This week’s practicum was an eye-opener for me. Coming from a middle-class family and attending a typical suburban school I was protected from a lot of the world’s tougher realities in my younger years. Unfortunately, I can not say the same for many of the students in my class today. The students I visited today were a lot like I was at their age, they played with blocks, laughed, and enjoyed the day, however, the content if their conversations were startlingly different from what I was discussing at the age of 5-6. When I was in my first few years of school I was thinking about cars, numbers, and toys. These students were thinking about food, shelter, and how they would get home that night. Mr. Lloyd put it in perspective for me when he said “these are small-sized kids with adult-sized problems”. Although it was tough to see children not getting the care they deserved outside of the class, I was pleased to see that Mr. Lloyde try to make up for that inside the class. One way that he did that was by emphasizing calmness and tranquility within the classroom. At the beginning of the day, Mr. Lloyde would ask each student how they were doing while at the same time ensuring that each pupil was fed a good breakfast. This theme of care continued throughout the day as emotions were talked about constantly and kids were permitted to learn at their own pace. I thought this was great given the fact that many of these children only experienced moments like this in school. Children need to feel safe to learn,  for this reason, Mr. Lloyde’s efforts are vital in my opinion as how can a child learn if they do not feel calm and safe?

Mr. Lloyde introduced me to a new teaching program called “rough and tumble play” or “risky play”. In this program, students are taught how to perform risky activities in a safe manner. For instance, the program teaches students how to have safe snowball fights or climb a tree in a way that is responsible. To facilitate this, teachers ask students to assess situations themselves and from this assessment determine their acceptable level of risk. Risk tolerance will vary from student to student, however, those who participate in activities that involve risky play are said to be more able to handle challenging situations later in life. Mr. Lloyde told me that “risky play and the skills gained from it will make students more willing to take calculated risks. They will consider things possible that others may not. For instance, their answer to the question of, do I apply for that job?, or Do I try that university program? may be different than someone who did not participate in risky play. This alone makes the risks involved in running the program worth it and is the reason why I am pushing so hard for the whole school to adopt the program”.

I found this new take on play to be refreshing. When I was in school, tossing a snowball meant an automatic two-day suspension, with climbing a tree (although we had none) likely resulting in a similar consequence. Given the fact that school is a place for kids to learn, why is it that safe ways of doing somewhat risky activities are not taught? Kids are going to do them anyway so why not try and minimize the risk?