Unmistakably, the most wonderful moments in my education work have been the ones that feel warm. As I recently agonized over what to write in an application to graduate study in education, I kept thinking about that feeling- that warmth. What is it about those moments with students that makes everyone feel so good? When, for example, a student working on a workbook problem says, “Why in the world does this guy need so many dog biscuits? He’s just wasting his money!” and everyone, myself included, laughs aloud? When second graders, on their way to the ancient world gallery to study ancient Egyptian art, pause at the top of the stairs so that I can refill their imaginary canteens? When, while speaking Spanish with a number of my students, we giggle over my mistakes? I put a little more thought into it. I didn’t realize exactly what it was until a training at the Smith College Museum of Art: my boss asked us how we can make our museum a joyful place to be, and that’s when it bowled me over. That’s it. Joy.
Joy has been an education buzzword for quite a while, but putting it into practice has been tough. Students in the United States are increasingly unhappy. A study published by Yale University in January 2020 reports that, in a survey of 21,678 high schoolers from across the United States, just under 75% of students’ self-reported feelings about school were negative. Negative feelings are just the tip of the iceberg, though; statistics have shown that the mental health of young people has been in critical decline throughout the last decade. The percentage of youth ages 12-17 who reported a major depressive episode within the last year increased from 8.7 percent to 13.2 percent between 2005 and 2017. The trend worsens today. Joy no longer stands as a mere buzzword. Now, more than ever, classroom joy is a mandate.
Joy is defined as “the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by prospect of possessing what one desires.” It’s unmistakably bigger than just happiness and fun: joy surpasses these as an all-encompassing term for the way people feel when they are cared for. We’ve known for nearly a century that human beings are better motivated when these basic needs are met. Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy, a framework for organizing human beings’ basic needs, was first published in 1943; it argues that human beings cannot reach self-actualization (the desire to be the best version of oneself: a good way to frame students’ desire to learn) until their basic physiological, safety, belonging, and esteem needs are met.
The way our system is currently structured encourages students to skip over critical needs in favor of making the grade. Instead of chasing positive relationships, personal interests, and high self-esteem, students are pressured to outperform on standardized tests and compete for college admissions. “Testing the Joy Out of Learning,” an article from Educational Leadership by Sharon Nichols and David Berliner, tells us that “no reliable increases in student scores [had] occurred, nor [had] achievement gaps between students of higher and lower socioeconomic classes narrowed” during the five years after the enactment of No Child Left Behind. The act exposed US students to an “unprecedented number of tests.” The qualitative results are similar: “The tests undermine teacher-student relationships, lead to a narrowing of the curriculum, demoralize teachers, and bore students.” Students’ critical needs- the roots of their joy- fall by the wayside. The effects are clearly catastrophic.
In the face of systematic misunderstanding, it can seem like a daunting task to bring joy into the educational setting. Educators aren’t powerless, though. We can adhere to the joy mandate in our own local settings, meeting our students’ basic needs in a powerful way. What can you do to strategically bring joy into your students’ space?
Look back to the definition of joy for a clue: we can refocus on students’ well-being, personal desires, and academic success. Nancy Barile describes her top ten strategies in an article for Hey Teach!. Students need time to recharge (“brain breaks”) in between periods of instruction. They must feel like they belong: the teacher must strive to know their students, whether by instituting a morning greeting, chatting during snack, or simply being more mindful about “cultivating personal connections.” Find a way to drive the class toward a common goal, encouraging students to work together as collaborators on a “classroom dream.” Allow students to feel as though they possess personal autonomy by striving for choice throughout the day. Make learning useful and provable by encouraging students to justify their answers and think critically about their studies.
Another way to bring joy to students is to practice one’s own joy as a teacher, both in and outside the classroom. In an article about fostering creativity in the classroom, Lauren Davis describes how “teachers who can model creative ways of thinking, playfully engage with content, and express their ideas, will beget creative students.” Classroom joy is much the same: teachers who foster joy for themselves will share it with students, sometimes even without thinking. Davis continues to write that a “positive state of mind will sustain you, and spread to your students.” Good old-fashioned joy (making students feel safe, cared for, and valued, as well as just having fun) is really, truly infectious.
Besides its value as an antidote to students’ negative experiences in the classroom, though, joy can help teachers as they work to create equitable classroom spaces. Beverly Tatum defines a framework for classroom equity in her book Can We Talk About Race?, outlining a set of ‘ABC’s’: affirm identity, build community, cultivate leadership. Tatum’s framework and the definition of joy contain a lot of valuable overlap. Students of diverse backgrounds deserve to be welcomed and uplifted in the classrooms they inhabit; in this way, joy and justice go hand in hand. Teachers who advocate for equity are the “first responders” to the joy mandate. In her article “Teaching for Joy and Justice,” Linda Christensen explains that “teaching for joy and justice also means locating the curriculum in students’ lives. Many of my students experience injustice… often my students and their families are targeted because of their race or language or immigration status. Putting students’ lives at the center of the curriculum… tells them they matter — their lives, their ancestors’ lives are important. When we create writing assignments that call students’ memories into the classroom, we honor their heritage and their stories as worthy of study.” Teachers honor students when they create classroom environments that are both joyful and just, each strengthening the other.
Take a moment to consider the moments in your classroom that have made you feel warm. That’s the joy! Hold onto it. Next time your students are giggling, find a way to giggle with them. Take a few minutes to play. Have a spontaneous class outside. Learn something new about one of your students. You’ll find a lot of joy therein, so chase it: you and your students both desperately need it, and soon.
About the Author
Libby Keller is a senior at Smith College studying Education and Child Study and Art History. She will graduate in May 2020 and pursue a career in arts education, ever cherishing the joy of blending education and the arts.
References
Blad, E. (2019, March 20). Schools Grapple With Student Depression as Data Show Problem Worsening—Education Week. Education Week. https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2019/03/14/schools-grapple-with-student-depression-as-data.html
Building a Joyful Classroom: Top 10 Strategies Based on Education in Finland. (2019, December 24). Hey Teach! https://www.wgu.edu/heyteach/article/building-joyful-classroom-top-10-strategies-based-education-finland1812.html
Chirstensen, Linda. (n.d.). Teaching for Joy and Justice: Introduction. Rethinking Schools. Retrieved March 1, 2020, from http://rethinkingschools.aidcvt.com/publication/tfjj/tfjj_intro.shtml
Davis, L. C. (2018, December 17). Creative Teaching and Teaching Creativity: How to Foster Creativity in the Classroom. Psych Learning Curve. http://psychlearningcurve.org/creative-teaching-and-teaching-creativity-how-to-foster-creativity-in-the-classroom/
Joy | Definition of Joy by Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Retrieved March 1, 2020, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/joy
Moeller, J., Brackett, M. A., Ivcevic, Z., & White, A. E. (2020). High school students’ feelings: Discoveries from a large national survey and an experience sampling study. Learning and Instruction, 66, 101301. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2019.101301
Nichols, Sharon L.; Berliner, David C. (2008). Testing the Joy Out of Learning—Educational Leadership. Educational Leadership, 65(6). http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/mar08/vol65/num06/Testing-the-Joy-Out-of-Learning.aspx