Sunday, March 8, 2009

I want TOYS!!!

This weeks readings have really hit close to home for me. I have been working with younger kids ever since I was 12 years old when I started to babysit for my neighbor’s three young boys. In the last ten years, I have also worked as a t-ball coach for four, five, six, and seven year olds, as a camp councilor for kids in elementary school, a park supervisor, and most recently I have been employed as a nanny for three kids (ages five, six, and eight). At one point during my undergraduate experience, I had considered getting my teaching license in either elementary or early childhood education. Now that I have made up my mind to teach adolescents and teens, sometime I wonder how much “kid culture” can really help enhance my lessons.

In chapter 15, White and Walker discuss the importance of play in the classroom. During my foundations of education classes, we spend a lot of time learning about why it is important to let students use play to solve problems. “Toys of value enhance children’s own ideas. They help the child to engage in imaginative, meaningful play by allowing them to solve the problem” (144). As a nanny, I see this happening all of the time when they are playing amongst each other. While these kids are fortunate enough to have several toys, the most loved toy in their house would have to be the play kitchen that they have set up in the basement. Often, the kids will pretend to have their own restaurant and take their jobs very seriously. On longer days, I will take the kids to the Minnesota Children’s Museum, and while we are there, I get the opportunity to observe hundreds of kids using the toys provided by the museum to solve certain, task-related problems. In one room of the museum, the area is set up like an assembly line where blocks are moved from upstairs, to the lower level, and then moved to the “shipping truck”. As soon as the children would enter the room, in no time, they were dressed in the worker uniforms, hard hats, and begin working with one another to complete their task. I am always amazed by how quickly a couple dozen elementary aged students can come together are work with great teamwork. Also, within the museum, there is an area named "Our World". This space is set up to replicate a small town including a Chinese restaurant, a city bus, doctors office, recording studio, grocery story, etc. Here, kids are able to dress up and become little grown-ups. In the restaurant, the kids take the time to happily clean up from their "cooking" (something that they would never actually do at home). This place allows for children to practice adult roles, and by watching them, you can see how they view society and different hierarchies.

“These toys channel children into imitative play, robbing them of their own imagination, problem solving, and creativity” (146).

“Starting at birth, relatives and friends give children toys or objects to express love” (146). I feel like this is a big issue in the United States culture. Toys are loosing their purpose. I remember the days when my mom would give me the empty oatmeal container and washed out milk cartons and I would use them in a ways to help my "customers" finally get breakfast (after months of only having plastic hamburgers to offer them). What makes me almost sick is how much money parents will spend on the popular toys, instead of figuring out which new gift would have a more enduring meaning to their child. Over the holiday season, the popular television show The Office ran an episode that dealt with parents over paying for the holiday's most wanted toy, "Unicorn Princess". Unicorn Princess is what Tickle Me Elmo and Furby were like to us 90's children. These were toys that we just HAD to have, but in the long run, we just ended up donating them to Goodwill after about a year.

One thing that has left me questioning these chapters is how relevant can this be for the middle and high school classrooms? There isn't much time allowed in the older classrooms for play time, and this can most obviously be seen from the lack of playgrounds at middle and high schools. Maybe using games and the cartoons from kid culture is enough? I do realize how important it is to use kid culture to enable our students to have the tools to critique popular culture and take more charge of their social education.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

I share your concern re middle and high school students. Perhaps the conventional "toys" are more for a younger age but items such as blocks could be used in high school for geometry. I am sure there are other examples. Maybe the age question makes it even more important for the younger kids to explore through play to put them on a different learning trajectory than those who don't play.

Anonymous said...

I've seen chess used in upper elementary and high school. Just last week, a junior level math class had extra time. Some of the students asked, "Do you want to play chess?" "Sure," and off they went to ask if they could get a board. Same district and different school, a sixth grade chess tournament bracket system was posted. (I've seen it done in another school as well.) Think of all the problem solving and critical thinking going into those chess games! There are appropriate "toys" for older kids. Giving them the opportunity to play them is the challenge.

Rebecca Oberg said...

Hey Kate,

First off, kudos on the use of The Office to further your point. That is a great episode--"My horn can pierce the sky!" In any case, that example really cemented your argument for me. I agree--what is the role of "fad" toys when imaginative play and exploration should be the focus of childhood. The MN Children's Museum sounds fantastic, with the costumes and the opportunities for role-play. I would think that this would translate to adolescents for sure, and there are lots of great ideas out there for incorporating role play, drama, acting, etc. into the English classroom. Even teens like to dress up and act goofy... Very thoughtful blog this week!

See you later,
Rebecca

libgyrl said...

I can second KAM's comment on chess, in a way. My 12-year old mentee loves chess and other games of strategy. We were at the MIA and used a mankala set they had. It was great simple, then complex, fun, that really seemed to open both our minds (with out us noticing!) before we tackled the rest of the exhibits.

Emilia said...

Great blog, Kate! I think if the purpose of playtime, at least in your experiences with kids, is to let them "play grown-ups," then there must be a way we can provide adolescents the opportunity to do the same. A really lame example is that perennial health class assignment to take care of the "baby" (either an egg or a robot doll) to practice parenting.

However, (and I hate to bring up UbD at a time like this) some of the best assessments we can give to kids at school are the "real-life" projects. In math class, this might mean teaching surface area and volume by having kids invent a project and design its packaging. For us English teachers, it might involve having them write children's books.