"Wise Teachers Make Learning A Joy" -Chinese Proverb
Assignments:
Read the introduction and through page 11 of the text.
Please reflect on any ahas or main points. Share what you are already doing in your classrooms or daily lives that foster a "Fun-damental" Attitude. After going over the Pop Quiz on pages 10 and 11 reflect on your personal results.
Click on comments to add your thoughts, feelings and ideas
Click on comments to add your thoughts, feelings and ideas
12 comments:
I think the overall message of the introduction through page 11 is that laughter and education aren't polar opposites - together they're a magnet for real learning in the classroom. I've often thought about why some teachers are afraid or unwilling to use humor more in the classroom. I think that sometimes they believe that they are giving up some control if they loosen up too much. And what is too much? Sometimes you don't know until you have passed that point! Some teachers aren't willing to try to reach that balance.
I think that showing you have a sense of humor is very important for role modeling. Humor is part of every well-rounded person. If, as a teacher, you don't want to be thought of as an adversary, let students see you as a real person.
I try to keep up on people, music, and videos that are of interest to 8th graders. That helps me relate to them and use humor that shows that I respect them and their culture. A girl from last year's class told me happily that I was the only "ghetto" teacher she had ever had! (I teach in a suburban school.) And I've found that there a lot of things about today's youth culture that I actually like!
I don't like to waste any time at the end of class, so if we finish a few minutes early, just for fun, I read to students from "Stories With Holes." This book has short word problems - generally 2 sentences to a paragraph. A question is asked at the end, but not enough information was given to be able to answer it. Students can ask questions to which I can respond with only "Yes" or "No." By listening to each other's questions and my answers, students try to solve the problem. They often beg for these problems and really become good critical thinkers while having fun - who knew?????
I thought the categories of the Pop Quiz were great! They were all things on which we should be reflecting. I was pleased with my score, and hope that students would rate me the same. But the most valuable part was finding out on which areas I need to work.
For the most part, what is outlined in the beginning of the text is common sense to me.
I can take little credit for that. My parents, especially my dad, took the approach of making things fun for me and my siblings. For example, dinner time when I was young was conversation, story telling, memories, and laughing. In play I always pretended to be one of my athletic heroes. I announced the games out loud to myself too. Being playful was never a problem.
So, with this as my background, I found the reading to be total reinforcement for what I have been doing in my room since 1975.
I have always told jokes, used puns, assigned harmless nicknames, invented new words, and generally just had fun with my students, while teaching and learning from them.
Many find my style to be chaotic, but we sure learn a lot and have a great time.
There is one downside to this style, I've discovered. I haven't really had much opportunity to be exposed to classes that contain more advanced curriculum.
I've been told this is because I do well with disinterested students. One thing is certain, not many of these students ever end up in the principal's office from my classroom. I never find any real reason to send them. Thus, each year, I am reassigned these classes.
So, I guess with the "Fun-damental Attitude" you may find yourself teaching pretty low level material for a good long time if you have success with this approach and this population.
Is this a bad thing? Definitely not, because I know I have helped many students, but it can be a bit frustrating. A person can only teach business English for so long without feeling that there is another part of the curriculum that he would like to experience.
I'm probably lucky to have a niche.
After reading the first several pages of the text, my thought was, "I can really relate to this." Like I "preach" in my classroom...ATTITUDE IS EVERYTHING!! I am a firm believer in this whether I am at work or at home. So much of what you get out of life is how you look at it ie. is the glass half full or half empty?? We have control over the attitude we embrace each day and if we remain positive and laugh we can get so much more out of life. This is my philosophy in the classroom as well. I try to make learning fun because this seems to foster a positive attitude. There is definitely more laughing and smiles in my classroom than whining. After taking the quiz I was very pleased with my score...however, it brought to mind several teachers who need humor therapy. I often wonder why teachers like that teach. They sure are not doing the students any favors. It seems to make learning that much more of a chore. They need to lighten up!
I agree with Lise's comment about laughter and education going hand in hand. Students will remember if learning is fun.
I've already mentioned some ways I've used humor in my classroom. One thing the students get a kick out of is me trying to be a cool dancer - they laugh so hard! This is an example of the benefits of being able to laugh at ourselves - it really loosens up the atmosphere.
