Guest Blogger - Regina Hoskins

Putting Unstructured Play Back into Schools

Regina Hoskins, Teacher Librarian - Southern Hills Middle School

Building Relationships with Students

About a year ago, I was sitting in a 21st Century Cohort meeting with three teachers from my building, having a conversation in response to Kevin Carroll’s TEDxHarlem talk entitled Play is Necessary. His message that “there are hundreds of organizations around the world using sport and play to make a difference,” resonated with me in terms of building relationships with students. Someone mentioned the Global School Play Day and after looking at their website and seeing that mostly elementary schools participated, I said to the teachers from my school, “Why can’t we do this at the middle level?” So we did.

“You can learn more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.”

Less than two weeks later, I decided to implement the 1st SHMS Play Day during lunches in the library. I advertised it over the announcements to students as an option during lunch and sent an e-mail to staff asking for volunteers to bring games, inviting them to come play, and help me supervise the students. The Global School Play Day motto comes from Plato and reads “You can learn more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.” The rules, I explained, were simple: No screens. No electronics. Just let them play! I was hopeful teachers would give up their duty free lunch to take time to play and connect with students and they did not disappoint. I had just over a dozen teachers show up and all said they would definitely do it again. Students asked, “Can we do this every Friday during lunches in the library?” Word spread about the positive interactions staff had playing with students, and we knew this was something we wanted to fit into our schedule again, but for a longer period of time than just 30 minutes over lunch.  

"This has nothing to do with academics or even reading, but everything to do with connecting with kids and building relationships."

So we settled on a shortened schedule in April, with roughly 5 minutes off each class period to have a Play Day at the end of the day and offer a variety of indoor and outdoor games to take advantage of the nice weather. In addition, we strategically scheduled this second Play Day after a week of state testing. Again, the student and staff feedback was strong and positive. We realized that this time was valuable to let students and teachers have fun playing games together. We just completed our third Play Day and have another one planned after testing later this semester. The games staff offer each time vary and change with interest, but it is important for us to provide both athletic and non-athletic games, so there is something available for everyone. Students have even started bringing their own games once they hear a Play Day is on the schedule. This has nothing to do with academics or even reading, but everything to do with connecting with kids and building relationships.