Joyfulness in the Classroom:)

In talking about standards for education, politicians often discuss curriculum frameworks and standardized testing such as the MCAS, the Massachusetts Curriculum Assessment System.  During the Courage to Teach Institute I participated in this summer, it was very refreshing to see a new kind of standard that was presented to us:  a standard for joyfulness!  The following is an early draft toward a standard for joyfulness in school and classroom for Hillcrest School in Turner Falls, Massachusetts, October 2008.

"The importance of a successful start is well recognized.  What is too often overlooked, however, is that a successful start involves more than just skills and socialization.  It involves instilling in students that learning is a joyful experience and schools can be a place of joy."  Robert Balfanz.  What Your Community Can Do to End Its Drop-out Crisis:  Learning from Research and Practice, John Hopkins.  May 9, 2007.

Joyfuness is important because it fosters lifelong learning.  A joyful learning experience should help children feel empowered by:
*Engaging them in meaningful activities.
*Making them feel comfortable with their surroundings built upon trust and validation.
*Having pleasurable interactions with peers, adults, and materials.
*Having a school communitywhich is predictive and focused on each other's strengths.
*Participating daily in free exploration of learning opportunities.
*Starting and ending the day positively.

As a teacher who often works with students who struggle with learning, it is especially rewarding to witness these students having joyful learning experiences.   When I first read this standard this summer, two memories immediately popped into my head.

1.  One of the many concepts that I teach fifth grade students who are working on dividing long words into syllables is the schwa sound.  The schwa sound is an unaccented syllable in a longer word that is often pronounced "uh".  One day, Amy, a fifth grade student with long blond hair, bounced excitedly into the Learning Center to tell me what had occurred in her classroom.  She told me that another student had looked up a word in the dictionary, came across an upside down "e", and her teacher asked the class if anyone knew what it meant.  Amy's hand shot up-- she explained that the upside down "e" represented the "schwa" sound and told the class what that meant.  Her eyes lit up with enthusiasm as she described how impressed her teacher had been.  Seeing the joy and pride in Amy-- in her eyes, the way she related her story, the way she carried herself-- was truly a great experience.

2.  Another memory involves a group of fourth grade boys preparing for the statewide MCAS test.  It was our last session before they were to take the Long Composition portion which requires them to write a narrative essay (about five paragraphs)-- rough draft and final copy in the same day.  It was unbelievable to see a dry and boring topic (reviewing what to look for when proofreading a piece of writing) turn into a joyful learning experience!  I taught the kids how to write acronyms to help them remember what they need to look for when proofreading.  This sport-loving group of boys decided to write acronyms based on the four major Boston sports teams:  Patriots, Red Sox, Celtics, and Bruins.  Other acronyms were created as well and the students reveled in creating acronyms of real words and sports teams, incorporating the information they needed to remember.  As a teacher, what was really cool was seeing some of these students actually write down and use the acronyms on the day of the MCAS! ( http://thoreau.colonial.net/Teachers/Kalikstein/Writing-- Fourth Grade Revision/ Editing Checklists)

I think that a school system that places such a high value on joyfulness, such as Turner Falls, must be a really exciting place to work.  Not only do students learn and retain more information when they are engaged, but learning is also more fun when it is joyful!

Questions to Ponder:

*What does joyful learning look like in your classroom?
*Think of a time when a student or group of students were joyful-- Why were they joyful and how did they exhibit their joyfulness?
*As a teacher, when do you feel joyful in the classroom?
*As a learner, when have you felt joyful in a learning experience?


ADDENDUM
One of my favorite features of blogs is their interactive nature.  After receiving several responses, both on the blog itself and in separate emails, the wheels in my head started turning once again...And so I add this addendum to the original entry.

Joyful learning environments can be created in a classroom when the adults have a joyful time in  planning instruction and in presenting the material.  That's one of the things that I love about co-teaching with my colleague, Brenda--  the fun, joy, and excitement that goes into planning lessons.  That energy then gets conveyed to the students, resulting in a joyful learning experience:)

One such joyful learning experience involves a crazy professor....

In Massachusetts, fourth grade students are required to take a standardized test in English Language Arts.  On this test, they are required to read fiction and nonfiction passages, and answer multiple-choice and open response questions.  Some of the topics of these passages are not always captivating in the minds of nine and ten year olds.

In order to help combat this situation, Brenda and I modeled a strategy called the Crazy Professor which brings a lot of energy and excitement to what could otherwise be a dry topic.  In short, one person takes on the role of the Crazy Professor and the other, the role of the student.  The Crazy Professor reads a passage with a lot of emotion and excitment to the student.  There are various stages to the process where the passage is read multiple times with different things occuring during each step including telling the story excitedly using gestures, telling the story from memory, the student asking the professor questions, etc.  The culminating step of the activity involves the Crazy Professor enthusiastically retelling the passage from memory while the student frequently repeats some of the information, exclaiming how interesting it is.

As Brenda and I modeled this strategy for the students, our joy, laughter, and enthusiasm spread throughout the classroom like wildfire, igniting the students' energy.   When it became their turn to try out the strategy, all of the students were fully engaged, animatedly being both professors and students themselves.  That day was definitely one of the most fun and joyful teaching and learning experiences that I have ever had.  And the topping on the cake...a few days later, many of the students could still retell and remember the information from the passage!