Have fun while teaching!

Dear Deep Creek Family, 

Welcome to Quarter 2-one down and 3 to go. Remember we are all in it together; we have each other’s back! As a fellow teacher, I can vow and say we sometimes fall into a rut. We get bored, we feel burnt out, we’re frustrated that our students are daydreaming and are not focused-we can’t let this happen though! We’ve all seen it, heard it, or done it. We are NOT those types of teacher, we are ones that engage, motivate, and entice the students. We need to focus on the good- having fun with our students. It all starts with US. If we have a good time, the students will as well. Our mood, how we portray ourselves, and how we speak to the children matter the most. They need role models that inspire them, enrich their brains, and promote growth. We, as a school, are positive and upbeat people. We walk around smiling, waving, and talking to our students; it shows we care and involved in their lives. Our mood transpires to them; so it’s important we express joy and comfort. When students are embraced with enthusiasm they will enjoy learning. Fun will actually promote learning by increasing dopamine, endorphins, and oxygen in the brain-all so important! ;) 

I know you are asking yourself how can I make my teaching more enjoyable for myself and my students-look no further than below. I’ve found the perfect resource, each one of the fifteen ways are right on target. I challenge you to read and use these in your classroom for Quarter 2. (You will probably shock yourself on how many you already do-you all are amazing teacher with some remarkable attributes)

How to Have More Fun Teaching

1. Discover new things together.
It’s much more fun for both parties when students and teachers learn new things together. Your job is, of course, to educate, but why can’t that process include the joy of shared discovery? Make a point each day of letting down your authoritative guard, humbling yourself, and enjoying the lifelong journey together–even if it’s just for a few minutes.

2. Incorporate mystery into your lessons.
Learning is the most fun when it’s surprising. Don’t just disseminate information; cloak it in mystery. Highlight the weird, the unusual, the unique. Ask questions. Start with a curious detail that can only be addressed by diving into the background of the subject and thoroughly exploring it. Pose a mystery at the beginning of the course and let your students work towards solving it throughout the term.

3. Be goofy; show you care.
Let loose; laugh; make fun of yourself. Don’t worry about sacrificing your authority. In fact, the latest research says authority stems from showing you care about your students, and making them laugh and feel good is one way to do that.

4. Participate in projects.
I had a creative writing professor at uni who would bring his own material to class for the students to workshop. It was great fun for all of us, and enjoyable for him as well. Stepping down to our level and actually participating in an activity he assigned himself made us all more engaged in the task because he was willing to be a part of it.

5. Avoid “going through the motions.”
If you feel yourself slipping into a rut, spending the same hours exactly the same way each day, stop and reassess your teaching process. It’s so easy to let it all become automatic, especially after twenty-plus years in the field, and to use the same lessons and techniques year after year with different students. But if it’s not fun for you, it won’t be fun for your students either. Make an effort to be fresh, try new things, take risks, make mistakes, enjoy the moment.

6. Flip your lessons.
Flipping your lessons will help you avoid boring in-class activities. If students watch lectures or correct their own homework the night before, you can spend the course period focusing on deeper learning. Everyone will appreciate the chance to reflect on, instead of repeat, the material.

7. Review–but don’t repeat–material.
It’s important for learning and memory to review new material regularly and to integrate it into the bigger picture shaped by old material. Spend an hour or two each week reviewing material from the past few weeks, but always position it within old material so that students see how it all fits together. Simply repeating new information represents a missed learning opportunity.

8. Share your passions.
Show students how you have fun. Passion is contagious. If you’re having a good time, chances are your students will too.

9. Laugh at your students’ jokes.
The best teachers I’ve ever had got a genuine kick out of their students. It’s one of the best ways to ensure teachers and students have fun: enjoy one another.

10. Replace lectures with conversations.
Why should teaching be so passive? Forget the sage on the stage and engage your students in a casual conversation like you would a good friend. This doesn’t necessarily mean asking more questions, but it does require a stylistic shift whereby you and your students are actively exchanging ideas–not just responding to them.

11. Put on a performance.
In his books and workshops, Doug Lemov talks about what pace to move around the room, what language to use when praising a student, how to adjust the angle of your head to let students know you’re looking at them. Teaching, he says, is “a performance profession.” You don’t have to be theatrical (though that might help), but you do have to be self-aware.

12. Enjoy yourself.
People with high confidence–people we respect and listen to–tend to have one important trait in common: they enjoy themselves. Quite literally. You’ll have a significantly better time teaching if you work on nurturing your personal relationship with yourself. Your
students will have a better time, too.

13. Make yourself available.
Don’t go to the teacher’s lounge during lunch; stay in your room and invite students to eat lunch with you. Keep your doors open after the bell rings at the end of the day. Make yourself available online for part of the evening. Hold one-on-one and group office hours. Invite students to your home for workshops or end-of-course celebrations.

14. Try being a student again.
Take a seat in the audience and let your students teach you for the day. Spend a week doing your own assignments. Let students grade you on projects or presentations.

15. Don’t take yourself–or your subject–too seriously.
One complaint I hear from students is that teachers don’t sympathize with the fact that their course isn’t the only course students are taking. Students have to balance assignments and material from several courses at once (you had to do the same thing not so long ago). This doesn’t mean loosening your rules or being lenient on late work; it means acknowledging that students have interests and priorities that might not line up with yours. Try to be understanding, and even express interest in other courses students are taking. Think of it as an opportunity to strengthen students’ grasp of your subject by relating it to other disciplines.


Every child is lucky to have you; don’t ever forget that. We all have our FUN moments, but now it’s time to focus on making our teaching MORE FUN so we all can reap the benefits! Hope you have a great week.

Again, thank you for all that you do, 

Kristina 

Cited From: https://plus.google.com/u/0/101796324413630088793#ixzz3ohBGAvYE