Every Friday at Classroom on Carpenter Lane was Pizza Day. Children brought $1 per pizza slice they wanted. Each child in turn placed their money in the pizza box, and selected one plastic “slice” per dollar. They would put their piece into the pie labeled with their choice of topping. (In the photo below, the choices were plain and mushroom.) Then came the trades! Sometimes a pizza could be ordered with a different topping on each half. How many eighths (slices) would the class need to make a half pizza? It was a conversation in which children had a personal stake! “Pizza Day was a 4th grade arithmetic lesson that Dee was giving to 5 year olds!” according to “mathemagician” Bob Pollack, Dee’s husband.
Walking around downtown Mt. Airy putting up fliers for the Saturday May 18 screening of Empress of Everything: Messages from a Master Teacher, I stopped in to Fino’s Pizza . When I was the assistant teacher at Classroom on Carpenter Lane, one of my jobs was walking to Fino’s on Fridays to pick up the pizza for Pizza Day. The proprietor of Fino’s has been in this location for 33 years, and I saw him every Friday for two years, many years ago. He didn’t really remember me, but he was delighted to be reminded about his good neighbor Denise Dee Haines. He showed me the two pies on his wall, each with a slice made by a different child at Classroom on Carpenter Lane, in art class in the studio of Karen Singer.
This pizza was created by the students in the Classroom on Carpenter Lane and presented with gratitude to Fino’s Pizza.
These two clay pizzas with individually designed and created slices hang on the wall at Fino’s Pizza
The Classroom on Carpenter Lane (CCL) educated 12 children per year, at the most, ranging in age from 5 years to 8 years, in grades kindergarten through 2nd (or 3rd) grades.) The mix of ages allowed for a natural process of cultural transmission, often in the form of discussions of rules for games. If rules could not be worked out as needed among the children with the help of adults during play, they became the subject of discussions in weekly Class Meeting.
At CCL, there were two breaks per day, one indoors after snack, and one outdoors after lunch. Children all had break together. Denise Dee Haines, Empress of Everything at The Classroom on Carpenter Lane, says, ” Break is where everything happens; children relax, and can be who they really are.” Everything we discuss in Class Meeting happens at break.”
The “Train Game” began with an older boy pulling the train. As the main engine of the train, and a powerful older boy, this child wanted to be in charge of the rules. Class meeting discussions allowed younger children to weigh in. A democratic process clarified how many turns each child could have on the train and whether someone could push the back of the train.
At CCL, there was always a discerning adult supervising break time, either Dee, her assistant teacher, or her Class Grandmother Virginia Brodgen. Adult intervention for disputes was available for children to request, or for adults to impose if there was a safety rule violation, or an episode of unfairness. Rules included: “take care of people and things”, and “you can’t say you can’t play”. Dee could pull a child from play to have think time, or a talk. Even though the level of structure during break was low, the close supervision and interventions made break a powerful time of learning.
In many schools that retain recess, the staff members supervising recess may be instructional assistants who are tasked with insuring children’s physical safety but not to detect bullying or provide skilled mediation.
Prioritizing play was central to CCL, and there is overwhelming evidence supporting the importance of play for all aspects of human development.
WHAT DO THE EXPERTS SAY?
Plato (The Republic 536 D-E) states, “As far as is possible, a child’s education should not take the form of compulsion, but take the form of play.”
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), published a review of research (Pediatrics Volume 142, Issue 3 September 2018) concerning the benefits of play, encouraging pediatricians to support parents to play with their children….Pediatricians can be influential advocates by encouraging parents and child care providers to play with children and to allow children to have unstructured time to play as well as by encouraging educators to recognize playful learning as an important complement to didactic learning.
The Introduction to the AAP clinical report defines play: “(Play) is an activity that is intrinsically motivated, entails active engagement, and results in joyful discovery. Play is voluntary and often has no extrinsic goals; it is fun and often spontaneous. Children are often seen actively engaged in and passionately engrossed in play; this builds executive functioning skills and contributes to school readiness (bored children will not learn well). Play often creates an imaginative private reality, contains elements of make believe, and is nonliteral.
