What makes a difference on the playground?

Playworks coaches have a unique perspective on a student’s day. Children’s true personalities, often through stories and questions, are particularly present during play at recess. When we ask ourselves, how can we tell we are making a difference? We usually end up with standard measurements (surveys, etc.), but it’s the little things--moments with students on the playground that we have a harder time quantifying--that make every day meaningful.

How readily does a student smiles. How quick she is to join a game, how open or guarded he is while talking to peers or adults.  These cues often tell us more than measures of academic success or how much improvement a particular student shows at a certain game.  They are subtle indicators of kids states of mind, which are influenced by innumerable factors.  Home environment, bullying, relationships with friends and family, how much sleep he/she got last night.  These impacts are not measureable, but we do notice, as educators, the subtle signs that mean our kids have other things than school on their minds.  For the most part, teachers are limited in how they can manage subtle changes in kids behavior.  Teachers have material they must teach, other kids who need their attention, and a schedule to keep.  

The time Playworks coaches spend with kids everyday at recess becomes that much more important in this context.  Recess provides more freedom than time in the classroom, which means that students have time to talk with their peers, to open up if they need to, to decompress, and to relax. Though we have games set up to play with students and we hope all students are engaged in some way, coaches are also available to listen to students who simply need an adult to talk to on their own terms.  

Coaches, while still authority figures in a lot of ways, are often viewed by students as available and fun.  With the playful nature of coach’s role, students feel safe expressing themselves in ways they may not normally do so around other adults with whom they have a more formal relationship.  

Most of the time, this is incredibly positive.  Kids can run and scream and express excitement.  They tell us how much fun it is to play, or how they can't contain themselves at the thought of whatever exciting event may be happening at home, a birthday party, or a trip to grandma's house.

Other times, coaches are confronted with distress, an incident of bullying they can't tell their teacher about, or something happening at home.  These types of communication are important, too, because they allow us to see problems kids might otherwise keep to themselves.  Once problems are out in the open, we can help kids find the resources they need to address those problems.

That role, and the unique relationships our coaches form with students is one of the intangible things about Playworks that makes having our program at a school so valuable, and immeasurably important.