The play's the thing : teachers' roles in children's play / Elizabeth Jones, Gretchen Reynolds ; foreword to the first edition by Elizabeth Prescott ; foreword to the second edition by Kathy Hirsh-Pasek and Roberta Michnick Golinkoff.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Jones, Elizabeth, 1930-

Contributor:

Reynolds, Gretchen.

James Hosmer Penniman Book Fund.

Series:

Early childhood education series (Teachers College Press)

Early childhood education series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Play--United States.

Play.

United States.

Education, Preschool--United States.

Education, Preschool.

Teaching.

Physical Description:

xv, 152 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm.

Edition:

Second edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Teachers College Press, [2011]

Summary:

Responding to current debates on the place of play in schools, the authors have extensively revised their groundbreaking book. They explain how and why play is a critical part of children's development, as well as the central role adults have to promote it. This classic textbook and popular practitioner resource offers systematic descriptions and analyses of the different roles a teacher adopts to support play, including those of stage manager, mediator, player, scribe, assessor, communicator, and planner. This new edition has been expanded to include significant developments in the broadening landscape of early learning and care, such as assessment, diversity and culture, intentional teaching, inquiry, and the construction of knowledge.

Contents:

Introduction : Settings ; Why play? ; Teacher roles

1. Understanding and supporting children's play : Stages of play ; Modes of representation ; The content of play ; Master players ; But what do I do while they're playing?

2. Teacher as stage manager : Clarifying figure-ground relationships ; Providing enough props ; Providing enough time

3. Teacher as mediator : Teaching conflict-resolution skills ; Complicating play to keep it safe ; Problem-solving to sustain play

4. Teacher as player : "Call Mikey" ; "Don't let the babies die" ; Shopping at the superstore ; Picnic ; The fish camp ; Why teachers play

5. Teacher behavior that interrupts play : Interrupting for one's own pleasure in play ; Interrupting to teach rules ; Interrupting to teach concepts ; Building on children's play

6. Teacher as scribe : Representing children's play ; Sharing representations with children ; Stimulating writing as play and communication ; Writing can be read

7. Teacher as assessor and communicator : Assessment as part of planning ; Can I learn to appreciate this child more? ; Building on a child's strengths ; Who is this child? ; Communicating to parents and other adults ; Communicating to children ; Accountability: how do we know they're learning?

8. Teacher as planner : Emergent curriculum ; Looking at the environment ; Naming children's playscripts ; Introducing a new topic ; Planning for literacy as a playscript ; Play-debrief-replay

9. Playing attention to play : Supporting children who have not yet mastered play ; Supporting master players ; Teacher role development ; A place in the world for children

10. A sense of the past and the future : The logic of human relationships ; Stories, images, and the creation of culture ; Teacher as keeper of metaphor ; From here and now to there and then: building bridges of meaning.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the James Hosmer Penniman Book Fund.

ISBN:

080775241X

9780807752418

OCLC:

723141374

Publisher Number:

99946216741