Depending on the culture of the adults in their world, children learn different skills through play. Sociodramatic play is when children act out the roles of adulthood from having observed the activities of their elders. Extensive studies of animal play suggest that the function of play is to build a prosocial brain that can interact effectively with others.
Play is fundamentally important for learning 21st century skills, such as problem solving, collaboration, and creativity, which require the executive functioning skills that are critical for adult success.…Some studies note that the new information economy, as opposed to the older industrial economy, demands more on innovation and less on imitation, more creativity and less conformity. Research on children’s learning indicates that learning thrives when children are given some agency (control of their own actions)to play a role in their own learning (emphasis added).The demands of today’s world require that the teaching methods of the past 2 centuries, such as memorization, be replaced by innovation, application, and transfer.”
“Social skills, which are part of playful learning, enable children to listen to directions, pay attention, solve disputes with words, and focus on tasks without constant supervision (emphasis added). By contrast, a recent trial of an early mathematics intervention in preschool showed almost no gains in math achievement in later elementary school….The AAP report on school readiness includes an emphasis on the importance of whole child readiness (including social–emotional, attentional, and cognitive skills). Without that emphasis, children’s ability to pay attention and behave appropriately in the classroom is disadvantaged.”
The AAP Clinical Report also describes the “barriers to play” created by educational policies which zero in on academic skills for young children, missing the importance of self-directed play for the development of the whole child. “Play-based learning continues to be critical (at ages 6-8), yet it is often neglected in favor of academic-focused education approaches. …In this period, active, play-based learning approaches can transform the educational experiences of children in the early primary grades and strengthen learning motivation and outcomes (emphasis added).”
It is an ominous current development that recess, free play, can be taken away from young children as a disciplinary measure, and that opportunities for free play, even in kindergarten, are reduced in favor of drilling and repetition, in the mistaken belief that progress is best measured by standardized assessments.
Stuart Brown MD wrote Play, How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination and Invigorates the Soul. He has taken “play histories” of thousands of people. His earliest work on play was a study of mass murderers, who were highly likely to have been prevented from playing as children.
The National Institute for Play, founded by Dr. Brown, includes the following in it’s biography of Dr. Brown: “His dream, and NIFP’s mission, is to individually and collectively make play as important in the public consciousness as good sleep, balanced nutrition and personal hygiene. Just as we have to feed our bodies to thrive and wash our hands to get rid of germs, we have to play to build our ability to flourish in society and live our fullest life. Humans are uniquely designed by nature to enjoy and benefit from play throughout our lives.” The Power of Play: LOSING AND FINDING OURSELVES THROUGH EVERYDAY PLAY (2024) (Scott G. Eberle, Ph.D., and Stuart Brown, M.D.) provides a thorough review of the history, dynamics and importance of play.
Unicef and the Lego Foundation created a Brief summarizing the research findings on the importance of play in children’s lives from their earliest ages through the primary grades. ” “Learning through play builds lifelong learners and supports children’s overall development.” ….”Play in the preschool years enables children to explore and make sense of the world around them, as well as to use and develop their imagination and creativity.”
As noted in the book accompanying The Museum of Modern Art’s 2012 exhibit “The Century of the Child: Growing By Design: 1900–2000,” (Juliet Kinchin & Aiden O’Conner): “Play is to the 21st century what work was to industrialization. It demonstrates a way of knowing, doing, and creating value.”
Mitchell Resnick, in his book Lifelong Kindergarten, Cultivating Creativity through Projects, Passion, Peers and Play has described 4 guiding principles to support creative learning in children: projects, passion, peers, and play. “Play is not just about having fun but about taking risks, experimenting, and testing boundaries (emphasis added).”
Lifelong Kindergarten
Cultivating Creativity through Projects, Passion, Peers, and Play
In a blog associated with a seller of playground equipment (Playworld) I found a post about the different kinds of play that spotlights the benefits of well-supervised unstructured play
The following material is directly quoted from this blog post:
“Well-supervised free play can have a number of benefits for children, including:
1) Thinking outside the box.
