by Amy Nichols, M.A. Ed., Guest Author

I remember an illustration I was once told.  In the story, a group of kindergartners are asked, “who is a good dancer”.  All hands fly into the air, students jumping out of their seats to demonstrate their dance moves.  Okay, Okay, wait a minute”, said the teacher, “how many of you are good artists?”  Again, hands shoot to the sky waving the air like miniature flags -but this time heads duck as students reach into their desks to grab their art supplies to draw a new masterpiece for the teacher.  “Wait a minute,” the teacher laughs, “I need to know who is a good singer.”  Once again, all hands reach for the sky, only this time accompanied by little voices singing, “MEEEEEEEEE”.  

A few decades later, this same class, now adults, gathered for a reunion.  The teacher, beloved by all, was the honored guest.  She wanted to see how her students had developed.  “I have a question for you,” she said. “Who is a good dancer?”  The teacher was bewildered to see that one hand sort of raised in a half hearted way to the hip of its owner.  The teacher was surprised because she knew that at least two of the students had danced on Broadway.  “OK, who is a great artist?” She asked with more expectation, she knew that two of the murals in the school had been painted by a few of these students as adults.  She was shocked when not one student raised their hand.  Perplexed, she asked her final question to her former students, “who is a good singer.”  One proud student raised her hand, she was a Tony winning actress, so not totally unexpected, but the teacher knew there was a successful songwriter and a voice teacher also sitting in the audience. Mystified, the teacher sadly left the podium, remembering each adult as a child, frantically waving their hands in the air, desperate to be chosen to show off their talents, and she wondered “what happened?”

This story reflects some hard truths about life.  We all believe, as children, that we have so much potential to achieve, and somewhere along the line we learn that we may not be that good.  How sad for those students who take those barbs into their hearts and stop following a passion.  We as educators need to provide time for students to explore and play!  We need to let them find their passions and work on them.  

As an education professor, I am frequently asked by my students, “why don’t my other professors teach me the way you do?”  One of the reasons is we have forgotten to play.  We have forgotten to build into our lessons engaging ways for our students to learn, ways to make them laugh and learn at the same time.  We expect our students to sit and listen as we spout words of wisdom.  The problem is that after a while, we start to sound like Charlie Brown’s teacher.  Play and movement bring life to the class, it encourages students and gives them a vehicle to explore their passions.  Play engages and reignites passion for potential and for product.  This year has been difficult for all, but more difficult for some.  I fear that this year, and possibly next, will be known as “the lost years of education”.  We need to pursue our students relentlessly, affirming that we believe in their gifts, allowing them to be creative, and encouraging them to play.  This pursuit will produce adults who are stronger and more fearless as they step into the world that is waiting for them.