HI! MY NAME IS BRON, THANK YOU FOR VISITING MY BLOG.

I began my teaching career in 2003. My post graduate Bachelor of Education followed a degree in Multicultural Studies. Cultural inclusion and sensitivity has always been a focus of my teacher tool kit. I have most often found myself teaching upper primary, and over the course of almost 20 years I have noticed a dramatic shift in the nature of teaching. There is far less time spent now on age appropriate play, and far more spent on high school readiness. 

More recently, as a mother to a preschooler, I have noticed this change again, far less time spent on age appropriate play and more spent on school readiness. It is almost as if, at every stage of their schooling, children are being asked not to enjoy and experience the stage they are at, but to be ever reaching toward the next step. 

I have been confronted with this in my daughter’s education already. Hearing an Early Learning Centre Director tell me that children “can’t just play outside all day as we have an academic program to run” was enough to send me off searching for an ELC better suited to my daughter’s needs and more aligned with my philosophy of childhood. 

In preparation for returning to the classroom following maternity leave, and knowing that I wanted to include as much play in my classroom routine as possible, I began to search for literature in support of what I felt to be true; play is learning, play matters, play is enough.

I participated in an online conference called Play First, featuring educators, researchers and experts from around the world. From this, I was led to the work of Pasi Sahlberg and his book, Let the Children Play. This outstanding read, full of research from around the world, helped solidify my view that NOT incorporating more play into my classroom routine would actually be detrimental to my students' learning outcomes. 

This blog is the continuation of this journey. It is so easy to read the research and be filled with ideas, but the reality of teaching and life in the classroom can mean that play is one of the first things to go. Along with sharing interesting research on the benefits of play for children of all ages, my hope is to also share the practical ways I have incorporated play into my own classroom and to share inspiring ideas from other educators. You will find ideas for all areas of the curriculum, including literacy, numeracy, STEAM and embedding First Nations’ perspectives - and much more!

New posts every Thursday!

Thank you for letting me be a part of your journey into playful teaching!