Re: [xmca] play and the imaginal

[Larry Purss <lpscholar2@gmail.com>]

Sue
I would agree that in other social arrangements there would be a different
relational pattern of 7 year olds guiding 3 year olds.
My question was more centrally asking about the "influence" of historicized
development and enculturation IF we arrange to have only  5 year olds
interact with each other.  I have observed many different groupings of 5
year olds at "centers" which is an institutionalized and "artifactual"
grouping which in Canada facilitates particular kinds of social relational
patterns where the 5 year olds "parallel" play.  This is often explained as
a developmental stage. However, if it is actually historicized development,
then possibly when 5 year olds [with other patterns of enculturation] are
put in a "centers" structure may actually [at 5 years old] interact in more
mutually shared patterns [without the assistance of 7 year old or adult
guidance]  My question is about how a group of 5 year olds [without
guidance] orient and co-ordinate their activities in similar ways when put
in a "centers" environment  [ie "parallel" play"]. An alternative
possibility is that after 5 years of being enculturated in particular
relational patterns of interaction these patterns are internalized and
therefore the activities at the "centers" is more co-ordinated [among the 5
year olds without guidance]
Sue, when I entered that play world I was wondering about ontological and
historical development and similarities and differences in how 5 year olds
orient to co-ordinating activities when left to there own devices.

Larry

On Wed, Oct 20, 2010 at 3:24 AM, Sue March <suemarch@netspace.net.au> wrote:

> 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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