One of the benefits of play without a lot of structure is that children are encouraged to think for themselves and to come up with creative ideas. Without an adult telling them the rules of the game, or how to play, kids are free to come up with their own ideas and practice problem-solving. For example, if a playground activity only has spots for two children and three children are trying to play together, an instructor may come up with a resolution in structured play. In free play, children may need to develop a unique solution, such as having one child act as a narrator for a play scene they are acting out. Since children in free play might not turn to an adult for help, they need to start thinking of ways to resolve challenges they face on their own. This encourages children to learn and grow on their own, but close supervision allows an adult to intervene if any of the solutions they come up with violate playground safety rules or guidelines.
While structured play has clear rules and usually a reward system to encourage competition, free play encourages children to develop these rules and rewards themselves; children are free to create their own rules and games. Instead of using a slide as a slide, for example, they can create their own game involving imaginary play. The slide can become a fortress or a tower in a castle and the children go down the slide when they need to defend their fortress from an invading dragon.
One of the ways child’s play encourages creativity is by asking children to call upon past experiences and use them in new ways. If a child has learned in the classroom to make friends by asking questions, for example, they may start an interaction with a new player on the playground by asking questions. This thinking outside the box encourages children to build on their experiences. As they learn this skill, they learn to adapt creativity to a variety of environments, including the classroom.
2) Free play means less structure, so children have to cooperate more.
Without structured activities defined by adults, children have to work together to resolve issues and to play together. With structured play, parents and other adults may be encouraging children to cooperate and get along. Without this parental input, children have to decide on their own how to cooperate and how to work together. Whether they’re trying to learn how to climb the side of a climber or figure out how to make an activity station work, without adult input, children tend to pull together to come up with ideas. Of course, a supervising adult can step in to remind children of playground guidelines and make sure that everyone stays safe.
3) Leadership development.
In structured play, parents or adults are the leaders. In free play, children need to take turns being the leader or divide up leadership roles as needed. Whether that means determining what a fair rule is or playing referee, leaders are created on the playground.
Free play also encourages leadership by developing emotional intelligence and by helping children see the importance of communication to social influence. If kids want to play with others on the playground, they need to be able to communicate their ideas for games and entice others to see the rules their way. This can help children learn how to lead by example and communicate effectively.
4) Greater creativity.
Free play encourages children to make up their own games and structure their own activities. With open-ended playground equipment, especially, children are freed from the activities adults make up for them and get to create their own unique games. Maybe they get to pretend they are from another planet and are trying to get a ball across the playground. Perhaps they decide to invent an entirely new game centered on the swings. Either way, this type of free play encourages children to become authors of their own activities.
5) An outlet for energy.
One of the benefits of outdoor play and recess is that it allows children to get exercise and enjoy being active. Children often have higher energy for many reasons. Younger children may have higher energy, which can affect their ability to focus on activities important for their cognitive development if they do not have the chance to burn it off. Supervised free play gives them an outlet for this energy so that they can better focus on other, less active learning activities.
6) Allow children to move away from sedentary activities.
Children spend considerable time sitting in the car, sitting in class, playing video games and engaging in other sedentary tasks. In one study, children between the ages of 6 and 11 were found to spend more than 40% of their time in sedentary activities. A CDC study found that just 12.37% of high school students were taking part in intensive physical exercise at least three times a week.
This can be a serious concern since a sedentary lifestyle is linked to many health issues. Children who watch at least three hours of television a day have a 65% higher risk of obesity. Free play and time outdoors on the playground encourage children to move around and to get exercise. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), 60 minutes of activity daily can reduce the risk of childhood obesity.
7) Teach children independence.
A study from the University of Colorado examined both structured and free play and concluded that children who engaged in more unstructured play had more advanced self-directed executive function. This function allows for organization, initiation of activities, planning, the ability to move between activities, and other tasks we usually associate with independence. Children who spent more time in structured play had less finely honed levels of this type of skill.
