This is a beginning of a conversation…about the Arts and their relationship to and impact on cognition, affect, bodies, teaching, creativity, play and learning…the Brain on Art! The mind and body are not separate entities. They are one and the same – part of our biology – each informing the other to develop one individual.
This conversation is inspired by teachers (at Kathy’s wedding shower!)
- who love children
- who have their best interest at heart
- and who know something is not quite right…
My goal is to start this blog so we can share these ideas together. As teachers and artists, dancers, actors, musicians and parents, you are such a resource of ideas and caring for the well-being of children. We need to share the wisdom of excellent teachers (Yes, YOU) can help support and direct our actions. I am always so inspired by your conversation, your concerns, your theories and ideas about children as learners. This process will only be hampered by my learning curve around blogging and the issue related to learning something new at 60!! I will keep you all posted. In the meantime, enjoy the articles and go out and play!!
13 comments:
Great blog mom!
The two articles ‘The Japanese Frog boy and The American Monkey,’ and ‘The Serious Need for Play.‘ The first one I read was ‘The Serious Need for Play’ and the opening statistic is quite possibly the most shocking statistic I’ve ever read. Wenner’s article left me asking the question again that if experts are saying that play is important a compliment to work and critical to development as a whole person, why are American schools limiting or eliminating recess and free time? I don’t understand how schools can expect children to sit in classrooms and be attentive the entire time. It is an aggravating idea to cut recess out of the school day, no one can learn or work all the time. Instead of eliminating recess schools should integrate play with learning, that way the children are learning and playing, by using a visual application rather than abstract ideas on the board. The children in Japan seem to be performing well both academically and physically, as the article ‘The Japanese Frog boy and the American Monkey’ exhibits, Japanese children are given the opportunity to attempt physical feats that the children think possible without having an adult stop them. At an early age the children are given the option and encouraged to try the ‘impossible’ and if they fail they can get up and try it again. As the author’s daughter did with the high bar. The teachers don’t watch them so closely that the children think that they don’t need to watch themselves. Children are allowed to do things that as Americans we think impossible and they can do things like ride a unicycle with ease. Conquering these feats instills confidence and teaching problem solving techniques within these children that they must be applying to their academic life as well. I reacted to both of these articles in different ways, one made me happy to see that children get to play and try new things and the other frustrated me, knowing that American is reducing play time for children. I would like to see a Japanese style school system set up in America as a test to the effects of play time in comparison to test scores.
Tania Cook
Th 4-645
I found the Melinda Wenner article to be fascinating in the way it stressed how early-childhood “free play” has been shown to enhance general problem-solving skills. You had mentioned in class that there is a window early in development for learning new languages. To miss this opportunity to exercise certain muscles and vocal mechanisms often proves detrimental to the process later in life. This seems similar to the way certain parts of the brain can be activated and further developed through free play and imagination heavy activities. Also, the fact that children develop their vocabularies more readily in peer discussion was shocking to me. I presumed that children learned more from interactions with adults, completely overlooking the level of flexibility and ease of understanding adults exhibit, as opposed to a child’s need to understand in a more literal fashion.
As much as the Wenner article had swayed me towards allowing children more free time to develop, the Daniel Walsh article completely caught me off guard. He certainly gives merit to the Japanese system for early-childhood education, but viewing his findings through my own ingrained American belief system, it seems quite radical. Getting back to what I had mentioned earlier about developing certain parts of the brain at an early age, the Japanese system certainly works on social and physical development, but it also works to remove an element of fear and build inhuman confidence (by American standards at least). Their method allows the children to keep themselves in check and take on challenges based on their own desire, rather than being pressured or watched by adults. This all seems great in theory, but I couldn’t imagine just sitting idly by while a 3-year old child wobbles up a 10-meter pole. I would feel obliged to jump in and prevent calamity, working counter to their established norm. The Japanese developmental system is certainly revolutionary and some of their methods seem like they would be worth integrating into our own childcare system, but I just couldn’t imagine any competent American childcare professional turning a blind eye to what we would view as extremely dangerous behavior.
