Happiness and Learning

How Are Happiness and Learning Connected?

March 4, 2013 | Rebecca Alber

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Photo credit: northcascadesnationalpark via flickr (2)

We've all heard of the fight or flight response. We go into survival mode when threatened by something or someone. We either put up our dukes (literally or metaphorically) or take off running (literally or metaphorically). Students often go into survival mode when they feel threatened by an overwhelming cognitive task or confusing text, or when they are called on and don't know the answer, or are confronted or teased by another student (or a teacher!) Can one even learn in such a setting?
It's a question that deserves our full consideration.
As teachers, we also know that when students' affective filters or defenses are sky high, fight or flight responses will be modus operandi. A room full of defensive behaviors (withdrawn, angry) is a sad, unproductive place to teach and learn.
Now let's flip it and take a look at how much more we are able to learn when we are in harmony with the people and things in any given educational environment. Being in harmony means feeling safe, feeling valued and a necessary part a group, and in this case, a learning community.

Hearts and Minds in Sync

What does research show to be the opposite of the brain's fight or flight response? It shows that when we don't feel threatened at all, we have a willingness to be vulnerable, to be open to new ideas and guidance from others -- the ideal learning scenario!
Co-founder of the NeuroLeadership Institute (3) Dr. David Rock says this:

"Engagement is a state of being willing to do difficult things, to take risks, to think deeply about issues and develop new solutions. ...Interest, happiness, joy, and desire are approach emotions. This state is one of increased dopamine levels, important for interest and learning."

Unfortunately, the hyper focus on standardized testing has gravitated many public schools so very far away from whole-child teaching and learning. Less time is spent on social-emotional, behavioral activities that help create and sustain an inviting and engaging classroom environment. And we know that to engage students in deeper learning -- those times we really stretch their thinking -- there is a certain vulnerability they must surrender to. It's a magical mix of willingness and curiosity. So how do we get them there?
Let's go back to Dr. David Rock:

"There is a large and growing body of research which indicates that people experiencing positive emotions perceive more options when trying to solve problems, solve more non-linear problems that require insight, [and they] collaborate better and generally perform better overall."

In the Classroom

Of course this is great news from the research of Dr. Rock and others. So before challenging students with those high-level cognitive demands such as problem-solving, we need to cultivate a safe and harmonious learning environment that invites vulnerability and genuine inquiry. Here are a few essentials for doing that:
Essential #1: Be Sure to Community Build All Year Long. Routinely include strategies and activities in your lessons, such as Save the Last Word for Me (4), that allow students to express who they are, their thoughts and ideas, build relationships, and practice collaboration. This will help grow and maintain a feeling of emotional and intellectual safety in your classroom.
Essential #2: Design Group Guidelines Together. We have all felt fear (or some anxiety) when working in a group: Will they like me? Will my contributions be valued? It's important students have a say when creating the guidelines so they feel connected to and ownership of them. They will also be more on board with adhering to them. "One Speaker at a Time," "Respect all Ideas," "Listen With Your Whole Body" are valuable norms when students collaborate. Make suggestions but let them decide on wording for the norms.
Essential #3: Have Non-Negotiables. Along with classroom rules and procedures, students must know non-negotiables right out the gate. My biggest non-negotiable: name-calling. This resulted in an immediate consequence (a call to the Dean and/or removal from the classroom that day). We have to tackle such things as name-calling and teasing head on or else kids won't feel safe to be themselves, let alone learn.
Essential #4: Post Student Work Everywhere. This one is simple and easy. When displays of essays, poems, projects, and exams dominate the walls, there is a sense of belonging for the students in the room. When they look around and see their own writing and thinking, they certainly experience a higher level of comfort than if they see store-bought posters. That said, if informational posters are needed, ask your students to create them.
Now we'd love to hear from you! How have you developed your classroom to be an inviting, safe, and productive place to learn? Please share in the comment section below.

Wanted: Amazing Administrators

My View:  Wanted:  Amazing Administrators
By Megan Allen, Special to CNN
Editor’s Note: Megan Allen is a National Board Certified Teacher, 2010 Department of Education/Macy’s Teacher of the Year and a finalist for 2010 National Teacher of the Year. She is also a member of the Hillsborough County New Millennium Initiative, an initiative of the Center for Teaching Quality.
As a professional educator and a teacher leader involved in dialogue about effective education reform, one thing is blaringly evident: At the school level, administration makes all the difference in the world.
When you walk through the doors, you can feel it. You observe how the teachers walk with a lilt in their step, you witness it in the priceless faces of the students. But it’s left me wondering, why all this talk about teacher evaluation? It seems that a much more efficient first move would be to focus on the administrators. Great administrators have the ability to inspire the faculty to push themselves to greatness, finding time and support to do so. A great administrator can build even stronger teachers, while a not-so-hot administrator can make a staff of amazing teachers wilt.
That being said, I’m placing a want ad for an administrator. I’m currently accepting applications. Please read the requirements below:

