All Subjects in Play: Play-Based Lessons for the Secondary Classroom

Even older students can benefit from play in the classroom―and it doesn’t mean sacrificing rigor. Seasoned educator Amy Heusterberg-Richards shows teachers how embracing play in secondary classrooms can build content, refine skills, and assess understanding, all while inviting joy back into the classrooms of teens who often feel anxious and disfranchised about education.

This book describes approaches and rationale for embedding play within secondary classrooms across all disciplines. Each of the 20 lessons includes research-based rationales, step-by-step instructions, samples, student-facing directions, and applications across subject areas. Artificial intelligence (AI)-incorporated ideas are also provided. In a world with apathy and AI, education―even at the secondary level―needs to embrace the ever-natural, always-cathartic experience of playing.

By thoughtfully integrating play-based learning, we can enhance classroom management, maintain academic standards, cover the curriculum effectively, and engage older students in meaningful ways. High school learners, too, can laugh and create and pretend as they learn.

Amy Heusterberg-Richards holds 18 years of high school English Language Arts teaching experience and is a decade-long International Baccalaureate teacher. In 2018, she was Wisconsin’s selectee and national qualifier for the NCTE’s Teacher of Excellence title. She has presented at several conferences and has been published on Moving Writers and Edutopia. Her Twitter/X handle is @LAwithMrsHR.