Luisa Kalejuk:
As part of the IB-enhanced model, we are rolling out a play-based learning model in our foundation grade one and grade two teams. I was really excited about this as a foundation teacher 15 years ago. I did some play-based learning and was really excited about invigorating this program.
My thought was with a really crowded curriculum, it is like, how am I going to approach a really exciting team of five teachers last year? I approached them all with just some really dynamical videos watching children play and how we could observe that. And the teachers did a stop and reflect for a minute and said, "We are willing to come on board."
Over a course of five or six weeks, I would bring a new video, I would show different students playing and what they achieve through their play, a sense our teachers to see other schools so other PYP schools or schools. Even another state school that did play-based learning. It is like that self-motivation to actually believe in the program before we took off.
Maria here was, you know, part of that process. How did you feel about that?
Maria Mandilas:
We were all very excited, the whole team, thanks to Luisa, who really made it sound very enticing as well. But it was something that we thought that we would just embed in our weekly planners. That is how it became routine that we would sit as a team and just make sure that we had some sessions dedicated to play-based learning. And because we know that children learn through play, you know, they can explore and discover things through play. Just making them to understand as well that it is still part of your learning but just in a different way. We are not doing numeracy this session and we are not doing literacy this session, it is PBL time.
This year we have noticed that the foundation students were really in need of more opportunities to be able to socialise and develop skills that they unfortunately probably missed out on due to the year that we had last year. We find that it will enhance their social and emotional skills through play. With children who missed out on kinder last year, we find that now they are able to connect and socialise, giving them those opportunities to be able to in a more sort of relaxed way, just socialise without the pressure.
Luisa Kalejuk:
The hardest part of rolling out this program was just finding the resources and the time for... with a really crowded curriculum. It was getting past all of that and understanding that, you know, play can be very basic. And for instance, we put some money into the foundation team, but our grade twos were calling out for some resources. And I did show them just some really basic things that they could do with boxes. They have now done some amazing things just in terms of some boxes and sticky tape. And the teachers stood back and went, "I can't believe how creative our students are." That was really a hard moment for me to get through in terms of just making the program really viable and wanting to see results. And then it took a little bit of time to get our teachers on board.
Maria Mandilas:
Sometimes things do not go as planned. And even though we set up a goal for the children, I found it a little bit difficult with some children who were very possessive and a little bit, well, not as open-minded to try something new. And they were almost expecting... there was an instance, for example, where I did not take out the Lego specifically for a group of children who seem to always just gravitate to the Lego and never explore anything new in the classroom or even to find someone new to play with. And I found that that was very difficult for me to try and find ways to lure them into something different. I decided to not take the Lego out, but they were insisting and I just could not get past that. They were a little bit distraught and almost lost without the Lego being out. And I gave in and I took the Lego out and I sat with them and I said, "OK. the goal is to discover something new. Now, although you are using the Lego, can you discover something new by using the Lego?" And I do not know if I was very successful in that.
I did give it a go trying to use the goal that was set at the beginning. I am still trying to work out ways to get them to think outside of just the Lego and to try something new. That has been a challenge for me personally.
[End of transcript]
Updated