The past six or so years for me has been a massive journey and I thought it was time that I put down in a blog some of the most important things I have learned. Hopefully this will be helpful to those starting out on their journey.
So what have I learned?
1)
Everyone has different ideas and understandings and this really gets in the way of people starting out. The jargon really gets in the way of teachers bringing play to their classroom. I find the purists of play can in fact put people right off even trying, they just make everything sound too hard!
To clear this up, using games to teach maths and allowing children some input into how the game is played, is a playful mode of working. But it is not play.
Allowing children a choice of activities that are hands on or invitational is a playful way of working, but it is not play.
Putting the jigsaws and blocks out as a activity to do 'after the work' is a playful option, but it is not play.
Number Agents is based on a playful mode of working, but it is not play.
Play-based learning, learning through play, whatever you want to call it has to be based on the fact that it is un-adulterated. Children have freedom to play how and where they want (to a degree that is safe in your environment) with what they want and they have freedom to quit. Student Agency in play comes from children having full control over their play. They are not choosing from activities, but making up the activities themselves and doing this for extended periods of time.
A class genuinely based on authentic play that will really allow children to get the social, emotional and cognitive benefits that it has to offer is controlled by the children themselves, not by the adult.
2)
You can not plan for play. If we are to honour the individual through play, we can not then prescribe what will happen, before it even happens. This is where backward planning comes in.
We don't have a timetable, just a list of items we would like to get to in the day. These are based on the priorities we set for the term. At the end of the day, we record what we actually did,
This blog post on backward planning is old, but it still gives you an idea of what this looks like and if planning is your question, then it is worth the read.
Don't try to do too much, decide on an approach that covers all the bases you need and go with that. The beauty of play is lost on someone too busy to witness it.
3)
Play is not mutually exclusive of other areas of learning, such as reading, writing and maths. Some would have you believe that you specifically teach these things then you are not truly embracing play. I believe this is hogwash. I believe it is possible to shape a classroom on what honours the individual and their needs while honouring authentic play. I believe that the building blocks of literacy and numeracy that need to be explicitly taught, what is important, is that we are engaging in a developmentally appropriate way. In our class number sense (taught through agency as a whole group) and structured literacy are a vital part of what we do. The majority of what is taught in our classroom is individual when it comes early reading, but we explicitly follow these goals to ensure we are using a developmentally appropriate approach. This is a big area and requires its own blog post entirely. What we need to remember is this, some children will pick up many concepts independently through play, in fact many children will learn the basics of reading and writing all on their own in a rich environment, but there are some children, who without specific teaching, will not do this, and we as educators have to be mindful of this.
Children don't need us hovering. In fact, their play is much more rich when we are not close by. Just because we didn't see it, does not undermine the richness of the learning that has taken place. If there is one thing I have learned it is that we must trust children. I have also learned that I can tune in to children's play without disturbing them and I do not need to be 'extending' the play by engaging in their discussions. There is so much I can learn, by just listening in for a moment, or for observing for a short time. I can take this learning back to class reflections to discuss further, but children do not need me to 'extend' them, they do that all by themselves.
5)
Social and Emotional learning and teaching is the most important thing we can do. It is important we weave strong aspects of this learning into our day and that we allow children extending time to play so they can practice these skills. As teachers we should not be intervening in their arguments either. This is where they learn to explore the perspectives of others, to compromise and negotiate. We need to just stay out of it and know if and when we need to intervene to coach further.
We weave learning into our day through short animations, songs, books etc that we can discuss further as a class.
6)
If you are starting out, start slow. Allow children a 'chunk' of the day to play without intervention and just observe. Even if you have 30-40 minutes a day to start out that is better than nothing.
7)
Don't spend the earth on materials. Children love a variety of bits and pieces to generate their own play. Junk is a child's treasure and open ended items allow them to imagine and create their own worlds. If it is possible to set up a junk shed that they whole school can use, this is a great way for everyone to see the power of play. This was one of the ways we started our journey.
Children need to play outside. If you have an outside area that can be available for play, make use of it. Our children play in and out during our play-based times and enjoy the flexibility to use the spaces as they wish.
9)
Some children who have endured trauma, or have specific needs such as ADHD may require more input than others. Children that struggle with regulation may feel stressed by an environment where there are limited boundaries. They will struggle a little with the total freedom and this may result in behaviours that hurt or disturb others. This blog post explores this and is a good read for those that have a class of children that play seems to have 'not worked' for.
You don't need to know everything before you start. The children will teach you and as you explore play more as a mode of working, questions will arise. That is how our journey has gone, we leapt in and over time have come up against queries or conundrums that have led us to find out more.
You don't know what you don't know, but you won't know that you don't know until till you try!
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