Risk-Taking is Pure Child's Play

I am a Child Development student from Seneca College in Toronto, and I am currently taking a course called Environmental Design. This blog aims curate on different elements of a child's learning environment, specifically those that encourage children to take risks. As well as ways it risk-taking can be encouraged safely. This is a topic I personally enjoy pursuing because I think that taking risks during play is an important part of the learning experience that comes from play. I will also be documenting the constructive experiences in my classroom, to show you the type of risk taking I take in my own learning.

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My Future Co-op experience at Camp Beaumont

The perfect choice for campers who want to try their hand at as many of our exciting activities as possible.

The creation of this blog has actually inspired me to take risks with my future co-op positions this summer. My original plan was to stay in the city with my boyfriend and roommates in our apartment, and enjoy the summer in Toronto, while working full-time. The position I desired for was summer camp counselor position, because camp is the best place to work in the summer! An environment that encourages all who participate, to learn and take risks without worrying about the grade you're going to receive for your performance. Unfortunately the job search has turned up kind of dry in the city. So I took the risk of applying for an International Summer Camp Coach opportunity in the UK. And guess what? I GOT IT! I will be working on an international stage with children and staff from around the world, engaging in amazing athletic activities I've always wanted to practice on a regular basis. I've never traveled to Europe or even on a commercial plane before, so this whole experience is entirely new, except for the camp part. From the moment I considered this an option I knew that if I didn't go for this opportunity this year, it may make it harder for me to work in other countries after I receive my degree; which is something I aspire to do. But now I'm going to get that whole "prior experience" component that employers in my field often look for, and some valuable ones at best. So here it goes, no turning back, I'm giving it all I've got. Failure is just not an option.

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On the last day of class in Environmental Design as a class we decided to revisit the small world creation experience, but this time we brought in our own materials.

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Social media is pivotal tool in a lot of students' lives, not all, but all of the students in my class have at least one social media account. In spite of this our professor likes to utilize social media forums such as twitter to provoke constructive conversations. Unfortunately on the day of this conversation I wasn't able to provide my personal input because I was occupied with honoring the risk-taking lifestyle my grandfather had lead as a child in order for me to even be alive. So I felt I was still apart of the conversation even though I wasn't present in the internet realm.

Personally even with keeping up with this blog I find it hard to always find time to curate, because I'm rather focused on the world around me than the world inside tumblr. This is not meant to offend others who do attend their time to blogs, I think it's great to share thoughts in this format, I just have a hard time being consistently present in it. But it's a quality about my life I am comfortable with.

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The roots behind this blog...

As much as I have been long intrigued by the way children find ways to take risks within their play, I would have never created a blog about it if it wasn't a project I was assigned to in my Environmental Design class. It's a course I'm taking at Seneca College in Toronto within the Child Development program. If anyone reading this blog is interested in working with or teaching children I strongly recommend getting into this program or something similar to it before heading off to university/teacher's college, because programs like these will show the open-ended options you have career-wise. So thanks to this course I was able to explore and get excited about a topic that has long fascinated me. So the next several posts are some snapshots of the classroom style I am in, while still getting a degree. It all started with our professor giving us the task to create a small world.

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http://www.imaginationplayground.com/images/content/2/9/2960/An-investigation-Of-The-Status-Of-Outdoor-Play.pdf

ABSTRACT This study discusses the extent to which children in the USA today participate in active, outdoor play, compared with the previous generation. Eight hundred and thirty mothers nationwide were surveyed regarding their active, outdoor play experiences as children, as well as their children’s play experiences today. The mother’s play experiences, compared with the child’s, clearly indicate that children today spend considerably less time playing outdoors than their mothers did as children.The study reveals several fundamental reasons for this decline, including dependence on television and digital media, and concerns about crime and safety. The study also conveys findings related to the frequent use of electronic diversions and discusses several suggestions for early childhood professionals, classroom teachers, and parents for fostering the child’s enjoyment for outdoor play.

