be if they weren’t replaced with some other, newer version before the ink has dried on the contract or the check has been cashed.

I’m one of the teachers that rolls my eyes when there is a new set of acronyms to learn at the beginning of the school year — RTIs, IEPs, 504s, ESSA. Out with the old and in with the new.

At their heart though, the purpose of any of these programs are for kids to feel connected and noticed while they are at school so that they are mentally and emotionally prepared and willing to learn.

Walk your way to a better school

Here’s my plan to get rid of acronyms, cut spending, improve teacher retention, fight childhood obesity, decrease student stress and anxiety and improve attendance.

Oh, did I mention: it’s free!

The plan is this: every student should go for a 30 minute walk every day.

I teach at a charter school, where I am fortunate to have the freedom to try out crazy ideas like the one above. The original goal of charter schools is to pilot interesting ideas on a small scale to see if they are scalable to larger schools.

For the past 30 days, I have been going for walks with a group of 13 students. I make little maps of different neighborhoods within walking distance of my school, pass them out with arrows indicating the directions, and we take off. Sounds crazy, right?

Let me convince you why this is a good idea and then explain how feasible it is for any size school in any location.

A Pyramid of Benefits

Photo by Emma Simpson on Unsplash

The first benefit of this practice is improvements to physical health. If you haven’t seen that crazy popular youtube video about the health impacts of walking for 30 minutes each day, you should first get up and go for a walk and then watch the video. Walking is a low impact way to ward off obesity, diabetes, hypertension and more.

The second benefit of going for daily walks is social engagement. When I started out on this endeavor in early September, I didn’t know any of the students well at all. As we walked shoulder to shoulder on sidewalks, trails and parking lots, I had great conversations with each and every one of them. I learned about little snippets of their lives that would never come up in a regular class period or even a fifteen minute check in with a guidance counselor. I’m not just nosy, this information is helpful in figuring out what motivates a student or troubleshooting their lack of motivation.

We also ran into lots of people from the town who interacted with my students. Too often ‘school’ means being contained within the four walls of a classroom. It was great for students to help senior citizens bump their walkers up over the curb and to step off the sidewalk to allow a mother pushing a stroller to pass. These are little things, but I’d never think to address them in the classroom.

Students also benefited from socializing with each other in a safe, somewhat controlled setting. Trust me, I wasn’t keyed in listening to every conversation, but they knew that it was not an appropriate setting for certain topics. It was great to hear them talking to each other about learning to drive, getting their first jobs or even giving relationship advice. Students that wouldn’t normally talk or hang out had the opportunity to socialize in a healthy, productive way.

A third benefit is the connections that students made between academic content areas and the real world. An example is the daily math I had them do to figure out how long we had to walk. I didn’t give them an algorithm or a worksheet, but I expected them to figure out what time we had to turn around if we were leaving at 1:57 and we wanted to be back at 2:42. When we hoofed it through different neighborhoods, there were great conversations about why one part of town has big mansions and another part of town has small ranch homes. We identified trees and invasive species and noticed wildlife behaviors.

A fourth (but probably not final) benefit was the connection to place that occurred as a result of these walks. Our school is in a very car-centric town. We would cover 1–3 miles and students were always amazed to see that we were able to walk to the Chinese food place or past Jacob’s house. Even they grew up in the town, they hadn’t ever developed a mental map of it. I teach science, so I’m always looking out for interesting plants and one day it made me burst with pride when a student up ahead of me shouted back “Yo, do you want us to turn left at that big sycamore tree?”

Every School Can Do This

Photo by Randy Fath on Unsplash

Before you start listing the many reasons why it would be impossible for every student in every school to go for a walk every day, let’s just pause for a moment to remember that this is the country that expanded westward on foot and also sent a man for a walk on the moon. I think we can overcome some of these obstacles.

For schools where permission slips are a headache, consider this: my school sends home one permission slip at the beginning of the year. It was written by our lawyer, so I assume it’s legal. When parents sign it, they give us permission to take kids on any field trips we want to all year long, provided we give them notification. It works out great and avoids the permission slip back and forth that has happened in other schools that I’ve worked in.

Maybe some schools are worried about the time intrusion. With so many scheduled classes and trying to fit in electives like band and chorus, where would the time for this come from? At my school, we are able to award PE credit to students for participating, so that’s one avenue. I also have observed that shifting gears through six or more classes each day is overwhelming for students, which manifests as anxiety. Change the schedule, extend lunch, split a period with a study hall. There are all kinds of creative schedules out there, it is not impossible to find 30 minutes for an activity with such widespreading benefits.

Staffing may be another issue to consider — one that I believe can be overcome as well. I am a busy teacher with young kids at home. Having the chance to get a little exercise in during the day is a joy! While not all teachers would jump at this chance, many would. There is no preparation or grading required to go for daily walks, and the relationships I form with students make them easier to work with in my regular academic classes.

There are probably other obstacles as well, but none are insurmountable, especially considering the payoffs.

Get Started Today!

Photo by Manasvita S on Unsplash

The great thing about this plan is that any school could try it out on a small or large scale immediately. There’s no cost and no risk — only rewards. So students, teachers, parents, administrators: what are you waiting for? Get walking!

Don’t work in a school? Don’t care about schools? Weird that you’re reading this article, but that’s fine. Here’s the great thing: You can go for a walk too, and get all of the above benefits as well.

When you get back from your walk, take all of that great energy and use it to tell someone else that you really think that the way to fix schools is to start by getting kids and teachers up on their feet.

And then maybe when you do bump into me in a coffee shop, and I ask you if schools are serving their purpose, you’ll have a different answer!