In terms of what I learned today at the MA New Lit Institute, I once again learned that teachers like to…and in many ways need to play. In several of our Digging Deeper sessions, or Digital Texts and Tools breakout sessions, participants indicated a desire to learn something new, drill down into the skills, and have enough time to play. Many times in our classrooms we ignore/devalue/avoid providing time to “play.” Spending time with teachers today it reinforced our need to spend some time playing with the different tools, theories, and ideas. This is especially true when we’re working with and making digital content.
In our classrooms play provides us with opportunities to explore and learn new content as they find the joy in learning. If we’re really interested in life-long learning, we need to figure out ways to embed authentic “play” into our learning experiences. This form of play can be seen as we have guided sessions in breakout sessions at an institute. Play can also be seen as we have online “make with me” sessions in a Google Hangout with others. Play can be an informal learning environment in which there seems to be a relatively low risk of failure…but a high degree of excitement, creation, and enrichment.
We need to identify more ways to authentically and effectively embed play with digital texts and tools into teaching and learning activities.
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Related posts:
Day Four at the MA New Lit Institute – Building Your Own LMS using GAFE
Day Five at the MA New Lit Institute – Digital Texts and Tools are a toybox, but what if we want a sandbox?
Day One at the MA New Literacies Institute – ChalkBoardMan Moving From Print to Screen
Teachers May Hold the Key to the Past, Present, and Future of Web Literacy
I complete agree and support “play” time… That time is so useful for teachers. It’s one of the rules I use when providing PD for my teachers. The biggest challenge is defending the validity of the time needed to create learners with the teachers. It needs to go beyond the teachers who are intrinsically motivated to learn. All students need the opportunities for quality instruction.
I think it’s a key component. We’re trying to better embed this in our sessions…given time constraints.
I agree. Time to play has been so important this week. It drives home the ideas you’ve shared and lets our creativity go into overdrive as we discover ways to use these tools. Truly, this has been the most exciting and useful professional development I’ve ever had. Plus, collaborating time with my colleagues??…priceless!!
Thanks again Karen. It has been a pleasure to work with…and play with…you all.