My Philosophy on Teaching - Press Play!

Play is essential. Mr. Fred Rogers used to say, “It’s the things we play with and the people who help us play that make a great difference in our lives” and his legacy is a testament to that very fact. I think it is no coincidence that the word for tag on the playground, a round of Tetris, and a theatrical performance are all the same: play. 

As both a Theatre and English teacher, I consider myself first and foremost an arts educator. We sometimes forget that to read a great book is to experience art and to write a great essay is to create art. I consider arts education to be essential and fundamental for a myriad of reasons, all tied to play. It’s hard to describe what it feels like when we are playing, the way our bodies and minds work together effortlessly. Some people call this being “in the zone” or “intensely focused” but I recognize it as what Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi would call a “flow state.” This engagement behavior pulls students out of the doldrums of everyday life and gives them an active sense of agency. Beyond this, flow is a state that shows up both in recreational play and when we create art (Butler, 2022). Art simply provides a framework for that play to happen. And my role in all this? In the model of John Dewey and Paolo Freire’s progressive classrooms, I see myself as the facilitator and coach, enabling this artistic framework. As a teacher, no matter the grade or subject, it’s my responsibility to support a structure that enables and encourages play. 

My students learn through this structure. In my classroom you will encounter young people discovering character archetypes by inhabiting those characters at a costume party. You will find them huddled in a tight circle on the floor telling spooky stories during Halloween. You will see them retell the diverse and varied legends of our ancestors through performance and then devise their own legends with the help of varied sources, everything from The Hero with a Thousand Faces to table-top games like Dungeons and Dragons. But, whether students are performing Shakespeare or creating their own stand-up comedy routines or designing monsters to represent modern cultural fears, the creative energy in the room will come from them.

In my class I make it my goal that every project, performance, and production centers and celebrates the creativity of the students. This does not mean chaos, of course, but it does mean agency. I like to think of it as my own version of the famous “Yes, And” rule of improv. In my classroom a simple vocabulary lesson wouldn’t have students reciting definitions in a test. Instead students might write an absurd story using vocabulary words, competing to make their classmates laugh. Through positive reinforcement and gentle redirection I’ll encourage them to refine their own work to effectively communicate what they want to say. Eventually, they’ll present this work to each other. Students will learn by doing the activity and from seeing the work of their peers. Rather than dictating definitions to them, I center their creativity and provide a framework for them to build on.

My commitment to play extends across the disciplines of English and Theatre. As an interdisciplinary teacher, I am always looking for ways to bring the tools of theatre, i.e. play, empathy, and theatricality, into the English classroom as well as bring tools like close readings and critical textual analysis into theatre spaces. Students in my English class will craft tableaus of Holden Caulfield’s journey through the streets of New York. Students in my Theatre class will write and edit their own soliloquies before performing them. I also believe in having my English students build community, working together just like a theatre company or acting ensemble would. They’ll work in discussion groups to understand and explore complex texts, perform dramatic readings together, and use peer review practices to create what Steve Graham (2018) would call a “writing community” within the classroom. 

Community is important to foster, enable, and encourage play. After all, who do we play with if not the people we trust (namely our friends and family)? And conversely students develop a sense of community, comradery, and mutual respect through playing together. But as a teacher, and a custodian of the community of the classroom. I believe in practicing Culturally Responsive Teaching, making sure the content of the classroom is full of mirrors, reflecting who we are, as well as windows into experiences different from our own (Style, 1996). Students will interact with diverse stories that push back against the status quo that prioritizes white, heteronormative, cisgender, able-bodied, and Western experiences.

The political activist and teacher Simone Adolphine Weil once said, “The joy of learning is as indispensable in study as breathing is in running.” I’m sure I’m far from the only teacher out there who whole-heartedly agrees with this sentiment. Joy is the fuel that keeps the fire of learning burning when we’re tired or hungry or stressed, but it doesn’t end there. Just as joy fuels learning, play fuels our sense of joy. That is why, in my classroom, play is essential.

Works Cited

Butler, N., & Spoelstra, S. (2022). Flow as an ideology. Organization, 135050842211158. https://doi.org/10.1177/13505084221115843 

Graham, S. (2018). A revised writer(s)-within-community model of writing. Educational Psychologist, 53(4), 258–279. https://doi.org/10.1080/00461520.2018.1481406 

Style, Emily. “Curriculum as Window and Mirror.” Social Science Record (Fall 1996), 1-5.