Chasing Happiness

Dear Deep Creek School Family, 

The ASCD Education Update this month had an interesting article titled "Chasing Happiness in the Classroom." We all love our kids and love teaching but the stress of all the outside pressure sometimes disrupts that happiness. I wanted to share some of the highlights so we can focus on maintaining not only our happiness but the happiness of our students.

Often happiness is thought of as the super high that you get from experiencing positive emotions but there is something deeper to it. In The How of Happiness, positive psychology researcher Sonja Lyubomirsky defines happiness as "the experience of joy, contentment, or positive well-being, combines with a sense that one's life is good, meaningful, and worthwhile." Happiness is complex and nuanced, but when we teach children how to live engaged and meaningful lives that enable them to be successful, " happiness is the byproduct." Patti Ogrady, the author of Positive Psychology in the Elementary School Classroom states,  teachers can set the stage for happiness in their classroom by exploring and understanding emotions, facilitating, and nurturing friendships, and ensuring that students understand the personal meaning within lessons. There are 5 elements of the PERMA curriculum model: well-being, positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning and purpose, and accomplishment. I find it very satisfiying that this article substantiates our effforts with Kagan Cooperative Learning Structures.

Coaching children on positive self talk following the Growth Mindset is another way we can "chase happiness" in the classroom.  As with all instructional strategies, you have to be careful not to overdue it. Students need to see you happy but they need to see you not happy as well. Cultivate things that lead to happiness but don't make happiness the goal. Research has shown that overemphasizing happiness can actually backfire.

So "chasing happiness" means creating positive experiences by reducing students' stress, generating meaning, and being mindful of the emotional content in the curriculum. Focus on strengths, not weaknesses; use language to encourage not discourage; and reduce fear particularly fear of failure, criticism, and embarrassment.These are all things we are doing so this is just a reminder to not let the pressures disrupt the chase. Our goal is not to make every minute a happy one but to move the happiness meter in your classrooms up a notch.

Thanks for all you do,
Adrienne