1. Be visible. In our classrooms, in the hallway, in the community. Shake hands–get out there. Be the lifeblood of our school and the first welcoming face children see as they stroll into our halls.
2. Put people first. We may need to think outside the box, err, office on this one. Let’s hire office administrators from outside education to take care of office-related duties that principals are swamped with. This will free time for you to focus on the people in your building.
3. Make our school comfortable and inviting. Don’t be afraid to make our workplace a home environment. Make people feel welcome. How about a staff member right at the door, greeting all who enter? Or students who open the door for students and families in the morning? These little touches will make us all want to be there even more.
4. Show appreciation. Make your faculty and students feel valued, and not just based on successes with student test scores. I’m talking about celebrating all students’ moments, like “Johnny learned how to button his jacket on his own today.” There are so many precious moments of small and mighty victories. Our students need to be celebrated for these, as does our staff.
5. Forge creative partnerships. We need schools that are true centers of the community, that offer social structures that will support our students’ needs for medical and dental care, food, after-school programs, training for parents on how to advocate for their children, and other services so we can get down to the business of teaching in our classrooms.
6. Be bold. Let’s try out innovative programs and ideas. Trust and support your faculty when they come to you with out-of-the-box thinking. Let’s take some calculated and student-centered chances, believing that we must try something different if we are going to help all children succeed.
7. Be trusting. Let your teachers do their jobs. We don’t need a scripted set of expensive books to teach students how to read - we are professionals who can use classroom data to make decisions. Let us be the professionals that we are. Give us autonomy to make our own decisions based on the standards and our deep knowledge of our students.
8. Love your job. Love kids. A school is not a business. There are so many more layers, and it is much more complex. Our focus is changing students’ lives with the power of education. You must love kids and be willing to fight for them.
9. Give us time. We want to fine-tune our craft as teachers so we can be better for our students. But we need time away from kids. I know this seems counterintuitive, but we need collaborative time to peer coach, lesson plan, lesson study and grow as learners. In Finland, teachers have time to do this, to focus on the craft of teaching. Educators in this top-performing country are in the classroom 600 hours a year, compared to our average in the United States of 1,000. I crave time to grow.
10. Join us in our classrooms. I’m looking for a principal who will jump into my classroom and co-teach with me, who offers to teach on occasion so I can focus on professional development with my peers. I want an instructional leader who yearns to be with students and doesn’t want to lose touch with the reason we all do what we do: children.
11. Inspire me. This is a biggie for me, the most important. I want someone who will push me to get better and who will provide support to help me get there. I want someone who is so passionate it spills over into every classroom in the school.
As I read over my want ad, a smile spreads across my freckled face. I know you’re out there. I can’t wait to work with you. I look forward to our time together with OUR children, where we work hand-in-hand and change lives, one student at a time.
The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Megan Allen.

Beyond "Ordinary"

I have been reading a book Wounded by School by Kirsten Olson that reminded me of one of my most favorite quotes is from The Weight of Glory by C.S. Lewis:

“It is a serious thing, to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ‘ordinary’ people. You have never talked to a mere mortal." (italics added)

It is critical that we remember as educators at Esperanza that we are constantly helping or hindering our scholars and colleagues in their journey to reach their potential. We can't be neutral. Therefore, it behooves all of us to remember to be intentionally inviting as Dr. William Purkey suggests.

Creating a Safe Environment at Esperanza

An article titled New rules, new administrator help curb Kearns gang problems posted on KSL.com's website yesterday gave me some more food for thought concerning safety at Esperanza.

I feel a safe school is a high priority. Some ways we can build that safe environment at Esperanza are:

• Have a dress code for uniforms that we enforce


• Be the most "inviting" place in town


• Have every staff person (and parent) commit to knowing the name of every student in the school


• Focus on building and nourishing relationships with colleagues, students, parents, and community members


• Do whatever it takes for every student to experience success and build on that success.


• Involve all Esperanza stakeholders in such a way that they feel Esperanza is their school.


• Encourage and teach all staff members how to be "warm demanders."


• Be fair--not equal


• Use suspension as a consequence only as a last resort

The bottom line is that we want to keep on teaching ALL students not only for the students' benefit but our community needs well-disciplined and educated citizens if it is to grow and flourish.

Birthdays Are for Celebrating

Because today is my husband's birthday I have been thinking about birthdays...and how we want to celebrate birthdays at Esperanza. A birthday is special because it is the day to specifically celebrate someone.

For Esperanza students we might want to consider doing the following to celebrate:

• When making the morning announcements the principal can wish students a Happy Birthday who are celebrating their birthday that day.



• One day each week the principal can have lunch with all the students who had a birthday that week. The principal would give each student a small gift, preferably a book that maybe a business partner could help sponsor. Each student would also get a birthday cupcake.

Note #1: For students who have birthdays in the summer their 1/2 birthdays could be celebrated.

Note #2: Teachers would be encouraged to find ways to celebrate birthdays in the classroom.

Note #3: Parents would be encouraged not to bring birthday treats as it disrupts the classroom and it could make students feel left out whose parents don't bring birthday treats.

Birthdays of teachers and staff members also need to be celebrated. Esperanza's social committee could be responsible for how this is to be done. Over and above this the principal might want to find ways she can celebrate the birthdays of staff members.

Finding ways to celebrate birthdays is one way to give inviting "blue cards" to others and thus help make Esperanza Elementary the most inviting place in town.