ERIC Number: EJ1107488
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2015
Pages: 13
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1358-684X
EISSN: N/A
Gambling with Nonsense: Play and the Secondary English Classroom
Garfath, Toby
Changing English: Studies in Culture and Education, v22 n1 p112-124 2015
Dominant and common-sense contemporary conceptions of practice tend to frame the emotional volatility of the classroom--most commonly explored in discussions about student behaviour--as a fundamental obstacle to teaching and learning. The "outstanding" classroom is both orderly and, paradoxically perhaps, characterised by its passionate, and vocal, student engagement. In this piece I draw on D.W. Winnicott's writing about play and aggression, exploring his ideas in the context of my work with two classes as a secondary English teacher at an inner-city comprehensive; doing so, I attempt to reframe both my own and my students' affectively charged experience of the classroom as valuable rather than problematic. I posit certain moments of playfulness as a kind of pedagogical patience: less an evasion of, or a disruption to, the business of the curriculum, and more a route to meaningful engagement with it.
Descriptors: Play, Secondary School Curriculum, English Instruction, Classroom Techniques, Classroom Environment, Teaching Experience, Teaching Skills, Teaching Methods, Teaching Styles, Educational Practices, Educational Strategies, Aptitude Treatment Interaction, Foreign Countries
Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 325 Chestnut Street Suite 800, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Fax: 215-625-2940; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: United Kingdom
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A