I dream of school being a place where everyone is psyched to be. And I think we can get there. But for the sanity of our students and teachers, we have to reduce stress and promote care for the whole person; we have to re-humanize education.
At EduCon Philly, someone said that we need to change school culture to place more value on emotional education. I couldn’t agree more. We need to de-emphasize grades and placement and competition, and foster true curiosity and learning. We need to let our kids be kids -- to play, to be curious, to make mistakes, to learn from and with each other. (And yes, high school students are still kids.) We need to teach them healthy habits.
Global School Play Day was born out of the recognition of these needs and the awareness that unstructured play has incredible benefits. In his book Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life, Boston College psychology professor Peter Gray writes, “Free play is nature’s means of teaching children that they are not helpless. In play, away from adults, children really do have control and can practice asserting it. In free play, children learn to make their own decisions, solve their own problems, create and abide by rules, and get along with others as equals rather than as obedient or rebellious subordinates.”
When I started Wednesday’s class by asking my freshmen how many of them get to play on a regular basis, I got some confused looks. A few hands went up, and I asked those kids to share what that play time looked like for them. Most responses were about school sports, and a few were about playing video games. One boy mentioned playing drums, and one girl mentioned being goofy with her friends.
At EduCon Philly, someone said that we need to change school culture to place more value on emotional education. I couldn’t agree more. We need to de-emphasize grades and placement and competition, and foster true curiosity and learning. We need to let our kids be kids -- to play, to be curious, to make mistakes, to learn from and with each other. (And yes, high school students are still kids.) We need to teach them healthy habits.
Global School Play Day was born out of the recognition of these needs and the awareness that unstructured play has incredible benefits. In his book Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life, Boston College psychology professor Peter Gray writes, “Free play is nature’s means of teaching children that they are not helpless. In play, away from adults, children really do have control and can practice asserting it. In free play, children learn to make their own decisions, solve their own problems, create and abide by rules, and get along with others as equals rather than as obedient or rebellious subordinates.”
When I started Wednesday’s class by asking my freshmen how many of them get to play on a regular basis, I got some confused looks. A few hands went up, and I asked those kids to share what that play time looked like for them. Most responses were about school sports, and a few were about playing video games. One boy mentioned playing drums, and one girl mentioned being goofy with her friends.
We watched Gray’s TED Talk “The Decline of Play and the Rise of Mental Disorders” (how’s that for a compelling title?) and had some good conversation about the costs of growing up with constant stress and expectations imposed by adults and the educational system. Students agreed that “resume-building” starts young, and that even the activities of young kids are often focused on a future benefit; will this help my son/daughter get into a good college? According to Gray, even school sports (which I think are incredibly important) are not considered true free play because they are competitive and run by adults. One student said, “Wow, I hadn’t even realized that I don’t play anymore, but it’s so true.” Then we played. Without giving them an explanation, I had asked my students to bring in their favorite games. We had a huge pile to choose from -- Taboo, knee hockey, Spot It, Jenga, Battleship, Scategories… One student raised his hand and asked if there was a catch -- “are we going to have to write about this or something?” NO CATCH. Students spread out around the room, sat on the floor and engaged with each other. Students who don’t usually talk were sitting on opposite sides of the Connect Four board, talking and laughing. In one of my favorite moments, what started as a small game of Taboo ended up bringing in our full class for the last few rounds, everyone huddled together, cheering each other on. It was loud, and it was so much fun. It was humanizing. | |
The best part: it happened naturally. Kids were so nice to each other. So relaxed. I take pride in the sense of community my students and I have created in each class (I know my students well), but I still saw new sides to some of my students. Many students told me that they continued our conversations on play with their friends and family. One student told me how she “ranted” to her older brother when she got home -- “Yes! We need to play more!” I received a lovely email from the parent of one of my students who said their dinner conversation that night revolved around the importance of play and how there are more important things in life than being in all honors and AP classes. (Preach!) Of course, students asked if we could have another day of play. While it’s unfortunately not something that a teacher can do regularly, I’ve been thinking about how I can incorporate it. Why not have a room open during lunch or study halls with games? Why not give students less homework and have more conversations about the importance of simply playing? |
When we lose play, we really lose so much more. Let’s not do that.