Hello everyone, it’s great to be back writing again in 2020! I have not kept up with the blog due to holidays and lots and lots of family birthdays, as well as commitments to my school (especially with the basketball season kicking off), and some exciting projects which I hope to unveil in the near future. All I can say is it is nice to have time again to share my ideas with you all, and I look forward to creating more content and helping educators and children learn through games for decades to come!

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It is hard to underscore the importance of storytelling. Through oral tradition, creation myths, stories of gods, and parables were passed down from generation to generation. It was a sacred duty to be the one who memorized the stories that contained the culture and wisdom of the ancestors. These stories were the most effective technology of the time to teach life lessons through metaphors and symbolism. It is so much more effective to internalize a concept like honesty through an epic story than to be told that one should be honest.

From oral traditions of the past to modern-day books, the main engine in which these messages and lessons are cemented into the audience is through their own imagination. The better the storyteller or writer, the greater the world that is created in the audience member’s mind. Imagination is a form of visualization; it is the creation of fantasy anchored to reality. When we visualize our performance as athletes, in some ways it has been shown to be as effective as physical practice. When we visualize and imagine a story that contains life lessons and wisdom, we are internalizing the application of those messages in our mind, which the author or storyteller hopes translates into real world application. We want a story about honesty to create more people who are honest in real life.

For anyone who has spent time observing children at play, especially times of free play (like recess duty), they have seen children using their imagination to create different worlds out of fields and gyms. Sound effects, special movements, props, and often rules are quickly created and agreed upon between the members inhabiting their newly created world. It is fantastic when we see each individual has their own take of what the imagined world is, while simultaneously agreeing upon enough of it that they can all inhabit it together. It is also interesting to observe how fervent the same children can be if one person’s understanding varies too much from another individual or the group.

Many times a disagreement between the children originates from some type of miscommunication. Sometimes the conflict is as simple as one child did not hear another child properly enough, so when the context is repeated and heard clearly, they are in agreement again and continue to play. However, when children with different language abilities are playing together, the chances of miscommunication (and arguments) increases. A child may not have a vocabulary articulate enough to express exactly what they are picturing, and the mismatch with the other children is enough to cause a rift between them. However, if a child has more serious issues with language and communication, their ability to express the detail and nuance of what is pictured in their mind is seriously compromised, and the chance that they can share and play in this imagined world with others is also compromised.

Something that can help is if all the children agree on a preset imaginative world (like the Star Wars or Harry Potter universe), which provides a framework for the students to agree upon. That can serve as a bridge between less verbal children so they can traverse the imagined world with their friends with less difficulty and more fun. We hope these types of experiences, when repeated over and over again, support the camaraderie and friendship of those participating. As adults, an excellent place to provide this framework is in the Montessori physical education classroom. Our lessons, which are anchored to concepts from the classroom, provide the framework in which the students will use their imagination. In this way, we allow the students their free time to truly explore play at recess, and we also provide them with guided play to help students who need assistance within group imaginative games.

But there are so many more benefits to a Montessori PE game than that for the student who struggles with language. To be human is to have an imagination. Therefore, play may be the best language we have available that anyone and everyone can understand. Play and imagination are inseparable, so if we can use play to spark imagination, we can communicate with anyone. Through our Montessori Physical Education class, we can provide a framework for students to play. We can reap the benefits of using play as a form of communication that is accessible to all our students. They will use their imagination to cement their learning of the classroom concept, and they will traverse in a shared experience that builds camaraderie with their peers.

Like an excellent story, that sounds good to me.