Comments on: Robbing Students and Teachers of Joy

By: Thesis papers

Thesis papers — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 06:42:52 +0000

Hi,
This is really a nice post, you share good piece of information.

By: Anne Mirtschin

Anne Mirtschin — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 07:17:13 +0000

Hello Dean, Joy can be shortlived or non-existent in many classrooms. I am lucky to teach in a prep to year 12 school, where you can see the excitement and happiness on the faces of the younger year levels upon hopping off the school buses and running towards their classrooms. However, I have had excitement, joy and sheer engagement with my older students many times over the last few years, when they receive comments on their blog posts, can add some exciting and interest material online, when they can work in online classrooms and videoconference students from other countries. We need to work on the technology that the students are 'plugged into'.
My year 11 accounting students were getting extremely bored with the monotonous exercises from their textbooks, but I was helping my year 12 students who were preparing for their final exams. (I taught both the classes at the same time.) Then, my good friend Lorraine Leo (who was mentoring Ally) from Boston, USA, asked if I would like to have one of your students Ally speak to my accounting kids (we are in Australia). She did and the engagement was evident then and the 'nagging' afterwards on 'would she do it again'. They wrote blog posts and commented on Ally's blog post and delighted in exploring what she was up to both at uni and outside.
This week, I was approached by a country education project coordinator as to the possibility of being willing to be involved in having my classes taught in virtual worlds by the University of Ballarat. As I teach in a small, rural, isolated school, it is difficult to get student teachers into the school, due to the distance, cost, effort etc and for some rural schools, it is difficult to get graduate teachers at all. So, we will work on developing strategies for this to take place towards the end of the year 2010. I contacted you on twitter and we would love to experiment with you first, if that was at all possible, then start to work with bodies that have little experience in online, virtual and interactive tools. Anyway, please keep us in mind. Our school year finishes in 2 weeks time and we start up again at the end of January. If you do know of anyone doing this already, we would love to know what software they used, tips, hints, the necessary infrastructure, could we use notebooks which all students from years 4 to 9 will have next year etc. Thanks in advance.

By: PowerPoint Templates

PowerPoint Templates — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 13:25:02 +0000

There are so many tools that have taken tools out of the classroom, it is important that teachers work to maintain the connection with their students. Automated learning is not better. Teachers can make a huge difference in the lives of students its a relationship worth its weight in gold!

By: Blais

Blais — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 22:17:20 +0000

Joy is certainly something that is missing from schools. The "teach to the test" and greater teacher accountability movements of recent times has greatly decreased the possibility of students and teachers finding joy in their learning and teaching. I've never found joy in sitting and listening to a teacher blab about how important the stuff is their teaching about. I've never found joy in filling in bubbles on a scan-tron form. I was board out of my mind in school. So why the heck am I an education major in college? Because I know what didn't work for me. I tutor students that struggle in school solely because their board out of their minds. They're more than capable of understanding the material. It's just presented in a terribly unexciting way. So they day dream all day long, or draw pictures in their notebooks. We need to be engaging students more. We need to find their passions and use them as an instrument of learning. Contrary to common belief, school and learning CAN be fun. That's why I want to be a teacher.

By: forex signal service

forex signal service — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 07:03:13 +0000

One thing i have found is to create a group and follow as much as people you can, this will make more people to follow you and that will surely create more traffic.

By: Christian

Christian — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 18:26:07 +0000

Joy is the key to have the Teacher and a student a good communication or relationship. It should not be taken away.

By: Susan van Gelder

Susan van Gelder — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 14:28:34 +0000

What better thing can we help students learn than the joy of learning if we truly want to create lifelong learners. We need to stop going with the flow – just doing what has always been done and help students find their flow – that optimal experience Csikszentmihalhyi talks about. Thanks Dean and Alfie for reminding us.

By: Essays

Essays — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 07:37:41 +0000

Hello,
I liked your post because teaching should be done joyfully, it will make your students enjoy learning from you. Good thought

By: Amy

Amy — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 02:41:03 +0000

I am studying to be an Early Childhood Education teacher at the moment and after reading some of your posts, I realized that I am not alone in my fears about teaching. I would like more feedback and would like to hear what everyone has to say about this topic. So, how do you bring the joy and happiness in your classroom so that neither you nor your students feel like it is a "job" or "work". How do you keep yourself and your students motivated day after day after day? Does it take experience? Passion? What is the answer?

By: 40 Years of Lessons. What Can We Learn? | EdTechTrek

40 Years of Lessons. What Can We Learn? | EdTechTrek — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 18:54:55 +0000

[...] then, Alfie Kohn and Dean Shareski remind us all of the importance of joy in learning, both for teachers and students. Is that one of [...]

