Play

 Shall We Play by Henry Jenkins 

This reading was very interesting to me and I now have a new perspective on play. Before reading, I looked at play as just what it sounds like and the "common" definition. Playing with friends is play, playing with family is play, playing with toys, crayons, or markers is play. What I did not realize is that "Play is not disguised learning; play is learning". This quote really stood out to me and allowed me to really think about play. After reading, I learned that play can be many different things that we do and through doing any kind of play we are learning. When children play with their friends as kids, they are learning things like sharing, socialization, how to express their emotions, and so much more.

Something I really enjoyed in this reading...

The 6 P's of play:

1. Permission- asking permission to play

2. Process- steps to play

3. Passion- passion based learning

4. Productivity- play linked to creativity

5. Participation- inviting others to engage

6. Pleasure- byproduct of play 

The second reading was also very important to include with the above reading. If we encourage the 6 P's of play, the students who were in the "Chillaxing" reading would have been able to use their passions to "play" and find their successes. Instead, it took them a very long time to deal with the challenges they were facing. The reading also mentioned internalized blame and talked about how these students should be provided the resources to be able to question the systems that are holding them back and making them feel this way. If we really stress the 6 P's of play in teaching, I believe that these students would have found their successes and a means to be successful. More specifically, passion based learning would be perfect for them as they were both artists in writing and illustrating.