Have Fun! | Hooray for Monday - Center for Inspired Teaching

February 21, 2022

By Aleta Margolis, Founder and President, Center for Inspired Teaching

Hooray for Monday is a weekly blog filled with questions, ideas, reflections, and actions we can all take to remodel the school experience for students.

We are all responsible adults.

And as such, there are many voices (including those inside our own heads) reminding us of the list of things we need to be doing: preparing our lessons, grading papers, cleaning our bathrooms, taking care of the people who need us, reading the latest research, and other productive activities we feel we can and should engage in any time we have unstructured time.

And it’s true, as adults and as educators we have many responsibilities; we should take them seriously, and we should use our time with focus and intention.

However, too often that long list of things we need to do doesn’t include fun. Fun can feel frivolous, self-indulgent, or downright unnecessary. Fun might not make it onto our to-do lists at all.

But according to William Glasser, the psychologist whose work I’ve been writing about these past few weeks, fun is a basic human need. And as I wrote a while back, fun and laughter can be healing.

Fun: “I want to do something that makes me feel relaxed, that brings me pleasure – just because it feels good!”

Fun is engaging in an activity, with or without a goal in mind, because you enjoy doing it. To know if you’re having fun (because some of us may need a refresher), take a moment to notice how you feel when you’re doing an activity, or thinking about doing it. Are you smiling, feeling joyful or relaxed, laughing, losing track of time? That’s fun!

Where is this need in your life right now according to this spectrum?

How is the need for fun being met in your life right now?

What changes might be necessary in order for your need for fun to be better met?

You can explore an interactive version of these questions on our ABCDE website.

Engagement and fun often go together, but they aren’t synonyms. We strive to make learning engaging for our students and ourselves all the time. But that doesn’t mean learning should be fun all the time. You can be deeply engaged in solving a challenging math problem, analyzing a difficult period of history, building a complicated miniature bridge, or creating an intricate painting. You may care a lot about the work you’re doing, and be totally committed to it, but not having fun – at least not the whole time you’re working on it.

So in addition to striving to meet your needs for Autonomy, Belonging, Competence, Developmental Appropriateness, and Engagement, I hope you’ll give yourself, and your students, permission to have some Fun. It’s the responsible thing to do.😀

Micaiah Anderson

Community Outreach Specialist

As a Community Outreach Specialist, Micaiah is responsible for program promotion and outreach support for Inspired Teaching events and workshops. Micaiah has a passion for collaborating with community members to build-power and connect. She is an educator with a heart for youth and has experience supporting students fight injustices within their schools and communities. She has a BA in Political Science from, the real HU, Hampton University & anticipates graduating in May 2024 with a Masters of Arts degree in Educational Policy Transformation from Georgetown University.

AUTONOMY

"I want to have a say in what happens to me."

Autonomy is the need for independence; the ability to make choices, to create, to explore, and to express oneself freely; to have sufficient space, to move around, and to feel unrestricted with opportunities to exercise free will.

Brady Maiden

Outreach Coordinator

As the Outreach Coordinator, Brady helps maintain Inspired Teaching’s social media presence and supports the organization’s mission to connect with DC community leaders, educators, and parents. Brady has her Master’s in Public Policy from George Mason University and her BS in Political Science from Northern Arizona University. She is passionate about community, equity, and coalition building recognizing that learning and growing with the community at large is how we continue to be impactful.

What brings you joy in life?

I find joy in spending time with my friends and family and meeting new people. I like going to concerts and festivals, and finding new books to read.

The Learner’s Cycle, Wonder-Experiment-Learn, and the Teacher’s Cycle, Observe-Plan-Instigate, comprise Inspired Teaching’s approach to engaging students in inquiry-based learning.

When they are engaged in the Wonder-Experiment-Learn Cycle, students are immersed in learning. They take the lead in designing authentic learning experiences around their own interests and their school’s standards of learning. Each discovery leads to a new question which in turn leads to more wondering and more learning. In the Wonder-Experiment-Learn Cycle, Learn is not a destination or an endpoint; it is a deeper understanding, leading to a deeper wondering and new possibilities that create new entry points to further exploration. The cycle continues because what students have learned generates more wonderings that require more experiments that foster more learning – and on and on.

The Observe-Plan-Instigate Cycle is the work of an Inspired Teacher. While a student is expected to follow the Wonder-Experiment-Learn Cycle, the teacher joins them on the learning journey while following their own cycle of Observe-Plan-Instigate. This cycle ultimately serves to ensure an inquiry-based atmosphere is at play in the classroom.

Jaqueta Abbey

Teaching and Learning Specialist

Jaqueta is the Teaching and Learning Specialist for Inspired Teaching. In addition to her current role with Inspired Teaching, Jaqueta is a first-grade teaching assistant. Her background features a variety of traditional and non-traditional experiences in the field of education, including working as an adjunct professor, teaching summer reading programs to children and adults, and tutoring children in the foster care system. Jaqueta earned a B.A. in Communication Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and an M.A. in Interactive Media from Elon University.

What brings you joy in life?

Creative self-expression! In addition to my passion for storytelling, I love dancing of all kinds. I've studied belly dance, bachata, and Brazilian Zouk among other styles. I also enjoy glass fusing, crocheting, photography, and cross stitching. These art forms allow me to express myself and build connections with other people at the same time. I think life would be a lot less vibrant without artists and storytellers!

Michelle Welk

Communication & Marketing Specialist

As Communications and Marketing Specialist, Michelle is responsible for finding and creating new ways to highlight Inspired Teaching and promote its programs in order to expand and deepen the organization's impact. Michelle has worked in communications in an array of settings, from creative agencies to state politics to national nonprofits. She has a BA in Journalism from Temple University in Philadelphia and is passionate about education, access, and equity.

What brings you joy in life?

My son, the beach, making a persuasive argument and good food!

Max Peterson

Real World History Assistant Teacher

Max received his Bachelor’s degree in History and African American Studies from Boston University in May 2016. He has worked in museum curation at the Museum of the White Mountains in New Hampshire and the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. Max has worked with young people of varying ages from young children to young adults transitioning to college.

Feedback and Accountability

We grow through feedback and an understanding that the quality of our work is a reflection of what we are learning, but the shift to remote learning this spring disrupted a lot of the tools teachers were used to using to evaluate student growth. How might we do things differently this fall? Participants in this workshop will explore ways to bring meaningful assessment into the virtual and/or socially-distanced classroom and approaches to student feedback that strengthen motivation, and build relationships and achievement.