Having Fun

image created at http://www.wordle.net/

Wow! I've just taken part in my first #ukedchat on Twitter. If you don't yet know what that is, I have attached a link to Ian Addison's blog which explains the concept very succinctly. The topic for this evening's discussion centred around making learning fun.

The discussion spent a lot of time focussing on a definition of 'fun' and it seemed to be agreed that 'fun' should not be used in the flippant sense of larking around, but more in terms of being engaged, motivated, stimulated and energised to use but a few words. Personally I am a big advocate of 'fun'. I don't think there can be enough 'fun' in the classroom, or in any learning - and in defining 'fun' I would agree with  the words used earlier in the paragraph.

Many of our children bring baggage to school with them. This ranges from a minor dispute with a sibling or parent, to the rabbit dying, to far worse things that we all know happen in the lives of the children we work with. School should be a haven, where the baggage can be left at the door, a place of trust and balance. Each individual needs this - and I include staff in this thought.

So, assuming emotional stability is achieved what is fun? In developing our curriculum at my previous school my one requirement of staff was that they had fun planning and teaching it. (well, apart from covering the curriculum, and being at least good in quality of teaching and learning, and ...). Why? It comes from my own experiences. I know that the best teaching I have ever done has been when I have really enjoyed the content and topic. I know that these made for the lessons that pupils described as their most memorable, and that they remembered what we had been learning.

It's a lofty ambition. However, through collaboration, commitment and consistency we were able to arrive at a curriculum that our pupils regularly called fun. Were they larking about all the time? No. They most definitely weren't. Standards in the school improved dramatically in two years (both measurable through data and softer measures such as behaviour and attendance).

One of the most significant factors in developing fun was to change our pedagogy. We worked very hard to develop strategies that allowed us to act as a Guide On The Side (GOTS) more often than we acted as Sage On The Stage (SOTS). When acting as a SOTS teacher there is a danger that we act as the fountain of all knowledge, and that our voice and thoughts dominate the learning time. Where SOTS teaching takes place more frequently than GOTS I have noticed that there is less involvement in the learning from the pupils. That is not to say that they were unmotivated or unenthusiastic. They weren't. They just weren't committed to participating in the learning. As the ratio of GOTS teaching increased, so too did the enthusiastic involvement of the learner. The GOTS teacher provides prompts, facilitates discussion and intervenes at well judged and carefully planned moments. However, the learners feel more in control, and at the same time more challenged.

As time passed, our learners became more enthusiastic in and out of the classroom. They became more involved with decision making in the school, and their pride in our school increased dramatically. As a result the school became an even more exciting place to be, and the enthusiasm and passion became an ever increasing circle. Parental engagement with the curriculum increased dramatically, and the parents also took on greater shared repsonibility for the learning. Partnership started to be a true description of the teacher-pupil-parent partnership.

This is a very simplistic description of four years of hard work. There were many stumbling blocks and several near disasters. But reaffirming the work was the desire for everyone to have 'fun' - but not just in the sense of larking around!

Ian Addison's explanation of #ukedchat - click here.