The Intersection Between Work and Play
“In times of stress, the best thing we can do for each other is to listen with our ears and our hearts and to be assured that our questions are just as important as our answers.
”
Generation Z is by far the most anxious generation to date. The sheer amount of “stuff” happening in an average kid’s life is pretty outrageous. I mean, when I was a kid, I picked one or two things I really wanted to do and the rest of the time I was riding my bike in the driveway, playing in the grass outside my house or creating Barbie houses with my friends. Then there were times when I didn’t do any of those things. I simply sat and daydreamed. Sitting was okay. It seems that nowadays, sitting is bad. Not actually sitting of course, but this idea of nothing to do and letting your mind wander to a creative space that isn’t controlled by an assignment or a deadline. Every ounce of the day is taken up by constant stimulation, noise and to-do’s.
I am one of those teachers who takes the arts VERY seriously. Admittedly, too seriously. To me, the arts are a subject just like Math or English. There is skill involved, language to learn and a history to understand. We ask kids to learn square roots and grammar, why can’t we ask them to learn about objectives in a scene and the skill of improv? There is nothing more horrifying to me than asking students what they did in previous drama classes or in an after school program and they say, “Oh, we just played games and stuff!” No...GAH… why?
On one particular day, I was awaiting a group of middle school students to arrive to my class. We were working on scenes and I was so excited to do an activity with them around motivated movement. The lesson plan was great, if I do say so myself. Well, want to talk about motivated movement? Four boys come running in, chasing the one in the front to try and get his muffin. Then three girls come traipsing in, throw their backpacks on the ground and start practicing a dance routine from Lord only knows where. Next, a group of students chatting about how terrible a spanish quiz was. Finally, the stragglers. It was a total cacophony of middle school-ness.
“5,4,3,2...1”... usually silence begins to take hold. But no. Not today, Satan.
“And a hush falls over the crowd”... nothing
“Clap once if you can hear me” … 1 kid claps.
Eventually I get enough of their attention to start the lesson, but it doesn’t last long. Within the first five minutes I hear distinct chatter about that stupid muffin and kids doing dances together from across the circle. So I sit them all down.
“What’s up friends? Why are we so unfocused today?”
A multitude of excuses come spewing out of their mouths. I’ve heard them all before.
“I’m tired”... Me too kid
“I’m hungry” … Me too kid
“I had too much sugar”... I wish kid.
“I feel like I’ve been a good kid for days and I just need to fool around a little bit.”
I ask for clarification.
“I feel like a rules robot and my head hurts.”
We discussed all the things he was doing in school and after: assessments in school, Hebrew school studying, piano lessons, sports he didn’t want to play. All the other kids sympathize. Misery loves company. I know full well I need to take some of this rant with a grain of salt. I know, I know… the kid probably begged his parents to play that sport and now he is complaining about it, but in this moment, I saw the stress pouring out of this kid. He looked nervous and fed up. I saw so much of my twenty-four year-old self in his eyes; working so hard, wanting everything to be perfect and yet never feeling like I had a moment to just be a young 20 something, living in NYC. It broke my heart.
I made a deal with my students that day: 20 minutes for my lesson, 20 minutes for them to play some (structured) theater games.
To be honest, I constantly struggle with the balance between work and play when teaching. I believe the lessons and the skills should be at the forefront of everything I do. They will understand theater, dammit! But also, they need to be kids; to laugh, play games, be competitive, be seriously silly. So maybe the new version of “sitting” is those times when the rules robot doesn’t rear its ugly head.
