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Chapter 1
Understanding Joyful Learning in the English Language Arts
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Students need to be excited about and invested in any activity we bring to our teaching—and their learning. Investment and excitement are the essence of the joyful learning philosophy: "acquiring knowledge or skills in ways that cause pleasure and happiness" (Opitz & Ford, 2014, p. 10). Language arts encompass written (reading, writing), oral (speaking, listening), and visual (viewing, visual representation) skills—the key word in this content area is language (see Figure 1.1). Everything we do in life is touched by language, so whether it is delivering it or receiving it, we all must be proficient language users if we are to succeed. The joyful learning framework provides a structure within which we can motivate and engage students in the English language arts classroom.
FIGURE 1.1. The English Language Arts
What Is Joyful Learning?
Will Hobbs (2004) captured what we should aim for as we plan our language arts lessons, while seeking to establish a joyful learning environment: "The brain remembers what the heart cares about." In Engaging Minds in the Classroom (2014), Opitz and Ford discussed different motivators for students and how these influence classroom instruction (see Figure 1.2). If we choose lessons that engage and inspire our students, not only will they care about their learning, but we will also have made a lasting difference in their language arts skills. I believe that teachers can transform their classrooms into contexts that engage all students in all areas of language arts—reading, writing, speaking, listening, viewing, and visual representation.
FIGURE 1.2 Generalizations About Motivation, and Instructional Implications
Source: Generalizations adapted from Pintrich, 2002. © 2014 ASCD. Reprinted with permission from Engaging Minds in the Classroom: The Surprising Power of Joy by M. Opitz and M. Ford pp. 12–13.
The joyful learning framework shown in Figure 1.3 was devised by Mike Opitz and Mike Ford (2014) and comprises five motivational generalizations, five factors we can assess and evaluate when creating a joyful learning environment, and five areas in which we can promote learning. The joyful learning framework is based on both research and professional experience and has several attributes:
FIGURE 1.3 Joyful Learning Framework
1. It capitalizes on what we know about how to best motivate students. The joyful learning framework is based upon motivating and engaging students. Graves and Watts-Taffe maintained that "getting students interested in and excited about words is a crucial component of effective literacy programs" (2008, p. 185). Murphy (2012) noted that an essential aspect of classrooms that motivate readers is giving students autonomy in making choices. When students observe their teachers engaged in these same literacy acts, they "quickly want to experience the same sense of joy" (Murphy, 2012, p. 326). Students are motivated to participate when we create learning spaces in which they can feel successful.
2. It builds on what we know about student engagement. Language arts do not occur in a vacuum; we must take into account and plan for the social nature of literacy. Dockter, Haug, and Lewis (2010) believed such engagement can be achieved by allowing students to build their own understandings and to collaborate in meaningful ways, including authentic audiences and consequences, and encouraging critical and creative thinking through a high degree of rigor (p. 419). In this way, students naturally use language arts and see how they are applied in the world, not just applied in school.
3. It enables us to focus on the whole child. What we do in language arts ultimately reaches beyond our classrooms. Clarke and Whitney (2009) suggested that teachers find ways to connect what students read and write in the classroom to the real world. For instance, selecting texts with multiple perspectives and giving students the opportunity to read and discuss texts, create visual representations, engage in readers' theater, complete graphic organizers, write journal entries, and listen to others are all part of language arts. Teachers also can make content more comprehensible through repeated readings and scaffolded literacy activities and interactions. Finding ways to engage the whole child helps students develop "a better understanding of others, a greater appreciation of diversity, and an awareness of how to live in a globalized world" (Clarke & Whitney, 2009, p. 534).
4. It acknowledges that the learner is influenced by the contexts in which learning takes place. Social media and digital literacies are "fundamentally changing the ways in which youth today read, write, and communicate" (Sweeny, 2010, p. 121). Cunningham and Allington reminded us that "to create powerful classroom environments in which all children learn to read and write, teachers need to be concerned with models, materials, and motivation" (1999, p. 45). Designing classroom instruction that incorporates audio, video, and nontraditional texts (e.g., graphic novels, Twitter, blogs) helps students engage with different literacies and with real-world language.
Vocabulary negotiation through discussion with the teacher or peers has been shown to provide positive conditions for English language learners by including interest, understanding, repetition, deliberate attention, and generative use (Nation, 2005).
Initially, viewing and visual representation may be the language arts used most frequently by ELLs for communication. Not forcing the use of other language arts before they are ready allows them to engage with the content and their peers.
There are many ways to use audio, video, and other digital resources to enhance ELL language acquisition, such as audio books, videos with closed captioning or subtitles, vocabulary and language games, and text-to-speech translation.
Defining Joyful Learning in Language Arts
Do your students love to write? Do your students think they are outstanding spellers? Do they love to present before a group? How well do they listen? When viewing an advertisement or listening to a campaign speech, do your students go beyond the surface and analyze how it makes them think and feel? Although joyful learning in language arts embraces all of these situations, most of us have preferences. Some people like to write e-mail messages, but not journal entries. Others like to talk in small groups, especially with people they know and are comfortable with, but quail at the thought of giving a speech before a large audience. Still others are happy to buy a product just because it is advertised with a catchy jingle. As adults, we all put qualifiers on our "love" of any of the language arts. Do your students do the same?
Many years ago, Robert Fulghum mused on the idea that as kindergarteners we think we can do anything (1991). Dance? YES! Sing? YES! Draw? YES! But ask a group of college students what they can do and suddenly they offer qualifiers: they "only play piano … only draw horses … only sing in the shower. … What happened to YES! of course I can?" (pp. 226–227). Indeed, what happened to confidence, engagement, and participation? What happened to joy? How did teaching become separated from joyful learning?
William Louden and his colleagues (2005) grouped effective literacy teaching practices into six dimensions: participation, knowledge, orchestration, support, differentiation, and respect. Each dimension encompasses a number of characteristics. For our purposes, participation has great influence on the type of literacy skills our students acquire, and comprises:
- Attention: Our students must be focused on the learning task before them. Are the materials we ask them to use student centered? Do our students stay focused on the writing or listening task? Too long at any single task or activity can make attention slip, so it is important to create language arts lessons that are developmentally appropriate and at the right challenge level (without being frustrating or boring).
- Engagement: When a task or topic is fascinating, learning is a natural outcome. Are we finding ways to pique curiosity and keep students engaged? Do students find their own ways to become absorbed in a task (perhaps by varying the "means" to get to the "end")? Helping students make their own decisions and giving them a measure of autonomy leads to students having a vested interest in an activity and can increase engagement (Pink, 2009).
- Stimulation: Our students need a reason to engage. Is there a hook to the lesson (e.g., costumes, music, an out-of-the-ordinary event or statement) that you can use to catch their attention? Do you as the teacher convey your own enthusiasm for the lesson? If the teacher is bored, students will be, too.
- Pleasure: Humans are drawn to pleasure and tend to avoid pain. How do we make writing a pleasurable experience for the student who dislikes it? Can we find ways to transcend the worksheet, essay, or report approach? Again, incorporating autonomy by allowing students to play to their strengths can increase engagement. Do our lessons make real-life connections for students? For example, postgame interviews with sports figures or a politician's impromptu press conference can illustrate the importance of oral skills.
- Consistency: Routines help us feel safe. Does your classroom structure give confidence to your students without limiting the possibilities? Writing workshops can have a skeletal framework while leaving open the type of writing a student can do. Time to speak can be carved out each day, with a variation on the type of speaking (and listening) we do.
Freebody (2005) has noted that
Effective teachers created energetic and exciting classrooms, in which pleasure in...
