Great news has reached us that one of our very own Playmakers – Dwayne Nunez – has been awarded the 2012 Emerging Professional Award by Men Teach of New England! This award honors male teachers in the early education field in New England who are making valuable contributions in their classrooms and in their communities. Dwayne will receive his award this month at the annual conference of the Massachusetts Association for the Education of Young Children.
An early education teacher in Boston Public Schools (BPS) since 2008, Dwayne has made it his personal mission to create joyful, loving, empowering, and creative classrooms where children are nurtured to reach their full potential. Not only does he incorporate this approach into gross motor play activities with children in the classroom, in the gym, and outside on the playground, he also weaves it into his curriculum delivery as well. For example, Dwayne encourages his students to make up creative movements, such as a kick or arm-thrust into the air, to match syllables as they break down words during a phonological awareness exercise.
This infusion of physical movement and fun into the teaching of a critical literacy concept keeps the children actively engaged and improves their learning retention. It also leads to peals of laughter that spill out into the hallways of the Haynes Early Education Center of BPS.
Dwayne’s thoughtful, innovative methods have helped him build the kinds of transformative relationships with his students that help them thrive and succeed in school. Even his non-instructional choices have an effect.
One day a student of his told him that there were no important people in his community. When Dwayne asked him why he thought that, the little boy replied that important people wear ties and people in his neighborhood hardly ever wear ties. Dwayne, who was from this little boy’s neighborhood, came to school the next day in a tie. He’s worn one to school every day since. Recently, one boy student, wishing to emulate his favorite teacher, marched proudly into class wearing his own tie. In small and big ways, Dwayne is setting a powerful example.
Dwayne has been a tireless supporter of the Life is good Playmakers movement since 2006. He is a dependable volunteer at every Life is good Festival. And as a part-time trainer for the Playmakers, he has shared his wisdom with other teachers and providers, most recently leading sessions as part of our February certification training for the BPS’ Behavioral Health Services. It is great to see Dwayne’s many contributions recognized with this prestigious award.
A letter from Washington DC Playmaker Cathy Morrison.
Thanks to the Playmakers, I have fallen in love all over again! This time last year, I found myself in quite a rut and stuck in the mud. Every morning, I would go into the classroom and greet the little ones who had been entrusted to my care with a weak, hurried smile wondering with dread how many crises I would have to deal with, how many tears I would have to wipe, how many more minutes I would have to keep up the happy face until dismissal. I’m not sure when or how my love for teaching started diminishing, but I could feel the fire burning low and after twenty years of teaching I was ready to walk away from what has been my life passion. Then one day as I was searching the internet for lesson plan ideas to inspire my students, I tripped upon a link for the Life is good Playmakers and that began my journey to be a Life is good Playmaker.
I signed up for training hoping to find a few ideas to get my class through the daily stress of the classroom. Play seemed like a good place to start. Over the years, my closet has become crammed full of all sorts of equipment, balls, jump ropes, dolls, trucks, and building blocks. At playtime I would pull these out and tell the kids to play for the allotted fifteen minutes. When I put them back in the closet, I would always make sure I kept the big bag holding the parachute carefully hidden. Why? The beautiful colorful parachute was the bane of my existence. Every time I pulled it out the students cheered, they LOVED the bright colors flowing in the air; but I had grown to hate it. To me the parachute meant chaos and tears. Someone would always get hurt or frustrated or have their feelings bruised and the wonderful flowing colors of the day that we imagined would end in a pool of tears with me feeling very tense and snapping at the students “if we can’t play nicely with the toys, we’ll have to put them away”. And with that I’d take the parachute and toss it back in the closet. Over time the parachute came out less and less until finally it was hidden and forgotten.
So you can imagine my dread when I walked into the first day of Playmakers training to see a HUGE parachute on the ground, all spread out with its beautiful primary colors gleaming. The one piece of equipment that had caused so much chaos in my classroom was inviting me to pick it up and engage with it. Thankfully over the course of the training, I began to see why the kids cheered and loved the parachute so much. It was indeed FUN and made you actively engage and interact with your friends in such a way that you immersed yourself into this colorful world. As I laughed and cheered while we played with it, I felt the spark of love for the parachute rekindling something deep down in me, re-lighting my passion for teaching and my trust in my gifts and talents to do it well. I knew then I wasn’t ready to give up on inspiring and teaching the little ones who were entrusted to me each day.
I now use the parachute every day. It’s part of our community. It’s the place where we reconnect as a classroom community. It’s where we say good morning to ourselves, our bodies, our friends and our world. It’s where we learn to take care of each other and keep each other safe as we wash our “smooshies” in the pot. It’s where we learn to use our voices to share what we want the parachute to become, whether a fruit bowl or a racetrack or a wave-maker. It’s home base and the place where we go when we’re not sure of ourselves during more active games. In fact, it’s home. Bringing back the parachute has reminded me that as teachers we are charged with guiding our students to do all these things – to reconnect, to take care of each other, to self-actualize and become advocates for ourselves and the ones we care about. All the things we do on the parachute are what living in a community is all about.