8) Improve cognitive function.
Research on animals has found that periods of play and exploration increase the amount of BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor), which encourages the maintenance and growth of brain cells. While similar tests are not possible on humans, researchers concluded that the tests show the importance of play for human cognitive and brain development. About 75% of brain development happens between infancy and age 20, and play can encourage strong cognitive development by promoting the connections between nerve cells in the brain to form.
9) Work to reduce bullying.
Bullying and aggression are a serious concern on playgrounds, with as many as one in three students reporting being bullied at some point in their school careers. Free play may help reduce instances of bullying, as some schools have discovered. One school, Swanson Primary School, saw a decline in bullying, timeout incidents and problems after eliminating rules during recess. According to school authorities, students became more engaged in play and less bored, causing them to act out less. While free play has been shown to lead to less instances of bullying, teachers and guardians should still keep a close eye on children during playtime to intervene in any cases of bullying.
10) Improve responsibility.
During the childhood years, the frontal lobe portion of the brain develops as children take risks and see the consequences. In structured play, children may not be taking many risks, but in free play on the playground, kids have to make more decisions and then accept the consequences. If a child struggles while trying a too-ambitious piece of playground equipment, they can learn from this experience and see how their actions lead to results. Over time, a child can learn to take responsibility once they see the connection between their actions and the outcomes.
While many types of play and activity can be beneficial to children, free play can offer a number of tangible benefits by providing kids more freedom to learn and grow. Free play does not mean children are unsupervised. During all free play activities, adults should closely watch over children and step in as needed. However, children initiate activities and are allowed to choose their own solutions to problems as much as possible.”
Students eagerly anticipated and then celebrated the Hundredth Day of school, a day-long time of projects and sharing and celebration. The Classroom was decorated with hundreds of hearts.
Teachers and parent volunteers inflate 100 balloons.
The children hunt for 100 tiny bears. During project time, children placed 100 items on Ten x Ten tables.
Children of different ages organize 100 stickers on a page in different ways.
(Left: PJ eight years old, Center: Isabelle, six years old, Right: Alexanna, five years old)
David Brooks of the New York Times (01/16/2019) makes this point about the interrelationship of love and learning. Unfortunately, he does not make suggestions about government policy to make these relationships more possible in our nation’s public schools!
I was thrilled when I found the website for Responsive Classroom® (https://www.responsiveclassroom.org/), because the material on their web site described the components of excellence that I saw at the Classroom on Carpenter Lane. And, they have gathered data that show how widely applicable are these components of excellence: “Independent research has found that the Responsive Classroom approach is associated with higher academic achievement, improved teacher-student interactions, and higher quality instruction.”
The work described on the Responsive Classroom® website gives me hope that high quality instruction like that seen at the Classroom on Carpenter Lane, could be available to children everywhere!
The following paragraphs are direct quotes from the Principles and Practices page of the Responsive Classroom® web site:
The Responsive Classroom approach to teaching is comprised of a set of well-designed practices intended to create a safe, joyful, and engaging classroom and school community. The emphasis is on helping students develop their academic, social, and emotional skills in a learning environment that is developmentally responsive to their strengths and needs.
Core Belief
In order to be successful in and out of school, students need to learn a set of social and emotional competencies—cooperation, assertiveness, responsibility, empathy, and self-control—and a set of academic competencies—academic mindset, perseverance, learning strategies, and academic behaviors.
Guiding Principles
The Responsive Classroom approach is informed by the work of educational theorists and the experiences of exemplary classroom teachers. Six principles guide this approach:
Teaching social and emotional skills is as important as teaching academic content.
How we teach is as important as what we teach.
Great cognitive growth occurs through social interaction.
How we work together as adults to create a safe, joyful, and inclusive school environment is as important as our individual contribution or competence.
What we know and believe about our students—individually, culturally, developmentally—informs our expectations, reactions, and attitudes about those students.
Partnering with families—knowing them and valuing their contributions—is as important as knowing the children we teach.
