Last week, New York Times columnist David Bornstein, author of How to Change the World, and founder of dowser.org, a media site that reports on social innovation, proposed the Playworks model as a potential "fix" for schools' challenges with recess. Hard Times for Recess was the 17th most emailed New York Times article that day. It was also shared on Facebook more than 1200 times and initiated dozens of reader comments.
A few days later, David followed up with The Power of the Playground adding to his reasons why recess is important and responding to readers comments. The follow-up article has also been shared on Facebook more than 1200 times. (Thank you, everyone!)
As social media manager, I was overwhelmed with messages and conversations on the internet about recess and Playworks. Several people shared their experiences with Playworks. Some wished they had a program similar to Playworks or shared how they support recess at their school. And some people questioned the Playworks model. All of these conversations were wonderful! And it’s because the articles got people talking about play and recess.
Some of my favorite quotes from the week were:
"Recess helps kids learn, care for each other and helps their health. It shouldn't be Hard Times for School Recess."
"My friends laughed when I told them we had a recess coach. Don't think they are laughing now."
"If we want to solve the bigger problem, we need more than recess coaches."
It's too easy to undervalue play, to see play as something kids do when they're not doing 'real work' or something adults do if they get around to it. But play is so much more important than that. In fact, many teachers and child development specialists refer to play as “children’s work.” Play is a time for physical activity, learning, creativity, socializing, de-stressing and much more. This is a positive, productive and lively discussion and we want to continue it. Still, as more people are talking about play online, we hope those same people are also taking their conversations offline, taking action and going outside to play.
