The Joy of Learning

The brain responds positively to joyful experiences. Maybe this seems like common sense--actually it's common sense that is deeply supported by neuroscience and has a variety of beneficial applications in the classroom.

In her Summer EL article, "The Neuroscience of Joyful Education," classroom teacher and neuroscientist Judy Willis tells us, "When teachers use strategies to reduce stress and build a positive emotional environment, students gain emotional resilience and learn more efficiently and at higher levels of cognition."

Read the full article for more detailed research analysis and actionable steps to support joyful learning in your school or classroom; then, post your questions or comments for Dr. Willis on this blog.

Comments

[Lynn Marentette]

It is well worth taking the time to read Judy's article and discuss it with a colleague.

Much has been written about the importance of "brain-based" educational practices, which are much different than "teach to the test" practices that have been encouraged in some of our nation's classrooms. Judy's background as a neurologist gives additional support to the "educating the whole child" approach.

Despite the focus on raising educational outcomes - mostly in the form of test scores - our nation has a high school drop-out rate of about 70%. The "teach to the test" approach might help raise student test scores from one grade to another, but doesn't seem to ensure broader educational outcomes such as high school graduation among a large percentage of our nation's youth.

Resources from Judy's article are worth reviewing.

[Madeline]

I would love to hear more about this.
Brain research is so vital for teachers in creating positive learning environments.
The brain reacts negatively to fear and that makes the case for a more relaxed,
child centered approach. Not that structure should be eliminated, but carefully provided and nurtured.

[Jane St. Pierre]

Judy Willis's article is extremely important for all educators today. I believe that it would be an excellent article to discuss at a faculty meeting in the beginning of the school year. When we make learning joyful, we are creating life long learners. I will share the information in this article with my preservice teachers during the upcoming semester.

[Au Katindoy]

It is really about time for teachers to do a paradigm shift and employ brain-based practices in the classrooms. It is not only the students who benefit from this but the teachers as well since the level of stress is truly diminished. It does not only become a joy in learning but also a joy in teaching.

[Bob Sornson]

TEACHING AND JOY was published by ASCD in 1997, and is filled with stories about the connection between great learning and joy. Extraordinary teachers from around the globe, including Sinichi Suzuki and Dave Weikart contributed to this great book. Check it out.

[Susan W. Owens]

I proved (to myself) that music and movement can improve student learning this year. Every day we spent 15-20 minutes daily dancing and singing. I used multisensory methods with music and movement in my instructional methods. I did 10% of the worksheets the other first grade teachers did, but at the end of the year my reading scores averaged 90% on the Stanford 9.

[Ann McPartland]

I have been a pre-kindergarten teacher for 20+ years now and always had a classroom of children that amaze me with how well and how much they a capable of learning. Many children leave me reading and have a good grasp on number sense. I have begun researching why my students do so well and it is articles like Judy Well's that is providing me with the feedback and terminology that highlight why I am having classroom success.

[Judy Willis, MD, M.Ed. RADTeach.com]

This is a great set of blogs and almost has me believe that there are enough of us in the classrooms, leading students to joyful and effective education, that I should stop teaching, writing articles and books, and giving presentations - even return to the full time practice of neurology and save up for that Ferrari, because my job is done.

Unfortunately, like my medical practice where there were always aweful neurological diseases that only got worse no matter what interventions I tried, we still have a long way to go to fix the "fix" mandated by bureaucrats upon our profession.

I'm thrilled that you caring educators who wrote these blogs and the many others who sent me emails are "walking the walk." It's working! But we need to disseminate what we know to others, especially new teachers.

My daughter just finished her credential/masters and will start her first teaching job in Oakland, CA next month. She is in that "kindergarten joy phase" now, believing everything is possible and wanting to learn and do it all - with all her heart.

So, lets keep speaking out. Please continue to share the wonderful successes you have in your classrooms and schools. I'll keep writing and doing presentations. Our words and deeds will spread to other educators, so while we wait for the big changes to trickle down from the policymakers, we will still be the joy and dream protectors for our children and for the new teachers joining our profession.

