A year of work in progress – day 67 (Learning to live, learning to play)

Day 67 – 14 April 2014 and day 12 of the A to Z Blogging Challenge.

Before I start, lunch is a useful weapon, learn to use it wisely.

In a previous piece ‘Learning to Play’ , I described how in our doctors’ surgery there is a small wooden box that sits in the waiting room. It is about a metre cubed and is made of a white wood like birch or pine as if it was made by Ikea.

On each of the faces that you can see there is something interesting bright and colourful. On the sides there are slots cut out with wooden beads that can be moved around or metal ones that can be dragged with a magnetic pen or Catherine wheels that spin by the magic of gravity. The forms are simple and the colours are primary, green, blue, red and yellow.

On the top there is a twisted array of coiled and interlocking wires and wooden beads in the same colours that resemble a futuristic city in the sky with skyscrapers and monorails and flying cars.

When the children see it they come across and play. There are no written rules, no explanations and no guidance. They are just not necessary. Children know how to play instinctively and their interaction helps them to learn the basic interplay of living in a society. If there are other children a community of interest is formed around the cube. Its members may come and go but the rules remain the same.

Where I work there is a large concrete box. It’s tens of metres tall and a hundred metres long and is made of grey concrete and glass and steel. It stands as a testament to mid-20^th century British brutalism architecture.

In each of the rooms you can see that there is something interesting going on. There are wooden desks with computers and phones surrounded by walls filled with files and covered in notices. The forms are simple and the colours are drab and muted.

Throughout there is a twisted array of coiled and interlocking wires and service channels that resemble the entrails of a mighty beast, hidden within its internal skeleton.

The adults come in every day. There are written rules, policies and procedures. The place won’t work without them. It is as if we have forgotten how to interact.

When did we lose our ability to learn through play?

We spent all day today in Durham Town Hall up on the mezzanine. It was the first of a two day planning marathon looking at people today and technology tomorrow. We had a little homework to do. Unfortunately I’d forgotten to put a start time on the agenda and so we wandered in between 8:30 and 9:30.

We started with a simple topic to ease us into it which turned into the nightmare trying to match resources against demand when we weren’t that clear about the latter. At least we came to realise it. We covered a diverse range of subjects including agile, apprentices, equality and diversity, management development and out of hours coverage.

We also started to think about what our production lines would be if our business was more like a car manufacturer. It was an analogy that didn’t really work.

Learning points for today: Saying I’m playing devil’s advocate means that you’re just about to scupper the idea; Saying with all due respect means you’re just about to slag someone off and; the portions at Bimbi’s fish and chip shop are massive.

Today’s enjoyment rating 9/10 – heavy conversations.