By: Tessa Jordan

Tessa Jordan — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 18:26:50 +0000

Wow, this is such an interesting, thought provoking post. I am seeing this problem in my school everyday. Many of my students, not only dislike school, they hate it. In a homeroom class of 21 I get maybe 12 students on a regular basis. I see many of my students walking around the school, yet they never make it into my classroom. What I am doing in the classroom is not the only thing that is leading my students to wander the halls instead of coming to the classroom, but I am very aware that it very well might be part of the problem.
A few weeks ago I was close to the breaking point. The last two weeks I have been rejuvenated and think that it is about time to start bringing the joy back to learning for my students. But where do I start, how do you do this? There were no classes in my university program that showed us how to do this. Thinking back to my experiences as a student also does not help. I was always a good students, who loved school and was intrinsically motivated to do well. My students are not that type of learner. I have been told to put up an overhead, do notes, questions, etc. That the students will be quiet and do the work. The problem comes though in the fact that there is no joy and absoluely no learning that takes place in those lessons. I absolutely do not want my classroom to look like that. Noise, group work, movement, mess…yes I would love my classroom to have all of these aspects. My question for all of you expereiced teachers out there, how does this happen? How can I make it work? How can I bring joy into my classroom for both me and the students.
I ask myself almost everyday…am I being the kind of teacher that I want to be? Let's just say that the answer is not where I want it to be.

By: etiket

etiket — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:50:39 +0000

Great post–something I have been thinking a lot about. There seems to be a lot coming out saying this kind of thing–I am thinking Readicide by Kelly Gallagher and The Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller. Some important work on remembering the goals that are bigger than test scores. Joy is key.
etiket

By: Wege

Wege — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:13:04 +0000

Without joy Students and Teachers will be having difficulty on having good communication

By: Chris Daniel

Chris Daniel — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 11:44:13 +0000

Hello,
Cyn is right, I guess teaching is itself a noble task that must be done honestly. Mistakes are valuable because they help you learn more. You have ended up well with the Taylor Caldwell's quote.

By: cyn

cyn — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:53:41 +0000

As for me, I always love teaching whether they are kids, adult or sr citizens. My motto is if we are into teaching, teach them well and do our best.

By: Joy « Classroom Tech Tips

Joy « Classroom Tech Tips — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 03:22:22 +0000

[...] Filed under: Uncategorized — Donna DesRoches @ 3:22 am Dean Shareski’s post, Robbing Teachers and Students of Joy, resonated with me as I thought about a grade 8 classroom that I had been in today. It was an [...]

By: Kip

Kip — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 02:39:45 +0000

Dean, thanks for taking the time to share these thoughts. I had read Alfie's piece in the morning and had been pondering it as well.
I just wrote a post with some tangential thoughts and questions, if you're interested.
http://kip.hollandanderson.net/2009/11/joy-in-school.html

By: Dave

Dave — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 19:45:55 +0000

This has really got me thinking about what makes work enjoyable (or not) and how that contributes to working for the sake of accomplishing something worth accomplishing. I'm going to start some philosophical discussions at work, so thanks for that.
And to bring it back to students, remember that the same things don't bring joy to everyone…like everything involving a group of people, make sure you approach it from a couple different directions.

By: Nancy Martin

Nancy Martin — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:50:15 +0000

I often tell my students that we enjoy subjects and topics when they seem easy to us and we dislike "hard" subjects. Part of school needs to be teaching (or modeling) learning for the sake - or joy - of learning. Unfortunately, I believe that one of the primary reasons teachers do not have joy in their classrooms is because they are not treated professionally. Rather than schools that encourage collaboration and fun, teachers are asked to sit in endless meetings on assessment, and take on more non-teaching duties as budgets tighten. If we want to bring joy in the classroom, we need to create schools that teachers look forward to going to every day. At our academy, one of our rules is that we will only hire people who are fun as lack of joy is one of the primary reasons why we left the classroom. Get more information about it http://www.vinthillacademy.com">website about tutoring and testprep.

By: Dottie

Dottie — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 11:14:34 +0000

I work with a teacher who refuses to allow joy to disappear. When I walk into her classroom I never know what I might find. Last week she was making pancakes as part of a math lesson. Last year the kids made gingerbread houses. Kids were covered in frosting and there were little candies everywhere. The principal just sort of shakes his head but he knows that the parents and the kids are happy because they are having fun and still doing well on state tests. Go figure!

