Are you planning for a joyful classroom?
As you think about the beginning of the school year, think about the feeling you want your classroom to have. You want good curriculum and engaging activities. You want order, organization, rules and procedures. We hope you also want a joyful classroom!
Joy helps students love learning. If students love learning, they will be engaged, reducing the need for complex behavior management systems. Joy encourages creativity, which opens the door for creative problem solving. Joy encourages curiosity and self-motivated learning. It is only when students experience love of learning that they will become life-long learners.
Though much of your day may be filled with required curriculum and prescribed methods, there are many things you can do to make sure that students experience joy.
Here are 8 simple, actionable things you can do to make a more joyful classroom.
Smile
We learn better from those we like. Smiling makes you approachable and likable. Smiling is contagious, and the act of smiling can actually help you to feel happier.
Laugh
Laughing reduces stress. Look for opportunities to inject humor into the day’s activities. Offer to tell a joke if students line up quickly and quietly. Get a joke book if you need one. Telling a joke takes less than 30 seconds and adds fun. We all remember a teacher who told corny jokes. Notice that we remember that teacher.
Add Music
Music helps with retention. There are songs that fit into all areas of your curriculum. Check out You Tube for songs about multiplication or grammar from School House Rock. Better yet, let students work in groups to write and perform their own songs based on their topic of study. One sixth grade class wrote songs about world explorers set to the Sponge Bob theme song. A high school biology class wrote and sang a fact filled song about mitosis set to Queen’s We are The Champions.
Read Funny Literature
If you read aloud each day (and you should!) choose funny stories. When children have positive experiences with books they learn that reading is fun. If reading is fun, they will be more likely to do more of it. The more you read, the better you read.
Use Fun Reinforcers
You can quickly teach students to give themselves a “round of applause” by clapping while they rotate their hands in a circle. Another way is to stretch your hand up high and then reach back and “pat yourself on the back.” These are quick and simple movements that can add joy and a sense of satisfaction.
Use Fun Call/Response Attention Getters
Teacher (singing): “Do a diddy diddy dum diddy do…” Students: “we look good, we look fine, when we’re walking in a line!”
Teacher ” Hey, ho” Students: “To work we go”
Teacher: “Ready set?” Students: “You bet!”
These simple commands are more fun and more effective than repeatedly asking students to pay attention.
Have a Goofy Class Mascot
One teacher has a skeleton who holds a sign with the objectives of the day’s lesson. He is also known to wear a holiday appropriate hat, a Valentine’s Day tie or a cape on Halloween. We have seen a stuffed orangutan who wrote notes and left them around the room- reminding children to pick up or take home permissions slips. Some mascots go home with a different child each night and encourage children to write a story about their adventures to add to a class book.
Give Students Choices
Students can’t always choose what they will do, but look for opportunities to give students a choice. When students choose, their engagement and satisfaction are higher. Could they choose their partners? Their seats? Could they choose a topic for their research report or the book they will read? Think of the content, the learning process, and products to show learning. See if you can give students a choice in one of those three areas.
Joyful classrooms are less stressful, less anxious places. Neurological studies have shown that students’ comfort levels can influence long-term information storage and transmission. Teachers and students face many challenges in today’s educational climate. Living without joy does not have to be one of them.
Wishing you joy as you plan your school year!
Do you want to start the school year with everything done and feeling relaxed rather than stressed? We can help. We have created an on-line workshop, Start Your School Year Strong to help you eliminate the back to school overwhelm and get everything done! Learn more!
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