4 steps to finding joy in learning

1. Find JOY in learning!
DECEMBER 2016 CHARACTER EDUCATION LESSON #1

2. Learning Target
 I can find joy in my personal learning by:
 1. Doing my own work
 2. Having a good attitude & believing in myself
 3. Finding my strengths and interests
 4. Putting forth time and effort

3. Find JOY in learning…
 Does it seem impossible to enjoy coming to school to learn? After all… that IS
why we have school. Of course, there are other benefits and fun things that go on,
but LEARNING is the ultimate goal…. And it is one of our goals at Snowcrest’s to
help students find joy in learning!
 Think to yourself for a moment. What is your favorite class? What is your favorite
subject? Sometimes, students choose a favorite class because of a teacher or
because they excel at the subject. How can you find joy in learning? What things
do your teachers do to help you be engaged?

4. Where does joy in learning come from?
 The joy of learning comes from the experiences of success
 The achievement of small goals as a part of a greater learning process: These
small steps are important when it comes to the joy of learning. It’s like setting a
goal and taking small steps to achieve a larger goal.

5. Find your success…
As you begin to experience achievement of a goal or success at doing something or
learning a skill… and it can be anything!
 A subject you are knowledgeable in or good at
 Drawing or being creative in some way
 Playing an instrument
 Learning how to play a sport
 Building or creating
 Being good with tools… dancing… singing… writing… reading… snowboarding
You begin to feel pride and find joy in what you are doing and have a desire to nurture and
grow in your learning.

6. How can I begin to find joy in learning?
 1. For starters… Make sure you are doing your own work. When you accomplish
something yourself, you feel a great deal of satisfaction in knowing you worked
hard and completed a task. That doesn’t mean you can’t get help or ask
questions. It just means that YOU have taken the time and put forth the effort to
get something done.
 If someone does the work for you and you take credit for it... there has been no
personal interest in the task, no achievement, no growth, and there is no internal
reward. This is actually called cheating. And who is the one getting cheated?
 YOU! And the person who did the work. You are cheating yourself out of the
opportunity to learn, accomplish, achieve, and the feeling of integrity, doing the
right thing.

7. Another form of copying: Plagiarism
To plagiarize means:
 to use another person’s ideas or words without crediting the source
 to present something as new and original (as your own idea) when it is actually an
idea or words of someone else.
 plagiarism is an act of fraud.
Retrieved from Plagiarism.org: http://www.plagiarism.org/

8. All of the following are considered
plagiarism:
 turning in someone else's work as your own.
 copying words or ideas from someone else without giving credit (even if you
change some words).
 failing to put a quotation in quotation marks.
 copying so many words or ideas from a source that it makes up the majority of
your work, whether you give credit or not.
Retrieved from Plagiarism.org: http://www.plagiarism.org/

9. Give credit where credit is due!
 When you are researching a subject and using someone else’s thoughts, ideas,
writings, etc., even when you put it in your own words, make sure you give credit
to the author.
Retrieved from Plagiarism.org: http://www.plagiarism.org/

10. When you copy someone else’s work
 1. You are not stimulating your mind. You are not learning.
 2. You are cheating. Not only are you cheating yourself out of gaining knowledge
and progressing, but relying on someone else to do the work for you.
 3. It is unethical. Unethical means not morally correct.
 4. Showing a lack of integrity. It’s not the right thing to do. It’s not right to copy
someone else’s work or to let someone copy yours.
 5. Does not build confidence (in fact it does the opposite), does not build pride or
achievement or help you reach goals.

11. When you do your own work
 1. It helps you enjoy school more and actually appreciate the opportunity to learn and
what your teachers do for you!
 2. You are learning a good work ethic
 3. Shows you have good integrity
 4. Helps you achieve
 5. Helps build confidence
 6. Allows more creativity
 7. Feel pride in your accomplishment
 8. You are teaching your brain to build new skills!

12. Class Discussion…
 How do you find joy in learning?
 What would you like to learn?
 How do you successfully get through your most difficult classes or the subjects
you dislike? And why should you persevere through those tough subjects?
 Give examples that help you learn or what some of your teachers do that you find
beneficial.