By: Angus McIntosh

Angus McIntosh — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 05:46:51 +0000

I have a confession to make. I hated school as a kid. I hated reading. I hated math. I hated being in the Christmas Concert, running laps in the gym and ironing dried leaves between sheets of wax paper. The only part of school I liked was field trips and recess. (I can still remember every field trip I was on as a student, honest)
To make a long story short, why I became a teacher is a complex story, but a pivotal moment in that decision making process came when I was a young adult. I was taking English 220 – Canadian Literature – at the University of Regina, and I found out that books can make you laugh. Yup, first time ever, I laughed while reading. I was 22 years old and reading Man Descending by Guy Vanderhaeghe and I laughed so hard I couldn't breathe. The last time I laughed that hard in class I got detention in grade 8 Science because my friend was telling totally innapropriate jokes while the teacher was expecting us to be reading from "the chapter". ( I can remember the two jokes that got us busted, but haven't a sniff what we covered all that year in science… that's data isn't it?)
Every year I hear the whispers that my class is too loud or too messy. But that is the way it has to be. I want my students to be happy and enjoy themselves at school. I want to enjoy being there. I want them to be seeing and using the latest technology, I want them to discover places, things, and ideas they normally wouldn't. I want them to laugh well reading. Somebody else can teach them the serious material!
Thanks to Dean and Alfie, I have a little more confidence that what happens in my classroom is OK.
And because I have alot more to say about this, I will turn it into a blog post! Stay tuned….
.

By: Franki

Franki — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 03:07:15 +0000

By: Dean Shareski

Dean Shareski — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 02:25:15 +0000

Becky,

Glad Alfie could inspire you. I agree the whole data driven, accountability movement has done well in sucking the joy out of learning. I know that was not the intent but the problem when you want to focus in on something, you tend to leave something out. Usually these are the "less academic" parts of school, the parts which often bring the most joy. That's not to say that academic learning can't be joyful but again, the focus on achievement leaves little time for exploration, play and inquiry which are linked pretty tightly to joyful learning in my opinion.

The conversation needs to turn to discovering how we can do both. I think we can, the pendulum has tipped to far the other direction and we need to get it back to the middle. I'm sure you'll do your part. Thank you.

By: Becky Johnson

Becky Johnson — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 02:11:49 +0000

You (and Alfie) have nailed it. Thank you for articulating what I’ve been struggling to express to fellow teachers and administrators over the past few years. Teaching is hard work. It always has been. But what has always made it worth the incredible effort has been the joy in sharing, discovering and laughing (yes, laughing) with students as we forge our way through this thing called learning. Does anybody else besides me cringe when they hear the words “data driven instruction”? How grim. How joyless. I’m sharing this post with everybody I know. I’m going to head into school tomorrow with a renewed mission of sharing the joy in learning.

By: uberVU - social comments

uberVU - social comments — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 22:42:31 +0000

Social comments and analytics for this post…

This post was mentioned on Twitter by shareski: I have something to share(ski). Robbing Students and Teachers of Joy read it here if you like http://bit.ly/BST4I...

By: Alan Stange

Alan Stange — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 22:34:56 +0000

Always a pleasure to drop in here and read something thought-provoking; I think we need to think more critically about the structure of public education and recognize its limitations. It seems that regardless of the logic of our outcomes or goals, dispite the merits of our vision, the inherent characteristics of public education will thwart, reshape and redirect us. Paraphrase Abraham Lincoln's brilliant simplicity; you can sustain joy to all of the people some of the time, sustain joy to some of the people all of the time, but you cannot sustain joy to all of the people all of the time. No child left behind, and its ilk are fantastic examples of utopianism. Five Stanges travelling together in a crowded car five hours to the mountains cannot sustain joyful engagement, let alone my twenty-two students ridgedly attending a proscribed school day for ten months, working toward a mandated curriculum that periodically frustrates or bores them. At the central core of our system is top-down goal setting, uniformity of outcomes and the all-pervasive hand of economy of scale. Professional learning communities (we more honestly used the phrase total quality management ten years ago acknowledging the industrial roots of the strategy) tweaks the existing system rather than challenges it. Differentiated learning and the need for engagement should challenge the current structure of public education. It should lead to differentiated learning environments and frankly, differentiated student learning outcomes. Instead, we accept it as a priori,independent of experience, that it can be attained within the current design. There will be no Nirvana in school unless somebody brings it in on their MP3 player.

By: Tweets that mention Robbing Students and Teachers of Joy | Ideas and Thoughts from an EdTech -- Topsy.com

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:49:20 +0000

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Dean, Jorgie and James Michie, Toni Henneman. Toni Henneman said: Good article, thanks for shar(ski)ing. RT @shareski: Robbing Students and Teachers of Joy read it here if you like http://bit.ly/BST4I [...]

By: Allanah K

Allanah K — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:41:42 +0000

I think to some degree that the enjoyment of school is an age related thing. The children in primary school generally love coming to school. They look forward to it, they enjoy the experience. Puberty kicks in they go off the world. By secondary school many go off the whole idea of school. Now you've got me thinking as well. Do they go off schooling as they get older as the whole structure and nature of schools changes as they mature- more departmentalisation of teaching, broken into chunks by subject, more emphasis on passing the test. Yes I do wonder which came first- the chicken or the egg.