Module 2: Perceiving Reflection

1) To perceive something is to use our five senses to really dig deeper and look beyond what is right in front of us and see a whole new perspective/meaning to that “something”.

2) Original Observation: As I sat on my couch and looked out the window into our court yard of our apartment complex I watched as young children played; running, screaming, and chasing each other. This helped me choose my original image of children playing relating to my topic of free choice, free play, play, etc. As I watched these children play I thought about what is play? As I listened to the children scream and laugh I thought about when I was younger and all the games I played with my brother and sister. Chasing, playing hide and seek, laughing, running, skipping, jumping, etc.

3) Re-imagination: As I re-imagined play I began to think of all the different types and forms of play. How play can be interpreted in many different ways. What really made me think of all the different types of play is my students parents. As a child development major most of my teaching positions were with younger children. In each setting that I worked in play was a huge part of the schools philosophy and also played a huge role in the curriculum. Often parents would question this form of teaching and couldn't quite understand how their children were learning through play. Often parents just envision play as children running around and playing on playgrounds, but it is more than that. As I thought about play I thought about all the different ways it could be interpreted to help parents see that in fact their children are learning through play in many different ways and forms. Play can be playing an instrument, computer games, sports, pretend play, play dough, a play or skit, etc.

4) This new understanding and how it impacts my topic: This new understanding impacts my topic because now I can inform parents and show them a different side of play they might be familiar with. For instance, within play children can use their five senses to explore and play. Through pictures above I showed children exploring sensory play (paint, shaving cream). Young children smell new objects and things that might be less familiar to them. They see and manipulate objects in their own creative ways. For example, in pretend play they are acting out skits or their own plays whether they realize it or not. They take on roles. Within the classroom children discover and explore all different types of play. Re-imagining play helps me to think about play more in depth to help answer parents questions and to really incorporate and show how play can help a child learn in all developmental aspects. We can see and look at play in many different ways and not just envision play as children running around and screaming.