Scientific American – I have always been a proponent of play, for kids and adults alike, because it allows for the release of energy and time “away” from the realities and stresses of day-to-day life. However, I never knew that the importance of play and its connection to social, emotional, and cognitive development was backed by scientific research. In addition, I did not realize that there was a difference between games and play, and that the freedom from rules that play allows is of significant developmental importance. I do not have any children, but do have cousins with children ranging from one year to six years. When we get together as a family, the children are engaged in quiet, stationary games and books. The loud, rambunctious play that children most enjoy is not encouraged. However, I now understand that by impeding on the children’s horseplay and fantasy games, we are depriving them of important developmental opportunities. For example, one form of play that is always popular among the kids is pretending to be animals. The children love to crawl around on the floor imitating dogs, cats, monkeys, or any other animal. The adults usually tolerate this for about five minutes. Much longer than that, though, and you hear the typical response of “That’s enough. You’re not animals, you’re children. Get off the floor. It’s dirty.” Aren’t the children dirty by the end of the day anyway? As adults, we are too intolerant of and impatient with children’s play. We need to understand that play is not about us; it's about them. Play is an important piece of social, emotional, and cognitive development. The less tolerant we are of play when children are young, the more problems they may have as they grow older. We need to ask ourselves the next time we are about to interfere with a child’s play, “Is this play really causing enough of a disruption that it is worth putting an end to it”?
Frog Boy and the American Monkey - I was astonished by the freedom that young Japanese children are given and the impact this has on later social behavior. It makes me wonder why American society has embraced the idea of adult as protector. We are so overly concerned about our kids getting hurt, that we are actually hurting them in the process. One scenario in the article that proved to me that Japan’s belief in childhood play is beneficial for social development is the class trip to the zoo. In an American school, there are always numerous chaperones on class trips because it is assumed that the children will misbehave and need to be diligently watched. However, in the Japanese class trip, there was one teacher for about 30 students, and the teacher trusted the students to act sensibly. In addition, the Japanese students watched out for each other. If you were to try this on a class trip in the USA, it would be chaos, probably because students expect adult supervision and control. When it is absent, students get out of hand because they do not know how to behave with this newfound freedom. You can see this in college students. Young adults are thrown into a world where they are required to supervise themselves. Having never had this responsibility as children, many college students make poor decisions. Adults are aggravated by the lack of control students exhibit. But aren’t the adults the ones who have taught children to act in this way? By always watching over our children and making sure that they do not take a wrong step, we are teaching them how to not be socially responsible for themselves and others. Without this responsibility, they do not have the opportunity to properly develop their social, physical, and cognitive abilities. We do not trust our children to play on a jungle gym or climb a tree without an adult reminding them to be careful. We do not think our children are capable of behaving properly on a class trip. But maybe if we gave our children the chance to be independent and look out for themselves and others at a young age, they would develop into more socially responsible teenagers and adults.
Have you ever heard of the “Kickball Clique?” I have. In fact, back in 1996 I, Chad Kline, was an OFFICIAL member of Ironton Elementary's recess elite. Every day I was perched at my desk waiting for the glorious moment when recess would begin.
My time with the “Kickball Clique” was my opportunity to release the energy from sitting in a classroom and to socialize with my friends on my own terms. Today's elementary school students aren't always so lucky. In recent years, many elementary schools across the country are eliminating or shortening recess time in favor of standardized testing preparation.
According to The Seattle Times “roughly 40% of U.S. school districts have either eliminated recess or are considering eliminating it”. While many kids play after school sports, consider the kids who go home and watch television. Or play Wii. Recess is the only time these children get physical activity each day! And with an increasing amount of single-parent and dual-income households comes an increasing amount of children home alone after school with television as their babysitter.
Brenda Haas of Bethlehem has a son attending Moravian Academy. According to Ms. Haas, her son got thirty minutes of recess daily while attending the Lower School and now gets a fifteen minute “break” (where students can go outside and hang out) while in the Middle School. Mari Leo, a mother of a twelve year old daughter at Orefield Middle School in the Parkland School District (Allentown, Pa.) says her child gets no recess-type break. Are the typically wealthier children, who are getting more breaks at their private schools, getting into better colleges and universities than those attending public schools? A study reported by The Dallas News thinks so. The study says, “children attending schools that offer little recess time are more likely to be African-American, from low-income and low-education families, to live in large cities, and to attend public schools, compared with those who received more recess”.
On the flip side, many schools are eliminating recess due to liability issues, higher teacher accountability and international competition.
The Seattle Times reports schools across the nation are banning once-typical recess activities to avoid liability lawsuits filed by parents. Portland schools removed standard playground equipment from their school yards, such as slides, merry-go-rounds and swings in fear of students getting hurt.
Retired guidance counselor from the Reading School District, Audrey Haggarty, suggests the elimination of recess is based on the increased teacher accountability caused by No Child Left Behind.
Recess is also being eliminated due to international competition, says the Assistant Dean of the School of Education at DePaul University, Charles Doyle. “It all began with the 'Nation at Risk' report in 1983”. This report gave United States schoolchildren a failing report card and, in turn, wanted standardized testing administered nationwide to improve our education standing internationally.
