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As I observed in Kim’s 1st grade class this week, the first thing I noticed was students’ exuberance. I walked in as children were checking their bean sprout baggies. Those tried-and-true lima beans, tucked in a paper towel and plastic sandwich, did not fail to provide the hoped-for results. “It’s cracking!” a student observed! “Mine has a little sprout thing coming out!” another said. “It’s kind of germinating!”
After all the beans were examined, students settled in comfortably on the carpet. The next thing I noticed was Kim’s comfortable smile. I noted her gentle tone as she said, “What did you guys notice about your bean today?”
“It was poking out!” a little one explained.
“What was poking out?” Kim prompted. This launched them into the topic of the day – plant parts. After using a poster to discuss major parts of plants, students followed Kim’s lead in singing a version of “The Wheels on the Bus” that substituted plant parts for passengers and described the parts’ functions. I wish you could have been there as they chimed and copied Kim’s motions, “The roots on the plants go underground…”
Equipped with the needed information, these six-year-olds went to their seats to label plant parts on drawings and write about the purpose of those parts. Kim turned on calm music and the work hummed along.
I wanted to soak in this atmosphere, but time marches on! As I walked out of the room, past youngsters enthusiastically at work on the plant diagrams, the word that echoed in my mind was “joyful.” I had written that word in capital letters in my notes.
After school the next day, I sat down with Kim, and she had the same smile and calmness I’d seen when she was with the children. “What stands out to you from the lesson I observed?” I asked.
I had to smile when she said, “The joy!” Joy was the secret ingredient in Kim’s teaching.
Understanding develops in relation to emotion. During learning, emotional and cognitive processes are woven together. Interest and motivation sustain learning. Positive feelings promote openness, a prerequisite to real inquiry. Joyful learning includes curiosity, connection, effort, and fun. These were abundant during the plant parts lesson.
When students have opportunities to both give and get as learners; when they learn through multiple modalities; when teachers engineer active and collaborative learning activities, opportunities for joyful learning are expanded.
To make joyful learning more abundant, we can coach for instruction that includes moving, exploring, experimenting, solving, and creating. We can ask how a lesson could be revised to include more talking and thinking aloud, more interaction and collaboration. We can promote pairs and groups and dialogue and production more than the primarily passive ventures of independent work. We can coach for joy.
SPECIAL ACCOUNCEMENT:
Our online book group for my book, Differentiated Mentoring & Coaching in Education is underway on Facebook! Each week between now and March 24, I’ll post a video and discussion prompts on Facebook here:
facebook.com/mycoachescouch
You can post anytime. You can participate in the discussion without officially joining, but if you’d like a reminder whenever a new video and discussion are available, please sign up here.
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This brief video about creating a culture of belonging:
https://choiceliteracy.com/article/quick-take-listen-to-create-a-sense-of-belonging/
Attention-Getters without raising your voice:
https://www.edutopia.org/article/7-attention-getters-use-instead-raising-your-voice
Mote is a Chrome extension to add Audio feedback:
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/mote-voice-notes-feedback/ajphlblkfpppdpkgokiejbjfohfohhmk?hl=en-US
When pressure is high, think WIN (What’s Important Now):
https://www.ollielovell.com/tot/134-win-when-under-pressure/
Failure makes success:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45mMioJ5szc
That’s it for this week. Happy Coaching!
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