Thank you all for what you do and how much you care.

Judy Willis
RADTeach.com

[Maggie Buley]

I agree that bringing joy into the learning experience is worthwhile. In 2002, I completed my dissertation that attempted to suggest just that. The study results suggested that affect, the moment-by-moment emotional state of an individual, was most influenced by student activities, student interaction with the teacher and peers, and the student's view of successful learning.

When students engaged in activities that were exciting and enjoyable, when they were able to speak, work and laugh together, and when the teacher demonstrated a caring disposition, students benefitted by developing a more positive affect for school.

A positive mood benefits not only the mind but also the body. Let's keep laughing!

[Max Girard]

Judy Willis can document that joy is important to learning and that is a step in the right direction.  When considering what qualities our students should possess, we rarely hear imaginative, self-directed, independent, self-aware, creative, and socially at ease. 

Is it possible that most of our problems are a result of the structure of schooling?  Students are isolated from each other both academically and socially.  I would invite all of you to review my article, “Making High School Work for All Students”.  Just click here: Article.  There is no reason to think this approach would not work in middle and elementary grades as well. I would appreciate your comments.

[Victor P. Maiorana]

Dr. Willis has written a breakthrough article. It is much more than the gift of opinion in the line of intellectual pursuit. Using neuroscience and brain-based research, she provides the basis for understanding why nearly 40 years of education reform efforts have failed to achieve significant improvement in teacher effectiveness and student achievement. Here are some points that caught my great interest.

Regarding Joy in the Classroom
Dr. Willis says that children exhibit joy when first starting school but that emphasis on testing and rote learning encroaches upon students’ joy. Yes. Rote learning is a major factor in minimizing cognitive joy in the classroom. The problem increases as students ascend the academic ladder. I think that joy starts to disappear in earnest beginning in the fourth grade. In the early grades learning is playful and contains game/fun aspects. Now it suddenly becomes serious. Students must now read and draw understanding from textual material and classroom discussions. They must apply that understanding in assignments and tests. Stress enters.

Why does stress enter? Why does rote learning reduce joy? I believe it is because of Cognitive Sequentialism [CS]. CS actively defeats the best efforts of teachers, students, and curriculum and instruction designers. CS is the foundation for rote learning. The child’s inborn analytic mind [as evidenced by their early “why?” questions], is stifled by CS. With CS, they don’t know the why of subject matter, they can’t make connections, they can’t integrate their learning, and they can’t make whole sense out of what they study. Furthermore, rote learning provides no cognitive foundation for developing basic and critical thinking, reading, and writing skills. Teachers need training in and students need to be taught how to accomplish all of these ends. Yet, CS is ignored in education reform efforts, new programs, and grant work.

Regarding Brain-based Research
In discussing brain-based research Dr. Willis says: (a) Students are distanced from effective information processing and become bored, anxious, and disengaged. (b) “… comfort level can influence information transmission and storage in the brain.” (c) Engaged and motivated students feel minimal stress and “…information flows freely through the affective filter in the amygdala.” This results in reaching higher cognition levels where connections are made and “”aha” moments are experienced. (d) “That stress, boredom, confusion, low motivation, and anxiety can individually, and more profoundly in combination, interfere with learning.” (e) “…when stress activates the brain's affective filters, information flow to the higher cognitive networks is limited and the learning process grinds to a halt.” and, (f) “… relational memories appear to enhance storage of the new information in long-term memory.”

Frustration is another stress producer. Student (and teacher) frustration arises when they are obliged to use Cognitive Sequentialism. The use of CS to gain understanding of subject matter is cognitively unnatural and destructive of understanding. CS is the major reason for the negative brain-based outcomes reported above. The severe CS drawbacks for students and teachers can be reduced greatly by employing my theory of Subject Matter DNA [see article link at bottom of this comment]. Subject Matter DNA and its associated analytic/critical classroom methodologies provide a powerful way to minimize the negative and maximize the positive brain-based conditions described above.
SMDNA reduces stress because it reflects how the human brain works naturally. It is pleasurable because students actively construct their own critical understanding the first time they engage >new< subject matter. They use that critical understanding as a basis for critical thinking, reading, and writing.

