Re: [xmca] play and the imaginal

[Sue March <suemarch@netspace.net.au>]

Or was it because 5 year olds were playing with 5 year olds, and not as part
of a multi-age community, with 7 year olds taking the lead and 3 year olds
needing to be brought into the fold?
Sue


On 20/10/10 4:46 PM, "Larry Purss" <lpscholar2@gmail.com> wrote:

> I want to think out loud about play in school settings.
> 
> In September, when 5 year olds arrive at school, they are introduced in
> Kindergarten to "centers" the spaces in Kindergarten classes where the
> children go to play.  The other day I sat down with 4 boys at the "playdough
> center"  Each child sat around the table with their own individual
> playdough. They were inteent on their individual projects but were involved
> in "parallel" play.
> Now with my "vygotskian eyes" I reflected on my position as an adult who was
> in a position to "lead" this activity and CO-ORDINATE the activity.  However
> I also was sensitive that I wanted the "agency" of the children to be
> EXPRESSED.
> The following steps were taken.
> I noticed one boy was making cookies while the others were doing their own
> thing.  I asked the boy what he was making. He replied "cookies"  [a social
> representation from another activity system] I then asked how many cookies
> he was making. "Three" he answered.  I responded, but there are five of us
> at the table [I was acting AS IF he was including all of us] He poceeded to
> make 2 more. Then I asked if he was going to share the cookies?  He replied
> they needed to go in the oven first and brought them over to a book shelf. I
> made the noise "tick, tick, tick" like a timer and one of the other boys
> said "Ding" like the chime of the oven going off.  We all laughed and the
> other boys were slowly orienting and CO-ORDINATING with my and the boys
> activity.  Then the boy who was making a person from playdough took his
> person over to the "oven" and one of the other boys said "Oh, a gingerbread
> man" Then I heard all 4 boys go "tick, tick, tick" for a long time before
> someone said "ding" and we all laughed.  Soon all 4 boys were making cookies
> with each one taking the lead and shifting the flow of activity BUT now the
> activity was co-ordinated.  When it was time to "share" the cookies I
> insisted on proper manners [we waited till we all had a cookie before we ate
> etc] This activity became more and more animated and definately the level of
> language and interactivity was being scaffolded.
> 
> Now for my question or musing.
> Was the "individual" parallel play of these students a historically situated
> form of activity because since birth, we in this culture share a notion of
> "individual" play and the encapsulated self is implied in all our activity
> OR is this form of "autistic like" play more of a universal phenomena and a
> "stage" or layer which all children pass through. My question is going back
> to the tension between socio-relational and socio-cultural analysis.
> This simple activity I participated in [and as the adult took a leading
> position] as I intentionally co-ordinated a shared activity I was creating
> will lead development and social-relational activity in a certain
> direction.  It is my version of "right-relation"
> Creating classroom "dramas" is another form of imaginal co-ordination and if
> done systematically over time will lead to a different kind of person.
> Having play centers where the children work out their relationships among
> peers [and the dominant child takes the lead] is another form of
> developmental social relations.
> 
> I am curious if the way the 5 year olds were interacting BEFORE I sat down
> with them [which seems so self-contained within their own individual space]
> is a very specific historically formed pattern of "play activity" or is the
> lack of co-ordination similar across multiple cultural settings when 5 year
> olds play without adult supervision?
> 
> Larry
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