What injures the hive injures the bee.
- Marcus Aurelius
So you’ve got the learners playing. Good on you.
You’re seeing tons of engagement, and great diversity. Nice one.
There are things you’re noticing about each learner you haven’t noticed before. Fantastic.
But you’ve got a strange, uneasy itch. You can’t quite explain it. You’ve got a hunch it’s the looseness, the inconsistency…
Something, something is cutting against your professional instinct.
Still … now there’s creativity where before there was not much. Now learners are relating to each other in ways they weren’t before. It’s worth persevering with, right?
Yet, that itch doesn’t go away.
You wonder, Maybe I’m not a teacher who can teach this way.
You wish, If only I didn’t have so many other pressures.
You think, I’m so busy it’s hard to find time to make the changes I need to to make it work.
I was watching the dog trials at the local A&P show last year when some sheep jumped the fence and took off around the showgrounds. They dodged. They lept. They scampered. Frantically.
A bunch of men in gumboots took off in pursuit.
Adults yelped and yelled. Kids screamed. Some joined the pursuit.
It was all rather funny.
Do you sometimes feel like your learners are escaped sheep?
Sure, they may have escaped the confines of being shepherded through their learning. Sure, you may no longer have a compliant herd.
But it is no good for them to be charging footloose and frantically, either.
It’s this loose franticness that gives play a bad name.
For all its faults, at least when kids get shepherded through learning they are together. We can’t ignore this fundamental human need for togetherness and connection, for belonging.
If we neglect to build something that binds everyone together we limit what our learners are capable of.
And I think that’s the itch you’re feeling.
So the question becomes, how can we take that good aspect of traditional practice - belonging - and add it to play pedagogy?
I think there are three key things worth consideration here.
One: va (the space between)
I’ve written about va a couple of times, most recently here.
It’s a concept from the Pacific. Essentially it says that that all things are connected and it’s the nature of the connection that defines those things. Thus, we all have a responsibility to nurture the space between. Especially if we have power.
When the va is nurtured, people become bound together more tightly (Calm seas = easily connected islands.)
When it’s not, connections become loose, frayed. (Stormy seas = danger, easily isolated islands.)
What’s the emotional charge like in your classroom? What norms and expectations govern behaviour? How do you nurture the space between?
Andrew’s comment on last week’s post is a nice example of the power of nurturing the va. - Click me to read Andrew's comment
And Kathy added comments about the love languages and how they are foundational in shaping how we see ourselves. Click me to read Kathy's comments
Two: fun
Get some games going, something that gets everyone moving.
Even better if it’s something that allows for people to move in sync.
This is why music and dance are so important. No only do they spark joy, but they also bring people together.
Games, music and dance are unifying forces. When people engage in them they drop their guards and become open to others, accepting of being connected.
Jane and Andrew made some comments about movement and synchronicity on this post. - Click me to read Andrew and Jane's comments
Three: ritual
What can you all do together, all the time, that is special and takes primacy over everything else?
When you find it, you’ll be injecting a sense of the sacred into the learning experience. It will elevate you all above the usual day-to-day routines.
You know what happens in these moments of elevation? Beauty peeks in; people can become moved by something they can’t quite explain.
This opens imaginations.
In quiet a way, it’ll start to define who you are as a group.
Guy made a comment about this kind of experience on the post Beauty, quoting DT Suzuki and his idea about imminence of revelation. - Click me to read Guy's comment
In a traditional setting, belonging is developed in two primary ways.
One: shared experiences. Everyone does pretty much the same thing at the same time. Same topics, same deadlines, same routines.
Two: being part of something bigger than themselves. Everyone gets initiated into the traditions and cultural history of the school.
See the bits in bold - they map nicely across the three things we just covered.
It’s in the detail that there’s divergence between a traditional approach and play. We could say that in a traditional setting, belonging happens through conformity and constriction.
The very characteristics of play (eg, its openness and freedom) make these traditional ways of developing belonging inappropriate.
But remember, if you want your learners to become fizzed and focused, this is more likely to happen when they feel they belong.
It’s how they become busy bees.
And so remember, belonging is developed on purpose in more traditional settings. That means you can do it on purpose too.
This post’s On Learning community event (paid subscribers only)
Lets share ideas about how to develop belonging and build something that binds.
If you’re a paid subscriber, at the bottom of this post you can see a link to a shared document: building a beehive.
Not a paid subscriber? Take advantage of the free trial and the link will magically appear.
On the document you have the opportunity to share practical examples of what you do in relation to the three things that help develop belonging in play settings: va, fun, ritual.
Let’s share and learn from each other.
(If you just want to look and be inspired by other members of the On Learning community, that’s ok too.)
I look forward to seeing and engaging with your ideas. :)