Although scholars are attuned to the particular transitional dilemmas faced by middle school students, inquiry into middle school breaktimes is largely limited to research on bullying and peer victimization. This study interrogates the geography of middle school breaktime to expand understanding of student safety and recognize the ways that the state’s intervention in school spaces creates particular challenges for young learners. By investigating breaktimes at three middle schools and employing a critical geography lens in data coding and analysis, we demonstrate how the organization of space shapes student experiences. Findings suggest that scholars should consider breaktime as a “thirdspace” within the middle school day—one that offers vast potential for positive student development, but is marginalized due to its status as “non-academic” time. Findings reveal that school leaders and staff may better support students by addressing the ways that breaktimes are differently navigated by students along ethnic, socioeconomic, age, and gender lines.
I met Kyla at a small conference on a rainy weekend in February 2018. I wandered into the workshop shortly after it had started, and the room was filled with Black women designing vision boards. Kyla didn't stop what she was doing as she replied to the question the presenter posed to the room. Her hands continued moving, cutting glossy paper or pasting shiny gems onto her board: “When I tell people that my organization raises money to take girls abroad, so many of them say, ‘Well why wouldn't you raise money for them to buy clothes or eat. They need food and education before they need to travel.’ But I always say, ‘But what about Black joy?’”
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