The Play's the Thing: Teachers’ Roles in Children's Play PDF

## The Play's the Thing: Teachers’ Roles in Children's Play **18** They are practicing communication with peers: Will you play with me, and can we agree on what we're playing? They are also practicing communication with an adult as a way of asserting themselves and getting their play needs met: Ca...

## The Play's the Thing: Teachers’ Roles in Children's Play **18** They are practicing communication with peers: Will you play with me, and can we agree on what we're playing? They are also practicing communication with an adult as a way of asserting themselves and getting their play needs met: Can we improvise with materials, and do you value our play enough to let us continue it tomorrow? They are exercising developmentally appropriate behavior: *initiative*. The developmental stage of initiative precedes the stage of industry (see Table 1.1, Erikson stages), in which primary-age children face the challenge of becoming competent at tasks whose rules are made by adults. The child can cope effectively when she has already experienced making up her own rules, creating her own meanings, and discovering who she is and what she knows and cares about. Self-esteem and self-concept are the outcomes of preschool play. Play enables the child to create herself as an intentional human being, unique among all human beings. ### BUT WHAT DO I DO WHILE THEY'RE PLAYING? Many adults who teach young children say they feel at a loss when children are “only playing.” Some use free-choice time as a welcome opportunity to chat with other adults or to grab a cup of coffee or to prepare the next teacher-directed lesson. Others are vigilant for children’s safety and quick to intervene if anything worries them, but pay little attention to the content of the play and its educational significance for children. ### Teacher as Observer This book is about paying attention to play. It focuses on the importance of play for young children ages 3 to 5 and on the skills a teacher of young children needs to support play. We emphasize that the most fundamental skill is observation, in which teachers of young children ask themselves some of these questions: What is happening for this child in this play? What is his agenda? Does he have the skills and materials he needs to accomplish his intent? To answer these questions, adults need to practice taking the child’s perspective, and careful observation of children at play enables one to do just that. Observing, the teacher can try to name the play as the child might name it. Becky, a child who typically watches or wanders rather than playing, and who hasn’t left behind anything to be put away, ignores the announcement of cleanup time. After clean-up, she knows, it will be time to sit on the rug with books, so