As far as my daily life, my neighbor has a 2.5 year-old boy who is such a joy and bright spot in my life. My family isn't nearby, so I've never had the opportunity to watch a child grow and learn - can you believe that?! His mom asked him last week where he was going to get more rocks to put in his wheelbarrow. His response? "The garage sale"! When he got to the spot, he said, "The garage sale is closed"!
The quiz reinforces what I already know - I'm a bit burned out from teaching Read 180 for the last four years and am enthusiastically looking forward to a new challenge and my return to a "regular" classroom! I've been allowing the negatives of teaching to influence my thinking, so I'm happy for the summer, this class and others, to reflect and rejuvenate.
It was impressive that attendees of the authors' workshops turned their attitudes around. I'm ready.
I thought about teachers in my school that are exeptional, motivational, humorous, playful, etc.. I could only think of two teachers(pretty sad). Do I consider myself a teacher as described above? Yes, but I could be better. Therefore I am taking this class. After taking the quiz, I was proud to see that I should "keep the ball rolling." It seems ridiculous for someone to score poorly on this quiz and be a teacher. Hopefully they are taking this class!
Wow! Loved the reading and dong the pop quiz. It just reinforces so much of what I believe in regarding my teaching philoshy. I totally agree that laughing and smiling are contagious. My main goal for each and every student that walked through the doors into my classroom was for each child to feel safe. By greeting them with a smile can help out in SO many ways. I really feel like I developed into the teacher and person I wanted to be with the help of the people around me. I graduated from Madison and felt very confident in my education there, but that is not what made me into the teacher I am today. In my life, I feel like I have been very blessed in my life to have such a close family. It's my family who has helped me tremendously develop into the person I want to be. As a family, there was always laughter in the house. My dad specifically had such an amazing out look on life and always saw the good in things and still does. I am grateful to have these kind of people in my life because all those experiences in my personal life just permeate throughout my teaching life in such a positive way. After taking the quiz I was happy to find out that I am doing a pretty good job in the happy department.
Everything in these first couple of pages hit home for me. I also tried to look back at the teacherwho brought humor into my classrooms as I was going through school, and I can only thing of 3. However, the good news is that when I think about the teachers in our building currently, I can only think of 5 or 6 that don't bring humor into their classrooms. I think humor in the classroom is catching on and more and more educators are willing to take the risk because the benefits are so enormous.
On page 8, the books says "Enthusiasm and laughter are contagious"...I completely agree with this comment, and in fact I have a poster in my classroom that says this. I know that everytime I am in a bad mood, all I have to do is hang around someone who is in a good mood. My mood changes almost instantly and I have a much better time because of it. I think this is extremely important to follow in a classroom...the kids probably need it more the we do.
Right from the Forward I loved the “teaching is an art and a science.” I’ve really thought that teaching was only an art, but the science part makes sense. I also liked the head and heart part. I had a friend, a real numbers guy, who stepped into teaching a fifth grade Sunday School class. After the first few classes, he told me that it was so easy and he felt that our community was paying teachers way too much, anybody can do this, I really don’t understand why you have to college to become a teacher, heck I never had any formal training and this is so much easier than what I do everyday. My first reaction was “This is Church so I had to watch my words carefully.” But I said, “You know, I’ve been teaching a fair numbers of years and I’m always looking to expand my skills by watching others, mind if I observe?” He welcomed me into his class. I was shocked at what I saw which was way too much head and very little heart. Kids started staying in church or not going at all to his class. Eventually the class was team-taught with a person who was more heart oriented and the numbers increased. When my own son was in fifth grade, I volunteered to teacher the class and had a great time. I think the guy was given the task of ushering or counting the collection.
I also liked the motto a laugh a day keeps behavior problems away. Maybe a higher amount of laughter will help when working with students with behavior disorders. I’ll keep that in mind.
I thought the quiz was good, and I tried to be really honest. I will focusing more on the things that I need to work on, but also be aware of the things that I do fairly well. Each year I set the expectations in the classroom, which follow our student handbook. We discuss the expectations and sign this intro sheet. This is kept in their binders. The reason that I do it is so that high expectations are talked about and modeled the first few weeks. Students pretty much know right from the start how to do well in class. I’ve never had students create classroom rules with me, mainly because most of the students that I work with have behavioral problems. I’ve heard that if they will develop the rules they will buy into them more quickly, but my system has worked well for me over the years. I would be curious to hear from others on teacher setting or class setting.
