Blog #7: Make learning Joyful
This week we had the opportunity to listen to Dean Shareski's presentation about making learning a joyful experience. He spoke about incorporating surprise and delight into our lesson plans to help make learning a more joyful and memorable experience. As Dean said towards the end of his presentation, "Don't postpone Joy."
While in my first placement I was chatting with the divisional numeracy coach about her youngest son. Laughing she told me "yeah my son has reached that age where school isn't fun anymore." At the time I had laughed even though it had made me sad. Her son is in grade two, he is seven years old and already there is a lack of joy in his daily life. Having worked in a few different day cares I have always loved seeing how completely excited the kids are to start kindergarten. "Dad says this many more sleeps until I go to school Katrina!" is what one student said to me holding up 7 little finger covered in dirt from the playground; he was almost vibrating with excitement. Where does that joy go?
As Dean eluded to, there is no one magical way to bring joy to the classroom everyday. Dean suggested that by creating surprise and delight for our students we will be able to create more joy in our classrooms. Looking back at my own schooling the moments I remember the most were the times that my teachers were able to create surprise and delight in the classroom. At the time I didn't have these words to describe what the teachers were doing but I remember because they were so memorable. I remember one day in grade 7 social studies my class managed to get my teacher off topic, we ended up discussing the theory of black holes. Fast forward 10 years later I'm in university sitting through an astronomy lecture and I remembered that social studies class where I had already learnt about black holes.
In this situation my teacher was able to create delight by being so passionate about learning. He could tell that we were interested so he kept going, he never stopped us from getting off topic and instead treated it as learning opportunities. He was more interested in engagement and encouraging his students to explore and inquire than getting through the textbook.
I feel that this story is a good example of the power of using surprise and delight in the classroom. Its been over 10 years now and I still very clearly remember it. I also remember what classrooms I enjoyed being in. I remember the teachers who made learning a joy and I remember what subjects and many of the lessons they taught. On the other hand I remember the teachers who did not make learning a joy. I don't remember what they taught however, I just remember spending my time disliking them and their classrooms.
When school was a joyful experience I learned and retained the lessons, when it wasn't I learnt to pass the test and then immediately forgot about the lessons. I didn't feel like the information was valuable so I never bothered to actually learn it, just temporarily memorize it. If learning ceases to be a joy in grade 2 how can we expect students to learn anything for the next 10 years of their lives? What kind of a future or world are we preparing them for?
That makes me sad as well Katrina that a seven year old doesn't find school fun anymore :(. That seems like a very early age to lose that enjoyment of learning. I feel like that I was always a student who enjoyed learning, but maybe it wasn't me, maybe it was the teachers I have had.
ReplyDeleteI also have a similar story to yours. Some of my favorite days at school were in Physics class when our teacher would come in and just randomly start talking about different type of philosophical thought experiments. I remember in depth and exciting debates about The Ship of Theseus, Schrödinger's cat, and The Twin Paradox to name a few. These always seem to get the whole class involved, because it didn't just involve sitting and listening, but more of a debate where you used what you knew and reflected on what you don't know. Which may have been our teachers plan all along, as Pre-Calc and Physics use taking things you know and applying them to what you don't know.
I am going to echo what Jeremy said, it breaks my heart to know that a student in grade 2 no longer loves school. As an early years educator, I strive to make my lessons fun and engaging if possible. In math, I try to incorporate games into part of the learning experience. In ELA, I like to offer choice into their reading and writing choices. In Social Studies and Science, I like to try and make fun and engaging activities to accompany my teaching points. This past year, I took a class called Inclusive Education with Dr. Chris Brown. That class opened up my eyes to the importance of planning engaging lessons and to ensure that your lessons reflect all of your students. It's also important to know your students and show that you care. That will encourage your students to be open and honest with you and help create an authentic learning experience for your students. Best of luck in your placement and your job search Katrina!
ReplyDeleteAwesome post! I like how your brought in personal experience and stories! I agree that the times I remember from my school experience were the times when my teacher create an atmosphere of surprise and delight. I remember a grade 7 history class where we recreated and made a video of the Battle of Batoche and this had stuck with me for the past 10 years because it was fun and engaging. I hope to be able to bring this same fun and engaging learning into my classroom!
ReplyDeleteThe story you shared about the the second grader is sadly all too familiar. It is really sad that, as a society, we have normalized the idea that school just isn't fun. Even when it comes to post secondary, there are alot of courses that follow the same lecture and test format. From research, we know that lecture and test format is not the most effective way to learn, especially in k-12. With that being said, I am hopeful, based on our colleagues, that there are teachers out there willing to change that narrative by bringing back joy and delight to the classroom.
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