Teaching is serious business, now more than ever. With Common Core standards, less and less recess time, an overwhelming number of high-stakes tests, and, of course, the many challenges students bring to the classroom on a daily basis, it really can’t be anything else…..or can it?
I would argue that even in today’s challenging environment playfulness and fun should still be a priority in the classroom for three important reasons:
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- While the goal of education is to shape young people into productive members of society (or something like that), right at this moment, they are still children, and children thrive on fun and actually need to play for healthy development.
- When children enjoy what they are doing, they are more engaged. They actually learn and remember more.
- Your own mental health: Taking everything seriously can make for a stressful and possibly somewhat unpleasant day. When your students are having fun, you probably are too!
In her book, Unshakeable, Angela Watson admits that incorporating fun into her lessons did not come naturally to her. However, she saw the potential benefits of taking a more playful approach and challenged herself to add more fun into her teaching. Fortunately for her students, and for us, Angela is not the kind of person to do something halfway. She found a plethora of ways to make learning fun, and she has shared all of them in chapter 12 of her book: Incorporate Playfulness and Have Fun with Learning.
I actually am the kind of teacher that naturally looks for ways to make learning fun. My voice is usually animated and jokes and silly accents are common in my classroom. When I am speaking, my goal is to keep my kiddos engaged, and humor can really help. So, it’s not surprising that I resonated with a lot of what Angela wrote in this chapter. As a bonus I also picked up a few new strategies (love the part about props for various roles. Never would have thought of that). If playfulness is a little harder for you, Angela suggests “…choosing one that fits your personality, and let it evolve from there.” It’s like anything else in life, the more you do it, the more natural it becomes.
In this chapter, Angela discusses using many different approaches including:
- Creatively integrating music into your classroom
- Incorporating movement
- Adding a little drama to your classroom (the fun kind, not the scary kind!)
- Using props to make learning more fun
- And, of course, turning tasks into games.
I don’t want to tell you too much because Angela’s got it covered in Unshakeable (which you can purchase from Amazon here), but I will close this post with the final paragraph from this chapter.
A passionate teacher with a great sense of humor truly makes learning fun. The more you care about the curriculum and give yourself and the kids permission to laugh, the easier it will be to find the fun in teaching. Your classroom can be a place full of rigor, AND students can laugh the entire day. Playfulness is often a mark of serious learning.”
This post is just one small part of the amazing book study being hosted on Angela’s blog, The Cornerstone for Teachers. Be sure and click through to read about the next chapter!
If you have a moment, please share how YOU incorporate fun into your classroom!
I love to have fun, but have recently realized I have been in a rut trying to stick to my curriculum. I am interested to see how others balance the two. I work hard connecting technology, which helps, but I want to add more traditional fun as well.
Great reflections, Rachel! I truly believe teaching and learning can be fun, but we as teachers can't wait for some else to suggest or mandate that. We have to actively look for ways to bring playfulness into the classroom. It can be done! Thanks for sharing this.
Hello, I always incorporate the above, I think playfulness is quite important in education; though some colleagues of mine don't appreciate it, sometimes I feel I'm not doing a good job, but I see my students remember things we've seen long ago and that's rewarding. Thank you for sharing.