PRO timeout or NO Timeout?

I still am undecided about the issue with putting children in timeout. There are two sides to every story and many reasons why and why not we should put children into timeout during our physical education class. Timeout, I see it from two angles, you are either for putting children who misbehave in time out or you are against putting these children in time out. I am on the fence with this issue.

PRO Timeout

Some main points for putting children in timeout; If a student is not following the rules and is a danger to themselves, their classmates, you the teacher, the equipment, or the facility, then yes I can understand making that student sit in time out until you the teacher think is an appropriate amount of time until you believe that they are going to be able to behave in your class. Safety should always be your first priority in a class; therefore if a child is endangering other students, then removing them from the situation is in my opinion, your best option. Remove the child from the activity, because they misbehaved. They did not follow the rules of the class and they are now put in timeout, they have lost their privilege to participate in the game. The game is a privilege, and by removing them from the game you are essentially taking away privileges, makes sense.

NO Timeout

One the other had is it not the main objective of physical education is to have students up, moving around, and participating in as much physical activity as possible, all while learning various concepts in physical education? Then doesn’t placing a student in time out defeat our purpose? Placing a child in time out is making them no longer participate in the activity, thus their learning is being altered because they are not getting as much practice time as the students who are behaving and do not have to sit in time out.

Furthermore, what about the students who do not want to participate in physical activity and misbehave on purpose so that they get to go and sit in timeout. Then the purpose of time out also backfires on us, because they student who does not want to participate in the game or activity is getting exactly what they wanted, to sit out. I have a perfect example of this, one of my housemates is currently student teaching right now and her biggest problem with her sixth grade class is that a lot of her students will misbehave so that she has to put them into timeout. They will break her classroom rules on purpose just so that they are allowed to sit out of the activity, and thus do not have to participate in class.

All in all I believe that placing students in timeout is going to have to depend on your beliefs, the beliefs and rules of the school district that you are working for, and the behaviors of the students in your class. I guess the question is not whether you sure for or against timeout its whether your students force you to use timeout as a last resort, or if you are enough of a proactive teacher to be able to get your students to behave without having to resort to timeouts. It is all going to fall on to you the teacher to decide whether or not you will use timeout in your class or not. Pro timeout or not timeout? It’s up to you.