So now you've heard of the “Kickball Clique”. My membership proved an invaluable opportunity to construct my own classroom and exercise cognitive skills, such as conflict resolution, decision-making and negotiations through the game of kickball. Recess was also time well-spent exercising and taking a break from the daily grind. While it's understandable teachers are feeling pressured to produce excellent scores for high-stake tests, educators must not increase social inequities by taking away valued recreational time from students in low-income settings to increase these test scores while the high-income receive longer recess time and higher test scores.
The two articles in the blog were very interesting to read. The first one, "The Japanese Frog boy and The American Monkey" was very interesting. It talked about how Japanese children have many freedoms. It shows that by letting the children perform such physical activities, it could help them academically and end up being very beneficial to them. Another thing that I found interesting in the article was when it talked about the field trip. The Japanese students went on a field trip, but there was only one teacher. One teacher for all 30 students seems very odd in America, because it would never happen. But in Japan it is different; the teacher trusted all the students and knew that they weren't going to run off. The second article, "The Serious Need for Play" was also interesting. I think that is terrible that some schools are getting rid of the recess all together or limiting the time of recess. It is the only time in the children’s day where they can do any activity they wish to do, it gives them a break. I think that schools shouldn't get rid of this because it too can be beneficial to the students academically. Students shouldn't be given all the freedom that the Japanese students have, but they should be given some freedoms like recess.
The article 'Serious Need for Play' really amazed me how Brown brought to attention that a lot of the convicts he had interviewed had either an abusive childhood or never played. I never knew playing had that much of an impact on children growing up. Brown said after his 6,000 studies with different people a childhood with little or no free play do not turn out to have a happy life. According to 'Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine' parents are so set on getting their children into college that they are taking away valuable playing time. Kids need an imagination to grow and be successful. According to studies that supported Brown, said that children will grow up anxious, unhappy, and they will not be able to cope with stress as well. Dr. Pelligrini said that games that have prior rules which is fine, but play the children get to make their own rules and get to decide for themselves how they want to play. So many studies see that play is key for brain development. In 2003 scientists reported that play fighting releases brain derived neurotrophic's. This is the growth of new neurons. In the article 'Frog Boy and American Monkey' explains just how much different we are to Japan and how we see playing. Early childhood educators in Japan feel that if the body is balanced by play and activity that the brain will be stimulated to learn. Our schools in America are doing just the opposite. We are trying to cut our play and add more classroom time. For our children this is very scary. The fact that recess in schools are getting shorter or even taken away is terrible. A first grader needs their time to go out and be imaginative and able to have fun. In the classroom they can not do that. Our kids need to be imaginative and sitting in a classroom full of rules is taking that away. This is why play time is so important. If schools are so set on dismissing recess then at least put learning and playing together. I would not want my 7 year old child sitting in a classroom all day. For one I know it would be hard because they are so young and are used to play. It could also affect their learning because their brain is not stimulated.
Samantha Lamberti
Thursday 4-645
Child Development students -- make sure you check the RUBRIC to see how I will evaluate your insightful comments. Dr. P
I enjoyed reading the article ‘Free Play ’, I do strongly believe there is a link to adult anxiety and stress and other social, developmental problems as a result of not having any type of free play as a child. Being in a structured environment without any free play or exploration in the world around you can lead to many developmental problems like discussed in this article. Free play helps development of problem solving skills, Social and emotional reactions can be mimicked through role play this is a very important development for a child to embrace and elaborate this will carry through into adulthood. I was not always a believer in free play. I enrolled my son in a pre-school where this was part of the curriculum. My son was able to learn through play socially and academically. Using his imagination and creating different role play situation enabled him to have a different understanding for the world around him. When he entered kindergarten he was developmentally ready, the ridged and structured environment he was not ready for. Children need to have free played without rules so exceptions of course for safety. This article should be read by parents and educators to see the benefits of free play as well as the disadvantages when there is no free play in a child’s life.
