Should School Be Fun?
I absolutely loved going to school as a kid.
I loved my teachers. I loved the activities. I loved playing with classmates. I loved making things. I even loved school lunch!
If my memory serves me correctly, the only time I missed school was when I had chickenpox. I was regularly awarded perfect attendance certificates.
While I do remember a lot of rote assignments; correct the spelling in these 50 sentences or complete these 100 multiplication problems (which I also somehow enjoyed). My fondest memories are of the things I made with my hands. I learned Chinese calligraphy, I made papier-mâché masks, I made couscous for the class, I colored, cut, and glued to my heart’s content. Then all of the things we made were hung around the room for the enjoyment of the entire class.
As a teacher, in the post No Child Left Behind era, I managed to fill bulletin boards with a variety of student creations. While assessments and data were the primary topic of every meeting and professional development, my students still had ready access to high quality materials and coloring tools. Although I drew the line at glitter and paint in our carpeted classroom, my students made things on a regular basis.
In August of 2022, amid a roaring teacher shortage crisis, I was assigned as an in-house substitute at an understaffed elementary school. Step one, make friends with all of the support personnel. Step two, learn all of the curriculum. Step three, abandon the curriculum and write an entire project based curriculum that could be scaffolded for any student K-5.
Holy shit was the district’s newly adopted curriculum boring. Fortunate to not have any real accountability on this campus, I abandoned every teacher’s manual and opted for fun. Fun with a caveat, I had no materials other than copy paper, pencils, and laptops. In one class, we battled to see who could create the highest high tower using only 10 sheets of paper. In another class, I taught them how to use Adobe Express to create All About Me digital posters. After about 12 weeks I was ‘released,’ like I just did a bid upstate. When I got back to the office, I became overwhelmed at just how sad our schools had become.
Fast forward to 2024, I met a long time work friend for tea. We chatted about this and that, enjoyed a sunny winter day, and eventually went back to our Sunday routines. A few days later, she emailed me with an awesome opportunity to visit her newly built charter elementary school to give their team a ‘fresh set of eyes.’ After touring the campus, we met to align our vision. I have a background in curriculum and instruction with a focus on standards-based alignment, so this project seemed right up my alley. I planned to do a few observations, meet with teachers, evaluate curriculum materials, lesson plans, and assessment data, and offer my professional advice. Easy.
After a short round of 30 minute observations, I was so bored stiff that I considered joining one of the students I sat beside in tearing out pages from his work book and throwing them around the class when his teacher’s attention left his lonely corner. Here we go again with highly rigorous, meticulously calculated, completely inauthentic curriculum materials. Following my visit, I met with my tiny cohort for individual debriefs. I set my notes to the side, promised that our conversation would be confidential, and asked “When was the last time you had fun at school?” Eyes drifted away from the screen, wheels turned in their minds, smiles emerged on their faces, and each told me wonderful stories of (unscripted) true fun they’d experienced with their students.
There it was! This is how I could help. I could guide them through their teacher resources in search of instructional opportunities that were actually fun.
With an agreement and a commitment to fun, I now embark on a journey to tease out as much fun as possible without bucking their list of academic non-negotiables.
Off to read these wack teacher’s manuals and see what fun we can sift out.
Drop a comment of a fun time you had in school!
When the old playground was dismantled and the construction site for the new fancy playground was cordoned off for months our K-5 students surprised all adults. Their imagination as to how to repurpose the sloped field left teachers and parents speechless. With little guidance ever new relay races were invented, and a tiny village was constructed with sticks and leaves and populated with Happy Meal figures. Majority rule was needed to place the Long House in a certain spot. Amazingly, as there were three consecutive recess groups the one and only rule - you can add to the village but not remove anything someone else built- was honored by all. The new playground was opened. Still, the village survived.
I don't remember the why, but in 9th grade global studies we had to design a board game. The physical boards were unique and inventive and the game play for some was so clever. I remember really enjoying just seeing the product of people's imagination.
In 10th grade, the assignment was to deliver a speech about your favorite constitutional amendment. I have never laughed so hard while actually learning. The 3rd amendment is excellent source material for a stand up routine. Mr. Powers tried his best not to laugh but the hilarity surfaced and turned his face bright red.