Recently, I had the privilege of visiting a local preschool to deliver a workshop to parents about the importance of play. As I shared a vulnerable story about my own child and her journey to rediscover herself through play, it occurred to me how often this is the story of our learners at The Village School and how rare and unique our little school truly is.
In a previous blog post, We Choose Dirt, I shared about how unstructured play is an essential component to our learning design. This uninterrupted free play experience allows our learners to explore their imaginations, take risks, deeply engage with their peers, and as Jonathan Haidt shares in The Anxious Generation, allows them to grow their root system – their ability to deal with the unpredictable challenges that life inevitably will bring their way. He refers to these challenges as “the wind” that pushes the trees, enabling them to build a strong root system.
In Spark Studio, I have seen this root system being built during outdoor play in the recent fascination with obstacle courses. Each day, the learners have worked together to create taller towers, more challenging road blocks, and much bigger gaps to jump from section to section. The other guides and I often catch ourselves holding our breath as we watch the learners try out their next challenge. After they make a big jump, the learners chant “YES!” and “I did it!” The guides and I all find ourselves finally exhaling and chanting quietly “the wind, the wind, the wind”. It is hard to watch our children do things that may seem “dangerous” or “risky” but in these moments, it is important that we remind ourselves of safe risk and the self-confidence that can be built when we let go and let them grow their roots.
In Discovery Studio, I have observed their growth through a different lens. In Health and Wellness, we have been exploring conflict resolution. This has been a popular topic in the past because we often engage in role play, playing out what conflict looks like and analyzing how fictional characters could stand up for themselves, find a compromise, and make amends. The real work for Discovery learners comes out in play, once they leave the safety of fictional characters, and spend the next 2 hours engaged in unstructured play.
As I wander the park, observing learners with their peers, conflict inevitably arises. I’ll hear something like “you always do this!” or “you never let me play!” As an adult and a highly empathetic human, these words tug at my heart. My instincts are to jump in and remove any hurt that could possibly take place. It is in these moments that I have to remind myself that if we rescue our learners from any conflict that could be hurtful, they will never grow their root system for dealing with conflict later in life. As the adult and guide, I walk alongside them, listen and support our learners with navigating conflict with their peers. As a guide, my role is to take a step back and support, allowing our learners to use their language to work through conflict. We cannot rescue them from the hurt but we can give our learners the tools to handle the hurt. We cannot give our learners self-confidence and resilience but we can curate an environment where these life-long essential skills can flourish.
Adventure Studio brings a whole different level of uncomfortability in building a strong root system. As a guide, I find my role constantly challenged as the studio ebbs and flows through challenging life experiences. Recently, we all embarked on the Billy Goat trail. The guides and I scoured the internet looking for whether the trail would be safe after the ice and snow leftover from our most recent winter storm. When we couldn’t find a solid answer, we all found ourselves thinking – we can do this, they can do this, we will all be together and it will be okay! As we started our hike, it was indeed one big ice sheet. We all found ourselves looking at each other, knowing what each of us was thinking – can we really do this? We all took it one step at a time. There were many falls, slips, and catches from fellow peers. At one point, myself and another learner even found ourselves off the path, stuck between two big boulders. Three learners immediately came to our rescue and guided us down. They beamed for the rest of the journey, chanting to the rest of the group “We just saved Ms. Bridget!”
Later on in the hike, we had to work together to climb up to the top of a rocky slope. The phrases, “you can do it!”, “you’ve got this!”, “I’ve got you”, and “I won’t let you fall” were countless. Every single learner and guide helped each other to reach our destination. Many of the learners were scared but when we all reached the top together, the looks of pride and accomplishment were heartwarming.
The next time your learner takes a risk and you find yourself holding your breath, breathe out and chant to yourself “the wind, the wind, the wind” and know that you are supporting your learner with building a strong root system that will support them with whatever life brings their way.
villageschoolnova.blog 