Chalkboard Champion Vivian Paley: Kindergarten teacher, early childhood education research, author, and passionate advocate for child play in the classroom. Photo Credit: The New York Times
One of the most remarkable teachers I have been reading about recently is Vivian Paley, a pre-school and kindergarten teacher, early childhood education researcher, and author originally from Chicago, Illinois. She devoted her lengthy career to proving the value of storytelling and fantasy play in the learning process.
Vivian was born in Chicago on Jan. 25, 1929. She earned a Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy from the University of Chicago in 1947. She earned a second degree, a B.A. in Psychology, from Newcomb College in Louisiana in 1950. She earned a Master’s degree from Hofstra University in New York in 1962.
After earning her degrees, Vivian inaugurated her teaching career in New Orleans. There, she once revealed, she felt burdened by what she considered to be an overemphasis on strict learning boundaries and memorization. She came to believe that such an approach stifled both learning and teaching. This experience became the catalyst for her later work. In the 1960’s Vivian relocated to New York, where she taught at public schools in Great Neck and Long Island until 1971. At that time she returned to Chicago, where she accepted a teaching position at the Lab Schools associated with the University of Chicago. There she was free to develop innovative instructional practices, conduct experiments, and pursue her research. In all, Vivian’s career as an educator spanned 37 years. Vivian retired from Lab in 1995, but in the years that followed she continued to lecture and hold workshops around the world.
Many professional educators believe that the most significant impact Vivian has had on the profession is in advancing the theory that storytelling and fantasy play are essential elements in academic and social growth. Her research on the subject was discussed at length in her books A Child’s Work: The Importance of Fantasy Play; The Boy Who Would Be a Helicopter; and Bad Guys Don’t Have Birthdays: Fantasy Play at Four. In these books, Vivian demonstrates that storytelling and fantasy play help young learners immensely as they make sense of their environment, develop language skills, collaborate with their peers, and successfully function in the classroom.
For her work as an educator and a researcher, Vivian has earned many accolades. In 1989, she garnered the prestigious MacArthur Award. Known unofficially as the “Genius Grant,” the prize is given each year to between 20 and 30 individuals who have shown extraordinary originality and dedication in their field. The recognition comes with a cash prize of $625,000. Vivian is the only kindergarten teacher to earn the award.
Vivian also earned the Erikson Institute Award for Service to Children in 1987 and the David H. Russell Award for Distinguished Teaching in English in 1999. She also garnered the John Dewey Society’s Outstanding Achievement Award in 2000 and was named an Outstanding Educator by the National Council of Teachers of English in 2004.
This Chalkboard Champion passed away on July 26, 2019, in Crozet, Virginia. She was 90 years old, but she will always be remembered as an advocate for child play.
