the play of learning
June 3, 2014 § 6 Comments
On sunny days we are accounting for snow days, but the work of learning has passed. Grade books are closed and text books returned, while attendance requires a presence of mind and body. Eyes cast to the windows and minds quietly tolling the lingering minutes of each day I find classrooms returning to play for an opportunity to control the distractions of the day.
These are the sweet days between homework and summer; we internally exhale relief for an end to testing and standards while breathing in anticipation of summer’s promise. No longer bound by the rules of curriculum, there is an unofficial standard of play. Teachers are creating excuses to absorb time and wrestle attention from daydreams least the students fall into disorder.
While some bemoan lost days of academia, I am hoping our teachers think outside the limits of formal expectations and embrace lessons in play. Learning in the context of joy and curiosity without the weight of grading expressions of knowledge. Today I am wishing both my children and their teachers time to play at learning.
scribblechic 
One of the most educational things you can do is play..sadly our educational system had lost grasp on this in many ways (not the teachers fault, largely!). Some of the best teachers I had knew how to keep play alive in our learning time,… How rich it made that learning!
The most memorable lessons are threaded into our consciousness with creativity and community; they create questions and adventures in search of information. The most skilled teachers navigate these territories with a deceptively skilled whimsy.
Thank you so much for acknowledging those teachers who invite play into their classrooms.
This post brought back great memories of play from childhood years. Creativity and freedom are so important for learning. Here’s hoping you have a beautiful summer full of play!
Thank you, Caitlin! Wishing you much joy and success in your creative venture as you settle into your new space.
I am constantly reminded of how the school year seems like one far-too-long steady run toward a distant finish line. Day in, day out our young people are expected to come and push as hard as they can.
And the reward? A chance to come back the next day and do it all over again!
Taking a step back it just seems to make more sense to repeatedly stress ourselves hard for a short time and then “rest” a bit, waiting for nature’s anti-fragility to make stronger that which we just pushed.
For a school year that would mean more fits and starts rather than that extended, body and soul draining marathon.
But I digress, I suppose. That is unlikely.
Yes, that look-ahead to some time for unstructured life is a welcome sight for all–parents, students a teachers.
The end of summer has the same frenzied restlessness that marks the end of our school year. To me it seems far more logical to embrace a year-round curriculum with balanced, restorative breaks.