Perspectives of Play: Teachers Become Students
Without the curiosity and creativity of teachers, students would be confined to learning that consists only of classroom lectures, rote memorization, and piles of homework. It is the role and gift of the educator to breathe life into the volumes of content that students are expected to take in, and play is the way in which this learning comes alive.
It is because of this belief that the Frick remains dedicated to offering a range of professional development experiences for educators at all levels, across all content areas. Throughout the year, we offer opportunities for teachers to take workshops with experts, artists, and scholars that highlight art, history, and nature—as well as math, science, and language arts—in innovative ways.
It is because of this belief that the Frick remains dedicated to offering a range of professional development experiences for educators at all levels, across all content areas. Throughout the year, we offer opportunities for teachers to take workshops with experts, artists, and scholars that highlight art, history, and nature—as well as math, science, and language arts—in innovative ways.
On Thursday, July 25, fifteen educators spent the day with us at Perspectives of Play, a workshop focused on active engagement and joyful discovery in the classroom. In conjunction with the Early Childhood Learning team from the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh, we led a workshop that focused on using elements of play to make art and history come alive, thereby invigorating classroom content. We welcomed pre-K through high school teachers who learned about domains of student development and how, as educators, they could infuse subjects—such as English, history, math, and science—with elements of play, making direct connections to learning standards.
Domains of Human Development:
• Approaches toward learning
• Cognition and general knowledge (including early mathematics and early scientific inquiry)
• Language and literacy
• Physical well-being and motor development
• Social and emotional development
Elements of Play:
• Creative Play
• Dramatic Play
• Exploratory Play
• Object Play
• Physical Play
• Social Play
We started off with a tour of The Frick Art Museum’s current exhibition, A Sporting Vision, which served as a springboard for discussions about movement, play, and narrative. The rest of the day was filled with other fun and instructive activities, including lessons in stop-motion animation, movement exploration, and collaborative story telling. The workshop ended with a room full of professional adults tapping into their creativity and sense of joyful exploration by making and wearing a hat that represented them. A day can be counted as a success if feathers and fabric need to be picked up off the floor!
Led by our team of experts, the teachers studied new ways to offer their students experiential connections to the content they encounter each day; however, the workshop was also meant to provide a fun and meaningful experience for the teachers themselves. We learn best by doing. As educators, we teach best by demonstrating what it is to be a curious and courageous learner.
The Frick’s mission is to offer quality experiences that explore our resources of art, history, and nature. Along with a passionate, knowledgeable professional development- and content-focused team of educators, we will continue to expand learning opportunities for students and teachers through our programs. Just as it is imperative to nurture the student, it is essential to provide fun, dynamic learning experiences for those who teach them.