Go All In on Play
Louise Lindsay, Innovation Coach,
Stanford Eisenberg Knoxville Jewish Day School
I spent the day observing boys in my school, and now I"m going to play more.
Boys love to play. That's what I learned while watching them. They play as they gather before school starts and during every transition. They love playing at recess and in aftercare. The lunch table is rife with jokes and pure silliness. Boys have fun together. They laugh, a ton. During the day I spent observing boys, watching them without expectation or evaluation, I kept finding myself smiling. Their fun interactions and laughter were contagious. At some point, I realized even I was having a great time.
And, there is much fun to be had at my school. Joy is the first word in our tagline. It's part of our mission statement. We have all kinds of planned and spontaneous events and daily routines that assure that our students love coming to school. But, a day spent watching boys taught me that even my school has more room for fun. The reason being that when the boys are having fun, they are all in. When they play, the social hierarchy dissolves, they don't care if they get sweaty or messy, their concept of time disappears, and they are existing strictly in the moment; all of their effort is focused on what they are doing. Boys playing hard in any form, digging, building, or playing ball looks a lot like being in a state of flow.
According to Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Professor of Psychology at Claremont Graduate University and Author of Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, a state of flow is:
"A state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter; the experience is so enjoyable that people will continue to do it even at great cost, for the sheer sake of doing it."
If you have ever watched an intense game of dodgeball on a school playground, you know that neither hunger, nor thirst, nor injury, nor heat are deterrents for the players; they are playing hard, no matter the cost. Csikszentmihalyi claims that more flow leads to greater happiness and life satisfaction. I wonder how we can bring more flow into our schools to increase educational happiness and satisfaction. And it's not just about the bliss, flow can impact academics. According to Csikszentmihalyi, while unengaging activities may lead to students briefly knowing but not holding on to taught material, a state of flow inspires students to love learning and seek it out.
Csikszentmihalyi lists the 8 characteristics of flow as:
1. Complete concentration on the task
2. Clarity of goals and reward in mind and immediate feedback
3. Transformation of time (speeding up/slowing down of time)
4. The experience is intrinsically rewarding
5. Effortlessness and ease
6. There is a balance between challenge and skills
7. Actions and awareness are merged, losing self-conscious rumination
8. There is a feeling of control over the task
As I thought about what I saw in the boys, I had definitely observed the characteristics of flow in their play, so I began to look for it in other places too. I recognized it during a multi-grade project on health. Students were using design thinking to answer the question, How might we create better games for Field Day? I noticed it when the students became vendors in an Israeli-styled market, serving parents, community members, and classmates as part of their Hebrew learning. I recognized flow when jazz was playing during the fourth and fifth graders' free write period. And, second and third graders were most definitely in a state of flow as they engaged in a round of the improv game, Hitchhiker. I am glad to see students entering a state of flow, or at least demonstrating some of flow's characteristics. I know that this enhances their learning and motivates them to come back for more.
When I decided to spend a day observing boys, I wasn't sure what to expect. I'd picked them as a group to observe because I'd noticed, like many other educators, that they are disciplined more often than girls. I wondered what an already progressive school could do to mitigate this issue. Now, I think the answer is to do more of what boys do. I plan to play more, encourage them to play more, embrace risks, and go all in. I plan to use more challenging project-like assignments, games, improv, and choice. I plan to head outside as much as possible and to find the fun and get into the flow. I encourage you to as well. Spending a day learning through play feels outstanding. And by the way, while I was watching, I just happened to notice that the girls who were playing dodgeball with the boys were having a pretty great time too
This article was published as part of Ms. Louise's Leadership & Design Fellowship, in their monthly publication titled The Monthly Recharge.
