CEA Advisor December 2023 January 2024 web

REKINDLING

8 CEA ADVISOR DECEMBER 2023 – JANUARY 2024 D r. Judy Willis, a board-certified neurologist specializing in the science of learning, did something unusual after 15 years in medical practice. She became an elementary and middle school teacher. “The truth is when we scrub joy and comfort from the classroom,” she writes, “we distance our students from effective information processing and long-term memory storage.” Learning and ‘a-ha’ moments, she adds, come “not from quiet classrooms and directed lectures but from classrooms with an atmosphere of exuberant discovery.” Bringing joy into the classroom was the subject of a daylong professional development conference, Rekindling Joy in Schools: A Day of Laughter, Learning, and Collaboration, organized by CEA and the Teacher Leader Fellowship Academy at Sacred Heart University. More than 200 CEA members across every subject and grade level participated, choosing among 13 breakout sessions that explored everything from playful

A new principal at his school was similarly committed to improving the culture, such that they went from 6,000 student disciplinary referrals a year to only 400.

What’s in your toolbox? “Here’s a 15-second fix for your classroom, something that can change the

whole mood,” Siebold told conference attendees. “I once bought up a bunch of kids’ joke books. Start every class with a joke. It’s a simple, corny thing, but kids come to look forward to it. They’ll ask for it. It brings oxygen and energy into the room.” New Jersey fifth grade teacher Edward Pietrzak also has an amazing side hustle. This 18-year veteran educator is a magician. “It’s actually not that different from teaching, if you think about it,” he told

conversations with artificial intelligence to transforming classrooms into spaces of equanimity, empathy, and love. Love, laugh, learn Attendees were asked to think about moments in their own childhood when a teacher infused an extra measure of joy into their school experience. Andover

Rekindling Jo When laughter and learning share

the group. “You’re connecting with others and performing in ways that make them think and go, ‘Wow!’” Pietrzak says the way he evaluates his work is the same whether he’s in the classroom or on stage. “I ask myself, ‘Would I want to be in the audience at my own magic show?’ The same goes for teaching. Ask yourself, ‘Would I want to spend the whole day as a student in my own classroom?’ I don’t know about you, but I want to be able to laugh without getting into trouble. I want to be able to take risks. I want choice and agency. Do that for your students.” In school, Pietrzak started “Make Me

speech/hearing therapist Sabrina Hosmer recalled a treehouse. Several

educators remembered musical and theatrical

performances where they felt seen, heard, and—importantly—included. One presenter told the story of an elementary school teacher who had dated a pilot; to her students’ delight, sometimes she’d extend their recess so that when they looked up into the afternoon sky, they’d see his plane fly over. Comedian Devin Siebold and magician Edward Pietrzak are keenly aware of the power of wonder and laughter in classroom learning. These guest presenters— experienced public school teachers themselves—had always channeled the energy of live magic and comedy shows into their own teaching. At the conference, they shared some of the tricks up their sleeves and showed how joy makes learning stick. “Sometimes

we get pushback because people wonder, ‘Can truly rigorous learning be joyful?’” said TLFA Director Dr. Betty Sternberg. “We know the answer is yes. Joy and learning

Laugh” Fridays, where students

are challenged to get a chuckle out of their teacher. He also uses what he calls a ‘grabber toolbox’—ideas and attention-getters to spark curiosity

are mutually reinforcing— not mutually exclusive.”

and wonder in his students. Grabbers might include music, a mystery box, a magic trick, a story, a workout, riddles, curious statistics, a call for volunteers, games, video clips, a

Laughter not only brings joy but also signals safety, said Siebold, sharing that like many kids with a knack for comedy, he dealt with abuse and dysfunction in his home growing up. “Realizing this opened my eyes to my own students who were funny,” he said. “In some cases, that’s their way of releasing stress or showing that a threat has passed.” Before switching to comedy full-time last year, Siebold taught for 13 years in Title I schools in Florida, including through the pandemic and beyond, where— like many public school teachers—Zoom rooms gave him an inside look into students’ living conditions. “We learned a lot about what our students

real-life question, or even a lie. “I once told my students I was buying and renovating a local movie theater,” he

said. “That got them interested enough to help me problem-solve seating in a way that used math and complicated measurements, and we went on like that for a while until a student finally asked, ‘Are you really buying that theater?’ and I admitted I wasn’t, but it didn’t matter by then. The kids were immersed.”

needed during the pandemic, and things shifted because of that,” he said. For his part, Siebold routinely sprinkled jokes throughout tests— which not only provided comic relief for students but also helped keep them going.

“This PD was really exciting,” said Windsor K-2 humanities coach Keva Griggs, a 28 year teaching veteran who participated in a breakout session on mental health response. “Joy is what we have been looking for. A lot of stress in the outside world manifests in students in ways that we

haven’t seen before, and we have more students struggling academically, so bringing joy and laughter into the school environment is key. That can happen in little ways, with little things.”