Teaching and learning should be a joyful experience for both teachers and students. Understanding our works and using our minds and hands to build something gives us a sense of awareness and control. This is the chance I believe we should provide our students, to bring their ideas and visions to life. Most of the school year students are with their teachers more than they are with their parents. This is where real-life lessons begin without the presence of the parent(s). By helping students to enjoy learning, we can make learning without limits more successful and more hands-on. That’s why creating a classroom environment with diverse interest areas that offer rich play opportunities for students can be a great way to introduce learning through play.
I believe that a play-based classroom setting can help children to find the balance in socializing, making discoveries, and helping with language and literacy development. Some students can learn better through play without feeling pressured and have hands-on experience. They also can become more advanced in their social skills through play. In the article “Play-Based Learning: What It Is and Why It Should Be a Part of Every Classroom,”the writer talks about how teachers can inspire and promote a “play-based learning environment” in the classroom through play. The author explained, “Children learn best through first-hand experiences-play motivates, stimulates and supports children in their development of skills, concepts, language acquisition, communication skills, and concentration” (O’Leary, 2019).
Teachers help enhance play-based learning by creating environments in which rich play experiences are available. The act of being a teacher is recognizing the goals of education, understanding how learning works, and figuring out how to apply all this to each student, one at a time. Teaching children how to learn is a strong basis for every grade level.
An example of learning through play is at The Brooklyn New School, where I was placed for my fieldwork while pursuing my associate degree. From the time that I have been at my field placement, I’ve noticed how they involve students in making discoveries and how they are being challenged. Two of BNS’s beliefs are to “create lifelong learners” and to “cultivate curious minds.” The 3rd-grade classroom that I was placed, proved how the students practice independence and advance social and emotional skills. The students are not afraid to be challenged.
The school’s “themes” reflect the state and city curriculum guidelines. I was very excited to see how confident and excited students were about doing work in class. Their writing process starts with first collecting ideas, second drafting, then revising followed by editing then, finally, publishing. Everyone takes their time to think about their ideas and then make sure they jot them down.
Another example of the importance of a play-based learning curriculum is a study that was done in a prekindergarten classroom in a school in East Harlem, New York. A teacher by the name of Yvonne talked about how she implemented a change in her lesson plan just by observing students’ needs and interests when they first started school. Yvonne, who has been teaching for 25 years, designed her classroom for active and hands-on learning. She made sure that she created a schedule for every day to see what the children’s interests were for the day. Every day the students would get an hour to choose which activity they wanted to do. She has her classroom organized in different play areas. These areas were created to help the children become independent, socialize, build, and ask questions. Yvonne’s first lesson of the new school year starts with “change” to help the children through the process of being in a classroom for the first time (Walking alongside the learner: Curriculum in Yvonne’s Pre-K classroom, 2021). Yvonne says:
If people ask me what we are studying, I always say “change” because the children are new to the school…. At the beginning of the year, we talk about the things that are the same and different, and so right from the beginning, I am asking them to think about, observe, and notice.
It is obvious that children can learn through play with the help of educators. The students can benefit from a classroom that offers more hands-on learning and have a chance to explore and practice their social skills if the school district decides to bring change to the whole school system. Every child is different and unique and needs a chance to learn and express themselves in a way that would benefit them.
References:
Falk, B., (2018). High-quality early learning for a changing world: What educators need to know and do. Teachers College Press.
O’Leary, W. (2021, April 21). Play-Based Learning: What it is and why it should be a part of
every classroom. Edmentum Blog. Retrieved November 19, 2022, from https://blog.edmentum.com/play-based-learning-what-it-and-why-it-should-be-part-every-classroom
Walking alongside the learner: Curriculum in Yvonne’s Pre-K classroom. The High-Quality Early Learning Project. (2021, April 13). Retrieved October 29, 2022, from https://highqualityearlylearning.org/pre-k-videos/