One thing that I do in my daily life is that I have a FUN STUFF file right in front of a GRIEF file. The second are notes or reflections that I have collected when bad things happen to good students. Thankfully I haven’t had to use the second file very much, but it is there when things are overwhelming. The proximity to the first file is alphabetical, but it also helps when challenges are present.
I've already read most of the book so I had to go back an review the introduction. The entire book is great - so many good ideas to apply. I also did well on the quiz. We all fall to the dark side occasionally, complaining in the teachers lounge, dwelling on what went wrong, and looking stressed, but hopefully this is rare. I love seeing the growth in students, and that wonderful moment when the light bulb comes on. It rewarding to see a student who struggles finally get it. That's probably why I became a teacher in the first place, and stick with it despite the frustrations.
I'm one of those teachers who lets the class set the rules. I've done this many times with fourth graders. I have my set of rules. I tell them that I'd like to know what they think is important, then we'll compare the two lists. We brainstorm their list of rules on the board. It's always longer and more detailed than mine. I then put my list on the overhead and we compare. The two are always similar. One thing I've noticed over the years it that students have lots of "don'ts" on the list, where my list has things like "respect others". It's surprising how many items that covers, but the kids understand what we mean by it, because we've taken time to discuss it and list examples. The final list must be condensed to 5-7 items - all stated in positive terms. We combine/reword items and come up with a list we all agree on. One year a group of students felt strongly that "Play fair" needed to be one of the rules. They knew each other well (it's a small school) and knew that several of the students had problems following the rules during recess or classroom games. It's a rule I won't have considered, but for this class, a valuable reminder. In the end, the list looks very similar to my original list. We've had the opportunity to discuss the rules and what they mean, and the student have buy in.
While reading the first part of the book I tried to think of the "exceptional, motivating, and enthusiastic, with a sense of humor and playfulness" teachers, and professors I had while growing up, and I actually could come up with several, but then when trying to think of the other teachers I had it took me much longer to even remember some of their names. I think that was especially true in college when so many of my professors were so bad, even the ones in education that I could only remember two professors at first, and they are the ones I cherish and still keep in contact with.
I thought the quiz was a joke, because if you answer a lot of the questions as true on the right side you need to get out of teaching. I am sorry if I am offending anyone in this class, but that is a joke. I have been teaching for 14 years, and I still don't view kids like that nor should anyone trying to raise kids.
Students need to see you as a real person and someone they can trust and feel safe with, and I know there are other ways to do it, but humor has always worked so well to me. Earlier in the year we had an amazing young girl killed in a car accident during the school year and I was asked to help out with kids who needed counseling, by one of the guidance counselors at school. I asked why they shouldn't be the ones in the mourning room and she said because the kids can relate with you, and feel close to you, and we don't know these kids like you do. I felt honored to help, but at the same time I felt bad for the students because they couldn't feel comfortable with any of our so called counselors.
While reading the first few pages of the textbook, I found a number of “AHAS.” Diana Loomans’ assessment of teachers wanting to infuse fun into their own classrooms was right on target. I think so many educators are searching for ideas and ways to include laughter and excitement to their daily lesson plans. I was inspired by the section “Becoming a Laughing Teacher.” Just reading about the “amazing decision” to become a teacher and the potential to make a lasting impression on a child gave me a boost of inspiration. Another main point for me was the information on how teachers perceive education. When educators believe in the profession, then often the classroom is filled with enthusiasm and acceptance.
I found that I am using some of the principles of a “laughing-teaching style.” I truly believe that my homeroom is the best and I continually tell my students that fact. The children work hard to be well-behaved and full participants as they go to the core classes throughout the day. A sense of classroom community is fostered as they work together to uphold the reputation. My classroom is visually appealing and numerous students comment on this year after year. Making a point of applauding small success is also something I try to do often. At times, students first look at me with bewilderment because I’ve made a big deal out of a small accomplishment. However, I know that it is something that boosts their confidence.
I was pleasantly surprised by my pop quiz results. I saw that I am doing many things that fit with a laughing teaching style. One area that I will work more diligently on is the modeling of high self-esteem. I tend to be a perfectionist and highly critical of myself and I would not want my students to develop this poor habit. It will be helpful to have this pop quiz for future reference throughout my teaching career.
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