Whatever Happened to Joy?

Dean Shareski

Convergence 2015

Raleigh, NC

April 8, 2015
Whatever Happened to
Joy?

@shareski
Let’s stay connected
shareski.ca

Who’s the big kid in the suspenders?

Why Doesn’t Christina Ever smile?

http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/lewiselementary/8683388187

With regards to creating a video like that do you:

A. Do it because it's not only fun but likely does address
some standards but you might have to look them up
later. Fingers crossed.

B. Do it and to heck with the standards, doing joyful
things with students is important.

C. Do it but perhaps as an extra-curricular activity
because you're not sure where it fits with a robust
curriculum but still think it's important.

C. Do it but perhaps as an extra-curricular activity
because you're not sure where it fits with a robust
curriculum but still think it's important.
D.Not do it at all because it’s a waste of time.

http://ideasandthoughts.org/2011/09/05/why-joy-matters/

“Is anyone measuring for joy? A joyful
learning environment might be the most
important thing you create for a child. If
indeed the much used phrase “life long
learner” is a major goal for schools could joy
be an ingredient for that?”
http://ideasandthoughts.org/2011/09/05/why-joy-matters/

Do you Believe Learning is Like Buckley’s?

tps://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/wwworks/7170098685

test scores
conformity
mind your own

business
compliance

test scores
conformity
mind your own

business
compliance
creativity
life long learning
engagement
collaboration

And what do you mean by “student achievement?”

April 25, 2014
!
Dear Kindergarten Parents and Guardians,
!
We hope this letter serves to help you better understand how
the demands of the 21st century are changing schools, and,
more speciﬁcally, to clarify, misperceptions about the
Kindergarten show…. Although the movement toward more
rigorous learning standards has been in the national news
for more than a decade, the changing face of education is
beginning to feel unsettling for some people. What and how
we teach is changing to meet the demands of a changing
world.
!
The reason for eliminating the Kindergarten show is simple.
We are responsible for preparing children for college and
career .…

Every Mission Statement
on the Planet

“...rigorous and relevant education to all students in a
learning environment that fosters high expectations
and data.”
Every Mission Statement
on the Planet

http://www.flickr.com/photos/judybaxter/2333068171/
Feel-Bad Education
The Cult of Rigor and the Loss of Joy 
by: Alfie Kohn
!
http://www.alfiekohn.org/teaching/edweek/feelbad.htm

"Why are our
schools not
places of joy?"
Feel-Bad Education
by: Alfie Kohn
!

Feel-Bad Education
by: Alfie Kohn
!
I’m appearing to accept an
odious premise—namely,
that joy must be justified
as a means to the end of
better academic
performance. Not so:  
It’s an end in itself.

“If you can crack the
problem of
engagement – not
just ‘are you paying
attention?’, but ‘are
you fascinated by
this?’ – if you can
crack engagement in
deep learning then
you’ve cracked 21st
century schooling.”

Mike Berrill Executive Principal, Biddenham International School

joy
/joi/
!
!
Noun 
!
1.the emotion evoked by well-being, success,
or good fortune or by the prospect of
possessing what one desires

Planning and Designing For Joy

Be Interesting
What is your “unfair” advantage?
or

“one of the best things
you can do for your
students is to be an
interesting adult” 
Gary Stager

“We needed to deliver something more,
give the viewers another reason to tune in.”

“We needed to deliver something more,
give the viewers another reason to tune in.”
“...it was a show about people
who loved what they were
doing, who were informed,
but who were also trying to bring
a smile and a laugh to their
audience.”

...And this is all we know so far

https://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/ﬂoridabirds/6882304904

If I asked your students, “How Does Your Teacher
Learn?” what would they say?
https://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/ﬂoridabirds/6882304904

Wonder
What fascinates you?
https://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/turbojoe/1096159720

“Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the
Stryrofoam cup: The roots go down and the plant
goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we
are all like that.” Everything I Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten

“We Have Responsibility to Awe”

https://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/verybadlady/6130770001

How often do your students get to wonder?
What if we valued questions more than answers?
!

Play
What if we thought of play as research?

“The highest form of research
is essentially play.”
http://pixabay.com/en/beach-children-girl-watts-514842/
N. V. Scarfe

“...the pattern has been that as children grow up and
become more proficient at making sense of the
environment in which they live, their world seems to
become more stable. Thus, as a child grows and
becomes accustomed to the world, the perceived need
for play.”

“As we watch the world move to a state of near-constant
change and flux, we believe that connecting play
and imagination may be the single most important
step in unleashing the new culture of learning.”
“...the pattern has been that as children grow up and
become more proficient at making sense of the
environment in which they live, their world seems to
become more stable. Thus, as a child grows and
becomes accustomed to the world, the perceived need
for play.”

“Failure is free, high-quality
research, offering direct evidence
of what works and what doesn’t.
Cheap failure, valuable as it is on
its own, is also a key part of a more
complex advantage: the exploration
of multiple possibilities.”
Clay Shirky

Why evidence-based teaching methods are a bad idea.

“My argument is not with educational research
but with the imperative of evidence-based
education policy. At its best, educational
research can provide important
insights into the relationship
between various social and cultural
variables and pedagogic outcomes.”

But the principal problem educators face today is not the dearth of
educational research or a lack of evidence about ‘what works’, but
rather the increasing absence of any
opportunity for them to exercise
professional judgment and to learn the value of
what Aristotle call phronesis – the virtue of judgment.
Experimentation in education should
be part of a teacher’s everyday life.

http://blog.kylewebb.ca/2015/01/11/dont-just-consume-things-create-things-hour-of-code-2014/

http://blog.kylewebb.ca/2015/01/11/dont-just-consume-things-create-things-hour-of-code-2014/
“Until that point in the year, I had not seen such a
high level of engagement and interest from every
student in my classroom. This was differentiation
and engaging learning at it’s best (for me anyways!).
Students that have a tough time getting excited
about anything at school were ecstatically sharing
their games and apps with classmates.
Collaboration and the desire to share and work
with one another quickly emerged as each student
learned something “cool” that they needed to share
with everyone, so they could use it.”

“What can I do with “these” cellphones?”

How often do you and your students get to play?
!

Just Do It
What are you waiting for?
https://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/orcaman/4318034861/

"There is a direct correlation between the level of
happiness in one's life and the amount of silliness
they allow into it."
She said, "I know. I've done studies."

Be Grateful
The secret ingredient to success
https://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/light_seeker/6395773087

So to Mrs. H, I tell you you matter, I tell you that you are
making a difference, but I will never be able to tell you
how much. You have made my daughter believe that she
can, that she has a home. You have not told her she needs
to be perfect, nor that she will do everything right the ﬁrst
time, but you have made her feel that she can try, that she
can think, that she can dream.!
!
From one teacher to another; you are someone who
makes me proud to be a teacher.

https://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/marynbtol/8389654544

How are you showing gratitude to your
students? parents? colleagues?
Text, tweet, message someone right now and say
thank you.
https://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/marynbtol/8389654544

It’s an End in itself
Thank you
@shareski
shareski.ca

Whatever Happened to Joy?

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