If you’ve heard rumors that I’ve been a little space-y lately, I must admit they’re absolutely true! I just returned from delivering a keynote address at a conference in Orlando where I caught the audience of over 400 educators off-guard by literally bounding down the aisle in an astronaut costume, taking giant “slow motion” leaps as I melodramatically made my way up to the speaker’s podium. I can still hear the reverb of the “Space Odyssey” music theme that blared loudly over the speakers as I did so!
The theme of this 21st Century Learning Center Annual Statewide Afterschool Conference was “Reach for the Stars: Celebrating Afterschool.” I embraced their theme whole-heartedly and titled my keynote, “Having a BLAST in Afterschool!”
Weeks before the conference I consulted with Lani Lingo, State Director of 21st CCLC at the Florida Department of Education, to ask her what direction she’d like me to take in my address to her conference-goers. She said she wanted me to encourage Afterschool providers to keep the fun in their programs for the sake of their students. Providers have such pressure on them to meet high educational objectives that it’s no wonder “fun” is often left out of the lesson planning equation because frankly it’s just not on their “high-priority list.”
I believe that learning should be fun, and not just for fun’s sake. There is a lot of research that supports the idea that having fun when learning actually improves the learning process. So I used the acronym B.L.A.S.T. to convey five reasons why “fun” improves a student’s understanding of material as well as his or her long-term memory and recall of what is taught. During my address I included several anecdotes from my own childhood where I vividly remember what I learned because my teachers incorporated fun into the lesson delivery.
What are your thoughts along these lines? Can you recall specific lessons taught to you long ago that make the point that fun actually enhances learning? If so, please share with all of us!
Anyone who gets a chance to attend one of Angela's workshops or speeches - DO IT!
ReplyDeleteWe also just returned from Orlando & the 21st CCLC conference & I can tell you that Angela's ideas & philosophies are fun... educational & fun.
As a bonus - Angela is a HOOT!!
Learning SHOULD be fun! Kudos to you (and all others!) who attempt to do so! Sadly, I have no memory of a teacher giving me a "fun" learning experience. The most precious memory I have is of a first grade teacher trying her best to help the A.D.D. student that I was. She was so VERY patient. Her answer to my difficulties was repetition, which helped but did not solve my problem.
ReplyDeleteI truly believe ALL children have a "level of learning". It is up to us as those who teach (or even those of us who dream of teaching) to FIND that level.
God be with you as you continue to educate the children of this world.
It has been 27 years since I read Beowulf but I still remember key points because me teacher allowed our class to enjoy the humor we found in the novel. She allowed us to "laugh and learn". This was an incredible gift. I am blessed/cursed with the ability to find humor in "serious" situations. It was always distracting to me to have to devote so much energy to suppress this tendency and conform. The removal of "humor censors" liberated me so that I was able to really dive into a story and fully appreciate it as I rarely had been able to do in a class room setting.
ReplyDeleteDeaer Best, Dana, and Dawn,
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your comments on my blog on fun when learning! Good food for thought. Keep 'em coming!
Thanks! Angela
P.S. You can check out fun photos from the BLAST keynote on our Facebook page for Readers of the Caribbean.