Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Sociodramatic Play and Literacy
Sociodramatic play is a very important part of literacy in a preschool classroom. Having the opportunity to use the imagination to create new and original stories is essential for a young person. In the sociodramatic play area in the classroom, children are able to use their creativity and imagination to be whoever they want to be and make new and exciting games for themselves and their friends. Many children fall into the trap of sticking to societal stereotypes and reenacting the same types of scenes in every classroom. Teachers should take the opportunity to show their classrooms the different types of play scenes that they may not be able to think of on their own. Taking children to different places such as a construction site or an art gallery will give the children new ideas to act out during play. Teachers should also give them different kinds of props for the play area to spark their interest and guide them in a new direction. Providing children with differing ideas and new vocabulary words to use during sociodramatic play can be a great help to them and will scaffold their thinking in a new direction!
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Children should feel free to explore and use their imagination when playing. Sociodramatic play is something important teachers should encourage. It helps children develop new ideas and use new words.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it is important to try to help children avoid only playing stereotypical roles in pretend play. One idea for alleviating this is having guest speakers who do not work in a stereotypical field for their gender; for example, a female police office or fire fighter, or a male nurse or secretary.
ReplyDeleteThe way that a teacher presents the Pretend Play area will determine how the children will respond. If the teacher limits the dramatic play area to be included in the kitchen area with mainly dresses and aprons, I can see why children would act out stereotypes. Instead, teachers have the opportunity to invite children to perform in many different roles: self created and teacher directed. Teachers need to be aware of the stereotypes they are introducing with the dramatic play area. Choosing with intention is key.
ReplyDeleteI love your point about teachers giving children new vocabulary and scaffolding in their dramatic play experience. As we know, children learn through "doing", so being able to associate physical action and role-playing with new vocabulary is great for children to personally make meaning and learn.
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