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Music Therapist Plays A Song With His Patient During "Walk for Muscular Dystrophy" In Nova Scotia.

Music therapy teacher Tom Curry performs "Ho Hey" by The Lumineers with the help of Van Bernar, a boy with muscular dystrophy. Recorded during the Walk for Muscular Dystrophy in Halifax, Nova Scotia, singing provides a social outlet for kids like Van.

Music therapy is a fascinating field of intervention and when it can be used to help children find their voice and use it, proving how powerful music can truly be.

Source: http://www.wimp.com/musculardystrophy/

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The Beatles- A Day in the Life

I couldn't have a list of risk-taking songs and not include The Beatles, so #4 is A Day in the Life. The Beatles were one of the many risk-takers in music during the 60s, and this song is a major representation of why taking risks in their composing was so important to making them iconic McCartney-Lennon creations including this one. In the beginning Lennon starts singing in a ballad-like tempo but about a really dark topic, and creates what the book Rolling Stone The Beatles 100 Greatest Songs describes as an "Elvis echo" that sends this shiver down my spine. Next the song transcends into McCartney's little bit about falling out of bed, and then shortly after that phrase begins the strange growing sound you are hearing. This is an orchestra playing every note in the scale of their instrument from the lowest to the highest, in a studio full of balloons. Then at the end of the whole you hear the same process but at the end is this is a loud, resonating E-major chord played on seven different pianos. All your left with is this sound crash that hangs in the air for 53 seconds (Rolling Stones, 2010).

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Space Oddity

Song #3 is a link to Chris Hadfield's cover of David Bowie's Space oddity, this song creates a window into the life of an astronaut. This is a great depiction of the risks these extraordinary people like Chris Hadfield are taking every day while they are in space, they are seriously natural-born risk-takers. They make a living off of going where few people get the opportunity to...so far. As much as I love the voice of David Bowie and the mystical feeling he puts into the song, I felt it was more appropriate to present the song through the voice of a true astronaut and one of Canada's ultimate risk-takers.

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Destroy Rebuild Until God Shows - I'm Here To Take The Sky

This song is definitely from my era of teenage angst and what not, but I still feel it connects with the idea of risk-taking. However I still love the inspiring message it brings.

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Lights - Lions

I'm a very musically inclined individual who has delved into any and every genre I can expose myself to. I like to think I take risks with the music I am able to connect with. In spite of this passion of mine, I will be posting a few songs that I think create an image of risk-taking from a child's and an adult's perspective.

This song in particular certainly touches my inner child, and the feeling I'd experience when I used to climb really high up this coniferous tree in my backyard. As I got closer to reaching the top I knew the scarier it would be if I were to fall, but would that stop me from climbing? Hell no, I  still wanted that feeling of being at the top. The sense accomplishment and calm you feel from the ability to look at the world from the top of a tree, definitely outweighs the fear of falling. Which goes to show "You don't have to feel safe to feel unafraid,".

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An inspiring photo that inspires me to take risks with my learning even with skills that I may already think I'm not good at. This leads me to thinking about how we can encourage children to take these kinds of risks in their own lives. The risks that get them engaged in a new sport, playing a new instrument, or trying out for the rugby team. We need to learn that the word CAN'T or CANNOT can be quite damaging to ones motivation.

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Source: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/316823-people-with-great-passions-people-who-accomplish-great-deeds

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I always did something I was a little not ready to do. I think that’s how you grow. When there’s that moment of ‘Wow, I’m not really sure I can do this,’ and you push through those moments, that’s when you have a breakthrough." - Marissa Mayer

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/17/tech/mayer-yahoo-career-advice/

This quote reminds me of Lev Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development theory and the feeling we get when we're trying something new, or something the same but at a new difficulty.

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“Don't be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/risk-taking

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“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.” ― Helen Keller

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/risk-taking