CEP 818: What's the Big Idea? Module 7

"A day without sunshine is like, you know, night." — Steve Martin
And much in the same regard, a day without play is like, you know, work.
One of the greatest challenges we have as educators is to teach our students using methods so that they are actively engaged and having fun so they forget they are at work. Aside from the overall enjoyment this brings, Jean Piaget suggested, "it strengthens various mental skills (249)."
One of my favorite moments in teaching is when a student exclaims, "Oh my gosh! This class is almost over ALREADY?!" I jokingly reply, "Time flies when you're having fun eh?" And (usually) they agreee. :)
Throughout each class I teach, I do my best to incorporate some form of play. Sometimes my high school students find this "silly" but they mostly love it. In Sewing and Interior Desing, we do a lot of practice play. It's crucial for students to apply the new skill or concept they've learned and to experience it. Over the past few years, I've discovered that the best way to accomplish our course objectives yet foster creativity is to give them guidelines with a rubric, but to keep the guidelines somewhat broad. This requires them to apply their skills but also to think outside of the box while doing so. By giving requirements but going easy on the limitations, the students have explored different realms that I would never have thought of and the results are sometimes astounding.
As for symbolic play, the students create analogies and models in Independent Living to represent various financial concepts such as credit, budgeting, etc. The most comprehensive way they practice sybolic play occurs when they create a "make believe" world in which they obtain a job, purchase a home, and manage an adult life in the game On Your Own: Coast to Coast. Additionally, these students also experience game play because the program "teaches the making of rules within externally bounded situations (249.)"
In my own personal life, I experience play whether I'm creating a new lesson plan (arranging it to suit the needs of all students, coming up with activities and the manner in which to prsent it) or simply sewing, taking photographs, cooking, etc. One thing I've learn from this chapter (and really from the entire Sparks book) is to be more vigilant during my own personal "play" endeavors. I sometimes forget that when I'm doing the things I love, a fantastic potential for a creative project is right under my nose.