So yes, I have fallen in love all over again with the parachute, but more importantly, I have fallen in love again with teaching and with the passion to provide my students with a solid community where they can grow into wonderful, amazing confident adults who will always remember the value of PLAY!
“One person can make a difference and every person should try,” said President Kennedy. Jen Medeiros-Crabbe provides us with a sparkling example. Jen, a school psychologist in the Boston Public School (BPS) system, is the first critical link in a strong, lengthening chain created between the Life is good Playmakers and the BPS’s Behavioral Health Services department. Behavioral Health Services staff provide essential mental health services for some 55,000 children throughout the city’s school system.
Jen first applied for a Playmakers Basic Training back in 2010. She also recruited six other department members to attend our fall training that year. This initial enthusiastic group of new Playmakers began implementing their learning in impressive ways while also encouraging the department to apply for a grant that would provide training and support for the entire department. And that’s just how it has played out, with BHS gaining a grant that enabled fully sixty members – essentially the entire department – to attend a two-day Playmakers Advanced Training on February 3-4 in Norwood, MA.
Our Playmakers staff is now providing follow-up coaching and support for this talented group to ensure the most effective transfer of learning to their work with children. BHS Assistant Director Andria Amador, a recognized innovator in delivering mental health services to children, is a key partner in developing the ongoing support system for this important group of school psychologists and newly certified Playmakers. We look forward to growing the partnership that Jen began and ensuring Boston’s schoolchildren have the best support possible from this skilled and dedicated group of child care professionals.
Below is a beautiful essay written by Antonia Nichols that captures the true essence of what the Playmaker spirit is all about. Antonia is a senior in high school who dedicates much of her life to helping the most vulnerable among us. Her attitude of optimism makes her one special young woman
Shall we skip?
Henry and I were walking in the dark after we finished watching a movie. We drifted towards his beat-up truck on the dirt road past the church. This road is something special; it is not just dirt and rocks. He stopped and his eyes shifted to meet mine.
“Do you want to skip?” he asked already knowing the answer.
“…Yes, of course” I replied, surprised that he knew me enough to offer.
This road is my skipping road, a road that is often filled with echoes of familiar laughter. It is a road I have run down blowing bubbles in the spring, sliding on ice in the winter, and always vow to skip down in the summer. Only on a small island like this could I make such a promise to myself. Every time I travel the distance from Erica’s house to the line where the paved road starts I must skip. Skipping brings a feeling like flying, just a moment of freedom from the strain of the world. I am a person with skin that uncontrollably permits feelings and senses to enter my body, making me incapable of ignoring others and hopeful that one-day every child can have that skipping feeling of invincible joy.
Taking a moment to fly with my heart doesn’t mean forgetting, it’s just giving myself the power to reboot and continue strong. While skipping, never forgotten memories flash through my mind vividly with each step. Memories of voices saying “we don’t recycle in this school”, visions of a child with Down syndrome struggling to understand, tense feelings from debates of seemingly impenetrable poverty and Kenneth, the young war-weary Ugandan boy’s eyes glistening in the sun, deepened with fear and intensified with pain, all rush through my mind. With such images of struggle it is seemingly impossible to imagine a carefree world. Yet when I skip down this road that feeling of emptiness, helplessness, is momentarily forgotten. Heading towards that paved road I am reminded why I believe in a passion for life, a love of people, and an idealistic humanitarian world. I know that kindness can spread like wild fire. The emptiness will never completely leave me; but for that moment there is hope that we can build communities in which people step up to help one another. For that moment I know that the knowledge I will gain will leave me with the tools to help those who hurt and have no voice. When I skip that little spark burning inside, the one that tells me anything is possible increases in size. Doubts slip out of my mind, and I know with my determination, education and passion I can change the world by touching others.
The boy with whom I walked towards that truck may not have wanted to skip, but he knows me and cared enough to let me fly once again.
“Do you want to skip?”
“… Yes, of course”
by Antonia Nichols
Here's Antonia at the 2010 Life is good Festival with Ziggy Marley.
In early October, I decided to listen to my Playfulness Plan and go on a “little” vacation with my wife, Dianne. We headed over to Tanzania to try and tackle a challenge that has been on our minds the past few years – to do our best to hike up Mount Kilimanjaro. At 5,895m (about 19,300 feet), Kilimanjaro is the highest mountain in Africa. I remember sitting in my 7th grade global studies class learning about the mountain and the beautiful glaciers on top, and a seed was definitely unconsciously planted to visit it one day. And here we were, years. later.
For 4.5 days, we slowly hiked up the mountain. Our mantra was, “Pole pole,” which is Swahili for “slowly, slowly.” As we tackled rocks, dirt, alpine deserts, and the occasional rain/snow storm, I chatted with our guides about music, life in Tanzania, politics, and family. On October 10th, Dianne and I made it to the top, short of breath but in awe and deep humility of the natural beauty around us.
