‘Hello, old chap, you got to work, hey?’
Tom wheeled suddenly and said:
‘Why, it’s you, Ben! I warn’t noticing.’
‘Say — I’m going in a-swimming, I am. Don’t you wish
you could? But of course you’d druther WORK — wouldn’t
you? Course you would!’
Tom contemplated the boy a bit, and said:
‘What do you call work?’
‘Why, ain’t THAT work?’
Tom resumed his whitewashing, and answered carelessly:
‘Well, maybe it is, and maybe it ain’t. All I know, is, it
suits Tom Sawyer.’
‘Oh come, now, you don’t mean to let on that you LIKE
it?’
The brush continued to move.
‘Like it? Well, I don’t see why I oughtn’t to like it. Does a
boy get a chance to whitewash a fence every day?

As Tom Sawyer demonstrates, fun makes hard tasks easier.

Reflection Questions:

• Ask yourself: “What tasks do I avoid?” “How might I make that task more like a game?”
• What is play?
• What senses do I engage when I play?
• What is it about play that opens me up and overcomes my limitations?
• What kind of resources might I use to help replace my current structures and motivators with play?
• How might play remediate my lagging skills in organization, social arenas, and literacy?

References

Cassie, J. (2016). Level Up Your Classroom. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

McCloskey, G. (2017). Improving Executive Functions: Strategies to Rewire the Brain and Change Behavior. PESI.

Pink, D. (2011). Drive. New York: Riverhead Books.

Pink, D. (2010, January 6). Mr. Bossman: What’s My Motivation, Money? (M. Brand, Interviewer) https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122271669

Twain, M. (Originally published June 1876). The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Retrieved from Planet EBook.com: https://www.planetebook.com/ebooks/The-Adventures-of-Tom-Sawyer.pdf