play

Debra Goodman (73113.440 who-is-at compuserve.com)
13 Feb 96 00:58:56 EST

Conference go-ers- Have you been watching the temperatures here in the midwest?
Dress Warm and hope for a thaw.
After I wrote the note about play, I got sick for a few days- so I was a bit
overwhelmed by all the responses. Thanks for all the suggestions and sources.
I guess I'm going to have to sign-on xmca- but two lists are keeping me quite
busy already.
Chuck's comment on rules was interesting because one of the things that Vivian
Paley does in "Bad Guys Don't Have Birthdays" is to figure out how four year
olds make rules and what the rules are that they use for playing. The title is
one example. In the stories she tells, the rules are used in order to influence
the direction of play, establish social roles and relationships, etc.
This seems to connect with thinking about (at least one aspect of) learning as
"making sense of the world" and how kids construct "rules" for language systems,
social structures, the physical world, etc. Vygotsky says "What passes
unnoticed by the child in real life is a rule of behavior in play." He gives an
example of two sisters who play "sisters". In this example, play allows these
children to explore and understand the rules that are already a part of their
lives. (Play as developing metacognitive abilities?)
Play, roleplay, simulation and other experience might provide opportunities to
construct, try on, stretch, bend, and test rules out. And, while kids do take
play seriously- they can always call "time out" if things start getting out of
hand. I find that observing kids when they play can provide a glimpse (as in
Paley's work) of how kids construct the world- as opposed to what we think we're
teaching them.
And speaking of Paley, I agree that she is certainly "an academic". I see her
as a trailblazer for teacher/researchers who write about their work. I think
her book "Kwanzaa and Me" is a master piece of academic research- including a
description of thesis, methodology, careful anecdotal research, reflexivity,
observations "triangulated" by interviews and consultations with other
researchers and all wrapped up in a book that reads like a novel.
I don't think we should HAVE to choose one definition of an academic. But If I
had to pick:
a) university professor with little or no classroom experience (meaning 6 hrs a
day)
b) doctoral students with no classroom experience who have deconstructed so many
pieces of writing that they conclude that classroom teaching is essentially
impossible
c) a veteran kindergarten teacher
... I'll pick the kindergarten teacher any day.
In case you don't know me by now, the proceding was a joke- and not intended to
insult or degrade professors or any other "academics".
Debi Goodman