The Importance of Play
Ha!
Look where we are right now at this historical moment. Standardized testing has been deemed so crucial, so vital, so revelatory, that we literally can't spend enough time preparing for them.
Today is August 26th, 2007.
I want to put that marker down because if there is anything that will eventually be proven to be a complete waste of instructional time, a devestatingly short-sighted goal for education, and a monumumental debilitation to children's natural curiosity and inspiration, it is the overly serious demands built up around standardized testing. It won't get us to excellence; it's turning kids off who would normally be excited about school; it's sapping the creativity of teachers. We're talking about starting standardized testing on 9-year-old kids!!
The facts are these: you don't learn deeply if you aren't inspired, engaged or in that zone that I want to compare favorably with "play." There is a natural friskiness, joy and exploration built into the human mind. You hear it all the time when things are working well at school. Look at the incredible explosion of interest in sports and co-curriculars of all kinds. Not to mention elder hostels, community education, outdoor pursuits of every kind, stripe and flavor. People love to play. It's what we live for. Why do kids start to scream after the last bell?
Kids have better access to this "joie de vivre", usually. But there is no doubt, if a sense of play is lost, stifled, or never encouraged at school, we lose something terribly important about being human. And, I submit, far from producing better learners, we end up dumbing learning down to its lowest common denominator. Let me speak it plain: play leads to better learning, and better learners, in multiple ways.
I just heard a wonderful program on NPR by Krista Tippett in the Speaking of Faith series. In this program, she interviews Dr. Stuart Brown, a physician and head of the National Institute for Play. No joke. (Yeah, I'd never have guessed that existed either.) Or, well, maybe I should make this into a joke.
Anyway, if you listen to that program, look carefully at the Institute's website, or even just hang around the thread here long enough to listen to what others have to say on this subject, I think you will be convinced, as I have always been, that a good teacher not only knows how to play--they know how to structure and create play for their students.
And on that topic, I will have a lot of very specific ideas and activities for all you new teachers. Again though, I want to see some numbers here. I got a lot going on, and if I am going to take an hour or two to pull this all together, I want there to be an audience. Not becase I am vain, but because I really do believe in open source sharing and I want this website to grow.
If you are interested in learning more, assemble a quick ten of your friends, colleagues or even family members, and I will spill my guts on how much fun you can make learning.... and why it all matters.
Time for me to get ready for some some fun! It's the first day of school tomorrow!