Monthly archive for December 2014

“We do not stop playing because we are old, we grow old because we stop playing.”
Unknown

Simple, mom, it’s ‘work’ when you tell me to do it, it’s ‘play’ when I want to do it.” Or maybe not so simple? I think of all the times I’ve seen children hard at work, but treating it like play; the same is true for me, and for most adults.

Plato said, “Life must be lived as play.” In ancient Greek, the word for education is “paidiae” and the word for play is “paidia.” Perhaps they saw that at play the mind is at its most energized its most active.

Thirty-two sixth graders, five rows of seven desks each, paper and boxes flying, noise abounding, a look of panic in the teacher’s eyes. The climax of The Three Stooges Go To Grade School? No. My own classroom on the first day of my teaching career, 33 years ago.

After that first day, I did not plan to remain a teacher for long — only until I could find another job. Sitting in the teacher’s lounge after classes ended, my confidence in myself was at its lowest.