Balancing Peacock Feathers

I attended the U.S. Play Coalition's Play Conference last month, and walked away inspired to integrate play into work.  This is the time of the year that schools are benchmarking, making up snow days, getting ready for state testing...we're completely stressed out!

One of the sessions I attended at the Play Conference was with Gary Auerbach, who is a world frisbee champ.  He can do some seriously cool tricks with frisbees!  Gary taught the group how to juggle, which I will explore in the near future.  Another trick he taught us is how to balance a peacock feather.  Gary used an analogy of the peacock feather being the client, and sometimes it is easy to balance the client, and sometimes it is a balancing act.  If you stay focused on the client (the eye of the feather), then it is much easier to balance.

I thought about Gary's analogy, and how true it is in education.  When we stay focused on the child, it is so much easier to filter the rest and stay balanced.  With peacock feathers in hand, I brought this idea to my teachers.  First, I modeled balancing the peacock feather on my hand, on my nose, then on my foot.  After handing out the feathers, teachers attempted to balance the feather.  Then we discussed what made it easier to balance.  We talked about the point of the activity; stay focused on the children.  I believe my staff not only had fun, but also was reminded of why we're in this field.  We love and educate children!

The coolest part of all for me, is that my staff is smiling.  :)

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Thank you, Gary, for the inspiration!