The entire trip, best exemplified by the people we met along the way, was a true testament to the mantras that optimism has no borders, and can certainly take you anywhere. We certainly couldn’t have summited Kilimanjaro nor had such a good time doing it without the support and friendship of folks we met along the way. And a special thanks to friends and family – through their generous donations, I raised $1,400 for the Life is good Kids Foundation to help kids overcome poverty, illness, and violence. We couldn’t have done it without your support either!
Rolland and Dianne with Life is good's icon of optimism Jake, who provided plenty of playfulness along the way.
Playmakers Village Opens in Danbury, CT Part of state-wide implementation of Playmakers approach
Steve Gross delivers the keynote at the opening of the Harmony Center in Danbury, CT.
Family and Children’s Aid of Danbury, CT (FCA) has been a partner of Life is good Playmakers since 2005 (when we were known as Project Joy) and is a remarkable ongoing success story. FCA provides high quality programs and services to heal and support children and families in crisis throughout western Connecticut. On Saturday, October 15, FCA invited Chief Playmaker Steve Gross to deliver the keynote at A Night in the Neighborhood, a dedication ceremony marking the official grand opening of its brand-new, 16,000 square foot Harmony Center. The centerpiece of the new building is the Playmakers Village, a beautifully-designed, wide-open interior space where children will experience the healing play that FCA staff learned from our Playmakers and where that staff will also hold training retreats for other providers from all over the state who will then implement the Playmakers approach in their centers.
FCA has been conducting the Playmakers Powerplay program with children every week since 2006; thousands of children have experienced this means of “therapeutic recreation” — a key component of FCA’s treatment program for children with significant social and emotional challenges. The excellent results that FCA achieved using our approach in their extended day treatment programs for children adopted wider attention as a best-practices approach among other agencies. Over time this led the Connecticut Department of Children and Families to implement the approach in all 26 state-supported extended day treatment programs in every corner of the state.
The crowd gets playful on the floor of the Playmakers Village at the new Harmony Center.
In order to provide Playmaker certification training to child care providers in agencies all across the state, our Playmakers team will soon be providing advanced training for FCA. The FCA staff will become, in essence, a supplemental training staff for LIG Playmakers, enabling us to keep pace with the significant demand in Connecticut. The Playmakers – FCA collaboration represents an exciting new partnership model for expanding our work that we expect to replicate elsewhere.
Photo of Dylan with Chief Playmaker, Steve Gross, at the Life is good Festival, September 24, 2011
By Dylan Gibbs, 12
With a little help from my mom, Hope Katz Gibbs.
For my 8th birthday, my grandparents bought me my first Life is good T-shirt. It was really soft, the color of the night sky, and featured a superhero named Jake—playing basketball, my favorite sport. I wanted to wear it to school every day that week. After day three, my dad just laughed as he put me into the car and took me to the nearest Life is good shop in Old Town, Alexandria, VA, to buy more.
I’m 12 now, and haven’t worn anything but a Life is good shirt ever since (I even wear them under my Boy Scout uniform). I recently checked, and I have 24 of these Ts in my dresser—including a few that I outgrew, plus two that I turned into pillows for my bed.
My heroes are Bert and John Jacobs, the founders of Life is good. What I like about them the most is that they make shirts that are really comfortable, and their optimistic message spreads good vibes. Plus, I love the fact that they created such a big company out of a simple idea, and that they work hard doing what they love. That’s what I want to do when I grow up.
So when I learned that on September 24-25 there would be a Life is Good Music Festival in Boston to benefit The Life is Playmakers, I wanted to support it. I created a fundraiser page, made fliers, sent emails to my friends and family, and by the time of the fundraiser, my friends, family, teachers, and neighbors helped me raise a grand total of $2,150. How did we do it? Click here for details about our big backyard fundraiser : http://inkandescentpr.com/article/?c=life-is-good
I have to admit that putting on this fundraiser made me a little nervous because I never took on a big project like this before. My parents helped a ton, and also convinced me that although I wanted this to be something we did as a family — the key was to get our friends and neighbors to help us so that it would be really extraordinary. They were right! My mom and I had a bunch of meetings, and made a ton of phone calls, and in the end a whopping 25 families worked with us (kids and grown-ups alike) to distribute flyers, make signs, and donate bottles of water, lemonade, and homemade cookies for our big refreshment stand. Others played music, organized our art project to createLife is good posters, helped with our backyard games and races, and made sure that the face painting and art projects went off without a hitch. Local businesses also were generous about donating prizes and supplies, too. And our friend Dana Schaffer took photos.
Best of all, everyone told us that they wanted to make this an even bigger festival next year. So take it from a 7th grader: No matter what happens, Life is good!
Life is good Genuine Neighborhood Shoppe owners Andy and Lynn have been supporting our work for years. We made a pit stop in Stone Harbor, New Jersey to say thanks the Playmaker way. Take a quick peak to find out what they do to stay playful!
New Philadelphia Playmaker Lu Hanessian reminds us that play is our birthright — and that the right hat adds style! Why is Lu a Playmaker? Let her count the ways in the latest installment of our “I’m a Playmaker” Series!
