My Connections to Play

As I thought about this week’s blog, I spoke to my mom. I had different toys I liked at different times so I needed to narrow down my list to when I was four or five. Once I spoke to my mom, I confirmed what I had thought and that is the toys I enjoyed at the age of four and five were my Cabbage Patch dolls and my Smurfs. My sister was 2 at the time and I enjoyed ‘playing house’ with her as well. A quote I found in an article I read by Rollins (2012) that comes to mind in reference to my play as a child, was one by Maria Montessori that states, “play is a child’s work.” Although I cannot recall the author or the whole poem right now, there is something I read once that discusses what takes place in the different learning areas in the room and how when a child says he played all day, he truly was in his mindset working and learning.

When I think about play now versus play when I was younger, I realize how much has changed. Today children are on computers, playing video games, or watching television. I have often heard people make reference to these things as babysitters for children instead of parents interacting with their children. When I was a child my television time was limited and I did not have a computer in my home until later. My sister and I played in our play room or outside in the yard as did the friends we had. The adults in my life would perform one of two tasks during play, participate along with me or watch. This tells me that my play was self-initiated and I directed the play experience (Berger, 2009). I would like to hope that in collaboration with the parents of the children I teach that my students would go back to play and spend less time with technologies. I would also like to hope that my classroom is child-centered and play is the most important element in my classroom. There are too many skills developed through play to go without play experiences. Children develop problem solving skills, fine motor and gross motor skills, social skills, and emotional skills just to name some (Almon, 2002). This summary of play leads me to the second quote among a list of quotes on play I found (Jeanneweier, 2012), it states “play is the beginning of knowledge (Dorsey, 2012).”

As I reflect on my own play experiences as a child and what I have come to the unfortunate realization of play today, my hope is to help advocate for more play opportunities both in the classroom and at home. The quotes that I used here represent what play should be now as much as it represents play for now.

Almon, K. (2002). The vital role of play in early childhood education. Gateways, 43. Retrieved from http://www.waldorflibrary.org/Journal_Articles/GW43almon.pdf

Berger, K. S. (2009). The developing person through childhood (5th ed.). New York

Publishers.

Jeanneweier (2012). 25 quotes about the importance of play. Retrieved from

http://move-with-me.com/blog/25-quotes-about-the-importance-of-play

Rollins, S. (2012). Theories About Play in Early Childhood Education | eHow.com retrieved from http://www.ehow.com/about_5444159_theories-play-early-childhood-education.html#ixzz211FMFNFR

Relationship Reflection

As I read the resources for this week and thought about this blog assignment, I had to stop and recall my own childhood as well as relationships I have in my life currently. I am still amazed at how revealing true reflection can be and how much more effective I am in my professional and personal life when I take time to reflect.

When I thought about the relationships I have, I could not help but thinking about relationships I have had in the past. While relationships today are reflective of the here and now, I believe relationships from the past can have an impact on the person we are today. There were quite a few people who were friends at the time that I would not even know now. On the other hand, I have people I was friends with in high school and youth group as a teen and young adult that I keep in contact with through facebook. In addition, what I found as I reflected is I had teachers I loved and hated to leave as well as teachers I had that I was not sure if I would survive their course. The teachers I loved were the ones who took the time to get to know me, not just as a student but personally. This was especially important when I was a junior in high school and lost my grandfather. A couple of my teachers were more concerned with my make up work than with how I was managing. While the ones I often think of still today were concerned about me and how I was coping with the loss. Prior to that I remember my fourth grade teacher who was used to teaching sixth grade and taught us on such a level, he often made me feel defeated with the work I could not seem to accurately complete; work given to fourth graders on a sixth grade level was not appropriate. These interactions are important reflections for me today as an educator. I want to be a teacher my students and their families remember for not only teaching their children but for taking the time to get to know the child as an individual person (likes, dislikes, family dynamic). I want my students to know that yes I am their teacher, they are with me to follow directions and learn new things, but what they did over the weekend or on a vacation interests me because it is important to them.

This brings me to my current relationships. My family has and always will have an important role in my life. They have helped make me who I am. They are there to offer guidance, support, advice, love, and care no matter what. Growing up my parents provided my needs and told me what to do, now they are in more of a supportive role since I am grown and no longer living at home. My sister and I growing up would often fight and argue, now we talk and spend time hanging out. One of my cousins is actually one of my best friends and her daughter will grow up to call me 'aunt.' Each member of my family in one way or another has had an impact on my life, some more positive than others.

After my family, would be the relationships with my co-workers. To have a positive working environment the relationships one has with his/her co-workers needs to be positive. What I have found with previous co-workers is that even if you do not care for the person, if you can be cordial the environment is more positive and conducive to learning. Additionally, I do have previous co-workers that I am still friends with, although not close we do keep in touch with each other. Presently, I have a couple of co-workers that I have closely bonded with and we share life happenings. This is important for me because sometimes there are things that happen at home that I do not always want to share with my family, but need someone to 'vent to' about it and those I am connected to at work have become friends to me because of it.

Finally, I would have to say my relationship with my boyfriend is one of importance in my life. We began as a long distance relationship for the first 3 months prior to my moving to NJ, then we hung out and spent actual time together for 8 months, then due to finances on both parts became roommates in addition to being a couple. Living with someone else is not easy. I have left and come back once. There are times when we do not agree, see eye to eye, have the same interests or desires, and sometimes fight. I have learned, and am still learning a lot about myself through this relationship. I am learning how to compromise on some issues, stand my ground on others, all the while sticking to who I am. This relationship is truly teaching me how to fight for those things that are important.

Relationships are important for all of us and different relationships have different impacts and meanings depending on the person. As educators, we need to understand that just as the students we teach are different so are their relationships and how they form them with others.