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We are thrilled when an ExchangeEveryDay message generates a lively discussion. The message for July 27, "The Creativity Crisis," attracted some interesting comments on the website, and spurred a discussion on the World Forum's play listserv. We invite you to go back and review this message, read the excerpts below of web comments, and then add your own input.
Sally Rowden from Madera, California wrote: I've currently been rereading "Crisis in the Kindergarten — Why Children Need to Play in School," by Edward Miller and Joan Almon — Alliance for Childhood, which supports highly this current article shared by Exchange. The article quotes Daniel Pink, author of "A Whole New Mind," who writes about "imagination economy." How future leadership in the business world is demanding folks that think with creativity. The article gives valid research on how play, in it's complexity, supports children's learning in language skills, social skills, empathy, imagination, taking another's perspective, being less aggressive, having more self-control and higher levels of thinking (creative/abstract). It examines a "laissez-faire, loosely structured classroom; a classroom rich in child-initiated play; a playful classroom with focused learning; and, didactic instruction with no play" recognizing that teachers must have an understanding of all four methods. Yet, encouraging a balance of the "two central methods" (child-initiated play and play focused learning) which "leads to life long benefits."
Nancy K. Bush, Child Day Care Association in St. Louis, Missouri observed: I wrote this note to my boyfriend's daughter and now want to share it here, too. OMG. OMG! This is so cool. It reminds me of the quote — who said it? "We don't stop playing because we grow old. We grow old because we stop playing." Ah, the Internet. George Bernard Shaw said that. Cherish those questions from Natalie. Look up answers together. LEARN together. I learned every single day when I was a preschool teacher as a result of the books I read with the children, from observing and talking with them, from being ok with not knowing and saying so. I found that the kids were so impressed — not like, she's so cool because she knows everything, impressed as in, making an impression on their minds, their psyches — when I said I didn't know, followed by "We can look it up." As a corollary, children are also impressed when you say you are wrong and take steps to make whatever it was right, whether information, making assumptions or hurt feelings. When children grow up knowing that making mistakes is an acceptable part of life, a necessary part of life, they are willing to take intellectual risks, to think outside that box, to be creative and learn for the sheer joy of it.
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