I agreed with everything that Melinda Wenner had said about the need for children to play and be creative. Children need to be left to be children, that is what they are a child. Child's play is considered any very simple task. Therefore we should allow our children to focus on the simple things in life. Speaking from experience of being a mother I personally don't want to rush my children to grow up too fast. They need to be left to decide on what decisions they would like to make and when they make those decisions they will in turn realize the ramifications of whether their decision was right or wrong. We need to allow our children to make mistakes and give them time to correct them. I'm guilty in not letting my children out to play unsupervised. I'm not really afraid for them to get a scraped knee or a broken arm however I do fear my children being abducted. Unfortunately that is the world we live in and some of the fears we as parents have to deal with in this day in age. I remember when I used to go out for bike rides, build forts, play house, swing on vines until it got dark out. I never felt stressed about things until I had to take care of my new baby brother at the age of ten and started to work at the age of thirteen to help my family survive. I don't regret taking care of my family however I know I missed out on a lot of playtime and social time as a child. Therefore I don't want my children to miss out on any of their innocence of just being a kid. I don't want my kids to be stressed about anything until they really need to be. Don't get me wrong I absolutely emphasize the importance in doing well in school however I want them to be happy too. They have a few chores to do around the house for allowance but hey if they don't do it they don't get paid. I leave the decision up to them. We all know as we become adults we have a lot to take care of and accumulate a lot of stress. So why should we portray our bad habits onto all our precious children. Let them be children. As for the "Frog Boy and the American Monkey,..." article by Daniel J. Walsh, I was pleasantly surprised that thirty Japanese students could go on a field trip with only one chaparone. I know that could never ever happen here in the United States because we are too worried about the infamous law suit and not having the right ratio per number of kids. I think we should embrace some of the Japanese philosophies. I don't see the problem in letting our children be themselves. I know as educators when we see a child that is being too pushy in a group activity and not allowing the other students to be involved our first instinct is to tell them that they are not acting properly. We as a society always want to keep that watchful eye over our students and children but we have to let them do their own thing and give them room to see that their own actions can have certain ramifications therefore we should try to give our children more trust and faith that they will in fact do the right thing. Listen to your children/students and be there to guide them, model good behavior istead of telling them how they should do things. Especially let them know it is o.k. to make mistakes and find humor in it.
As a new young mother I am very aware of the pressures and expectations on parents today. I am bombarded with advice and books and TV advertisements all explaining what is best for my child. You are judged by family members, friends, teachers and the woman standing in the grocery line. I think that today’s parents are less confident in themselves and that anxiety can affect the child’s growth by creating unstable environments. I personality feel that children today are overly sheltered, they are slathered in antibacterial, spoiled rotten and literally put on leashes. A recent Texas university study found that 40%-60% of parents were guilty of overly parenting or “helicoptoring” to a degree which could affect a child’s emotional development. But then again if you have a child or have cared for one you probably have had one of those terrifying moments where you ask yourself “ Am I doing what’s best for my child?” At the avoidance of feeling inept or unfit many parents are wearing themselves ragged and emptying there bank accounts. Jean M. Twegnge, Ph.D., Author of The Narcissism Epidemic wrote “ Research shows that kids who’ve been over parented have an inflated sense of self. They end up thinking there the center of the universe, being immature and not having a good sense of self control.”
In order to develop socially, emotionally and cognitively, children need plenty of free, unstructured play - in other words, lots of old-fashioned free playtime, says a report by the American Academy of Pediatrics
When a child engages in “free play” he or she is physically changing the chemistry of there minds. Without external stressors inhibiting their thought processes children are able to easily create and diversify neuron connections. It allows children the time and space to process information at there own speed. They are actively learning instead of passively taking in facts. When I was working as the art director for a daycare center I noticed how the children’s eyes would light up when they were allowed to create freely and then were asked to show there work. The children seemed confident in themselves and there capability to express ideas, because at that age they haven’t mastered verbal or written language they need an outlet to share there thoughts, which in turn will help strengthen there cognitive abilities. In short parents and caregivers including teachers should have confidence that with love, care, guidance and positive role models children will grow to be successful.
For the first time in many, many years I wept for my second grade students and their future after a meeting with an administrator last week. I wept for the complete and utter disregard of our school district for the developmental, social, emotional, and academic needs of our students. I wept for a complete and utter disregard for developing a love of learning and joy while at school. THE TEST rules supreme. Students are being grouped constantly, their day fragmented, tasks dictated by one test, administered one day during the school year. What to do, I thought? In the time I have with my lovely group of 18 students I close the door and we sing and we dance and we read good books and poetry, we write stories and celebrate one another through the arts. We (as a second grade team) are committed to creating a "world" for our children that still celebrates learning. We are deliberately reflecting upon what is important and work at crafting lessons that allow students to learn creatively and individually without workbooks and multiple choice tests. Oh, we do what we have to, but not thoughtlessly. And we plan "escape" times other than a brief 15 minute recess. One must be crafty to be a teacher these days and I don't mean "arts and crap." It is still possible to enrich children's lives. It just takes effort, guile, a thorough knowledge of the curriculum, and a sturdy door! Rock on, Dr. Pinciotti!
Great discriptive article. I agree with NIKKI. She of George Washington Uniersity. Like mother like daughter. Thanks Patti
Your friend always, Donato
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