The following paragraph is a direct quote from the Research page of the Responsive Classroom web site: “Responsive Classroom® has been found to be a high quality program to support social and emotional learning: “In 2011, the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL) conducted a meta-analysis of 213 school-based, social and emotional learning (SEL) programs involving 270,034 kindergarten through high school students. Compared to controls, SEL participants demonstrated significantly improved social and emotional skills, attitudes, behavior, and academic performance that reflected an 11-percentile-point gain in achievement.”
Please join me in supporting Science Leadership Academy at Beeber (SLA@B), which is adding its first 5th grade class in School Year 2018-2019! I have been the School Psychologist at SLA@B since it began in 2013. I admire the staff and am amazed by the students. Adding project-based middle years is their next adventure.
Please join me at the first School District of Philadelphia screening of Empress of Everything-Messages from a Master Teacher at 4:00 PM on Wednesday May 23 at 5925 Malvern Ave, Philadelphia, PA. (This is school with a parking lot.) Suggested donation to the Home and School Association is $5.00.
I began working on this documentary film before I worked for the School District of Philadelphia, and when I retire from the School District in June, I will be traveling to conferences and festivals to promote it. The film shows the inner workings of a school where young children love learning. I hope that the film starts conversations about the importance of the relationship between student and teacher.
I am thrilled to report that Empress of Everything-Messages from a Master teacher is now available for purchase on my Vimeo page. Proceeds will support a wider distribution plan. https://vimeo.com/ondemand/empressofeverything
The day after the First Screening! of Empress of Everything–Messages from a Master Teacher, the parent of a student featured in the film posted a heartfelt comment on Facebook. She permitted me to share it here.
Gretel DeRuiter writes (6/12/17): Yesterday afternoon, Peter and I went to the first screening of Empress of Everything, a thoughtful documentary directed by Wendy Galson about Dee Haines and the unique school she created and ran for decades in her home on Carpenter Lane. Peter attended the Classroom on Carpenter Lane (CCL) for 1st and 2nd grades, and this movie was filmed throughout his — and the school’s — final year before Dee retired.
Peter was one of the more challenging kids in this blended class of 11 students from 5-8 years of age, and he and his issues are featured prominently in the film. It was both familiar and startling to see Peter again as a 7-year-old boy, figuring out his place in a community so expertly led by this master educator. I know no other teacher as attuned to her students as Dee Haines, and I felt all over again how fortunate we were to find our way to her doorstep.
Denise Dee Haines and Peter Pillar at the First Screening! of Empress of Everything (photos Greg Windle)
The school had one Prime Directive: “Take care of people and things,” and the clarity and simplicity of that message made it profound to the young children who lived with it at CCL. The centerpiece of the film was the part of the school day called Class Meeting, where students could share thoughts about their interactions with each other and find their way to better understanding about each other and themselves. I rarely see adults engage in such productive, respectful discourse — and these were YOUNG kids!
P.J. (now Peter) during the final year at Classroom on Carpenter Lane
So my heart is full right now
— of compassion for my delicate-featured little boy who so wanted to be knowledgeable and powerful but needed to know how to balance those urges with behavior that would also make him a good friend;
— of continuing reverence for Dee Haines and her non-judgmental, never humiliating, but always lovingly firm and clear guidance and instruction;
— and of gratitude to the filmmakers for having the presence of mind to capture this extraordinary educational environment on film.
Sitting with Peter this morning over coffee, still talking about all the thoughts percolating after watching the movie, he said, “I loved the movie, but seeing it through a filtered lens was not as warm as actually being in that house with those people. You had to be there to get that feeling.” I am so glad for every child who got to experience that warmth.
I am grateful to Gretel, for her testimony, and to Peter, for being willing to talk so astutely about his journey.
Making this film has taken many years for me, starting from the time (26 years ago!) when I felt (like Gretel) that Dee was “my angel” for accepting and loving and understanding our own challenging son. The members of the audience at First Screening! included people with many years of history with Dee, and people who had never heard of her. All of us witnessed, not only a master teacher at work, but a compelling vision of the kind of learning communities we want for all children.
