Joy in School (Steven Wolk in Educational Leadership, 9/08)
In his “Joy in School” article for Educational Leadership, Steven Wolk talks about an overlooked element in learning: joy. Here are his ten “joys” in learning and how they might map to the AASL Standards for the 21st Century Learner (aka Learning for Life or L4L):
JOY 1: Find the Pleasure in Learning
AASL 4.2.1 Display curiosity by pursuing interests through multiple resources.
JOY 2: Give Students Choice
AASL 4.1.3 Respond to literature and creative expressions of ideas in various formats and genres.AASL 4.4.1 Identify own areas of interest.
JOY 3: Let Students Create Things
AASL 1.2.3 Demonstrate creativity by using multiple resources and formats.
JOY 4: Show Off Student Work
AASL 3.3.5 Contribute to the exchange of ideas within and beyond the learning community.
JOY 5: Take Time to TinkerJOY 6: Make School Spaces InvitingJOY 7: Get OutsideJOY 8: Read Good Books
AASL Common Belief #1: Reading is a window to the world.AASL 4.1.1 Read, view, and listen for pleasure and personal growth.
AASL 4.1.2 Read widely and fluently to make connections with self, the world, and previous reading.
JOY 9: Offer More Gym and Arts Classes
JOY 10: Transform Assessment
AASL 2.4.3 Recognize new growth and understanding.AASL 1.4.1 Monitor own information-seeking processes for eff ectiveness and progress, and adapt
as necessary.
AASL 1.4.2 Use interaction with and feedback from teachers and peers to guide own inquiry process.
AASL 1.4.3 Monitor gathered information, and assess for gaps or weaknesses.
JOY 11: Have Some Fun Together
AASL 3.2.3 Demonstrate teamwork by working productively with others.AASL 3.1.2 Participate and collaborate as members of a social and intellectual network of learners.
AASL 2.1.5 Collaborate with others to exchange ideas, develop new understandings, make decisions, and solve
problems.
October 12th, 2008 at 4:24 pm
Team teaching with colleagues is one of the very BEST ways to put joy back into teaching and learning. I’m serving in a new position this year. Getting to know my classroom teacher colleagues through designing and implementing collaborative lessons and units and assessing students’ learning together is my main motivation for getting out of bed each day.
Hurray for Steven Wolk. Perhaps finding the joy in the journey should be a major component in (possible) standards for teacher-librarians.
Thankfully, as Kristin points out, it can already be found in AASL’s Standards for 21st-century learners. Oh, wait… Aren’t teacher-librarians and all educators 21st-century learners, too?