Regarding RAD Lessons for the Classroom
I believe that Planning for the Ideal Emotional Atmosphere should be blended / Integrated with Planning for the Ideal Cognitive Atmosphere. In that way, for both students and teachers, Dr. Willis’ excellent prescriptions for the neuroscience of joyful education can be made still more joyful.

May I suggest a visit to http://www.criticalthinking.info/sm-dna.pdf. There you will find my article on Subject Matter DNA, the antidote to Cognitive Sequentialism and the basis for greatly increasing cognitive joy in the classroom. [Ref.: Maiorana, V. P. Subject Matter DNA. Long Island Education Review. V7, I1, Spring 2007].

[Victor P. Maiorana]

Here is an operable link to the Subject Matter DNA article

Subject Matter DNA

[Judy Gamboa]

Dear Dr. Willis,
Since I've been reading and reviewing Your,BRAIN-FRIENDLY STRATEGIES for INCLUSION CLASSES book, teaching my groups of LD students, as the Learning Disability Specialist, has been so much fun! I work with all grades as a pull out program, seeing the children in small groups four times a week.
I especially enjoy the success of my second grade group and have the best time with them using the multisensory ways you write about to help them acquire and own their knowledge. I used to feel guilty doing what I'm doing now, because the kids were having so much fun. Your book explains why it works!!
I start out playing a game -Simon Says- which I incorporate a little Yoga,relaxation and self-esteem building. We are also learning how to handle our feelings when we are out of the game after making a mistake. Do we pout? or handle it appropriately. After our game the students are pumped up for their academics. We do a lot of movement which definately helps us remember the vocabulary words.
Next,we feel much better from moving around, we are ready to do our reading. They practice fluency and staying on task as we take turns tracking and following along.
They complete their session by filling out their own behavior point sheet-giving them more control,as you suggest, in making good decisions and building trust. They have a little celebration for being so respectful about every three weeks. You should see them play in the little restaurant I made for them. They love taking care of each other, serving food, answering the pretend phone( great conversations), and taking care of Ethel, our baby doll. It is so wonderful to see them showing kindness and caring that will hopefully stay with them for a lifetime.
Sincerely,
Judy Gamboa
DeGrazia Elem. School
Learning Specialist

[Caitlin Best]

It is interesting to see that the environment that teachers have been taught to provide has changed drastically over time. Standardized testing and pacing guides have taken away from what I consider to be learning time. Just as Judy Willis stresses, this is not fully benefical for our students. Seating them in straight rows with all students on the same textbook page is not learning. It is mostly focuses on memorization and short term memory.

More lawmakers and admistrators should read up on brain research and other such topics to see the benefits of a variety of teaching techniques.

We all learn in different ways. We need to remember that.

[Amanda Forth]

I am intrigued by all of your comments and think that Dr. Willis' article scientifically proves a point that educators have believed in for a long time. For learning to take place in the classroom the students must first feel safe and comfortable in their learning community and lessons must always be relevant and meaningful to their lives. Too much effort is spent by educators to ensure that their students are exposed to the required material needed for standardized tests. This fast pace method allows little time for students to be able to make a connection with the material and commit it to their long term memory. If more time was spent in the classroom on more engaging and joyful activities, student learning would increase and their attitude toward school would stay positive.

Dr. Willis listed a number of great strategies in her article. As a fourth grade teacher I will be able to implement these strategies into my classroom and share the ideas with my colleagues.

[Patti]

Au,
Thank you for recommending the book, Teaching and Joy, by Dr. Willis, that details the connection between learning and joy. When adults reflect back on the great teachers in their lifetimes, I imagine that joyful learning took place and positive images surface.
Patti