Written by If you are a multi-tasker or want a multi-sensory experience, perhaps listening to Johannes Brahms’ Wie lieblich sind deine Wohnungen (Ein Deutsches Requiem op. 45: Kölner Philharmonie, Dec. 4. 2009: 6 minutes, 19 seconds) might be interesting while reading this blog entry (although hopefully reading my blog will not take that long!): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqpEYsOZymQ
Algonquin Morning-P. Cobban
Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. (Psalm 30:5)
What some of us are perhaps seeking most to change in our classrooms might require a look in the mirror. My Action Plan was in response to the following question: How might we infuse the joy of learning and the joy of effort into the FSL experience for students of varied abilities?
Life has been “full and blessed.” Trying to be mindful of the moment has been a struggle, but the struggle has led me to slow down instead of “running around like a chicken with my head cut off” (as my father used to say). I have to confess that I have neither been intentionally implementing a tidy Action Plan nor researching new sources to infuse joy into my classroom. Cohort 21 seems to be a community which values and allows for divergent thinking. The Cohort 21 ethos has still been present in my head, so I have been reflecting, reading and experiencing as well as seeking opportunities to revel in ordinary moments of joy. Most of all, I have been observing and being open to whatever enters life. It has led to conversations and a reconnection with humanity instead of simply allowing myself to be another cog in the machine. Some of the more important conversations (en français) have been with students about joy and their educational experience within the classroom community. Remarkably, the response and interest were very encouraging. We even digressed to discuss the purpose of education and I came to the conclusion that it should be to help students find their mission in life. Fulfilling one’s vocation should lead to extreme joy in life.
My blog post will focus on four areas I have found to be integral considerations for the implementation of joy into my classroom: beauty, vocation, forgiveness, and imagination. These four words came to me through the gift of opportunities offered by daily life.
| Beauty: a combination of qualities, such as shape, colour, or form, that pleases the aesthetic senses |
Original score: Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem
I sing in a choir and we have been practicing Johannes Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem for an upcoming concert. To me, it is a profound piece of music. There is something raw and authentic about a requiem as it puts us in touch with our mortality. It is a deep journey through such an oeuvre d’art. To be involved in making something beautiful and allowing oneself to be swept into another world and into a part of something greater, all in the fellowship of community, is a wonderful example of a mountain-top moment. It serves as inspiration for attempting to recreate this feeling and experience within the confines of a classroom setting. Music is a powerful medium of beauty for me, so I thought, “why not try to incorporate this gift of humanity into the daily schedule of my class?” We started to begin class singing songs (en français) of Disney movies or comptines and have slowly been moving into the rich offerings of la Francophonie. So many songs go to the heart of humanity with love, life, death, longing, despair, hope, etc. as themes. How could they not touch the singers and tease out the joy from within? It seems the beauty and poetry of music has helped to “set the stage” for a climate of joy.
| Vocation: a person’s employment or main occupation, especially regarded as particularly worthy and requiring great dedication. |
Dust cover: Becoming Who You Are by James Martin
Source: https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51JctKgmIPL._SX317_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg
During a silent retreat weekend in January, I picked up a copy of Becoming Who You Are by James Martin. Martin’s book made me think about my students and my idea that education should help a student find his or her vocation. While it is a religious book calling the reader to sainthood through following our vocation and getting in touch with our true self, there are still valuable quotations for members of the secular world.
Martin quotes Thomas Merton’ book No Man is an Island (in particular the chapter entitled Being and Doing) about the true and false self: “Why do we have to spend our lives striving to be something we would never want to be if we only knew what we wanted? Why do we waste our time doing things which, if we only stopped to think about them, are just the opposite of what we were made for?”
A further quote from Merton’s New Seeds of Contemplation is also quite poignant for reflection: “Thus I use up my life in the desire for pleasures and the thirst for experiences, for power, honour, knowledge, and love, to clothe this false self and construct its nothingness into something objectively real. And I wind experiences around myself and cover myself with pleasures and glory like bandages in order to make myself perceptible to myself and to the world as if I were an invisible body that could only become visible when something visible covered its surface.”
How can we help our students discover their true selves so that they fulfill their vocation in life and be authentic? Open conversations and true discussions are a start. I began having students reflect and write in personal journals on subjects to make them think about themselves once a cycle. It is not an activity which you can evaluate, but it gives purpose and value to such a dialogue. I read and respond (en français) to their journal entries. Yes, it is a bit of work, but it is also an incredible privilege to help others reflect on and probe them to become who they are. Developing self-awareness, purpose, and vocation, even at a young age, is a worthy endevour for the learner.
| Forgive: stop feeling angry or resentful toward someone for (an offense, flaw, or mistake). |
Dust cover: Forgiveness by Mark Sakamoto
Source: https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1394478242l/20726950.jpg
Mark Sakamoto’s Forgiveness is a meaningful work of literature and worthy reading, particularly those who have been traumatized by experiences in life. It provides some gems about forgiveness. It was chosen as the winner for Canada Reads 2018, so I am not alone in my assessment of this book! We need to learn to forgive others, but also, more importantly, to forgive ourselves in order to move on and live freely. Easier said than done, right? Some of my favourite quotes from Skamoto’s book are:
| “My grandparents bore witness to the worst in humanity. Yet they also managed to illuminate the finest in humanity.”
“Forgiveness is not a transaction. It is not an exchange. Forgiveness has nothing to do with the past.” “Forgiveness is moving on. It is a daily act that looks forward. Forgiveness smiles.” |
Resilience from failure, from trauma and from heartache is important. Letting go, moving on and not being chained to the past allows us to return to a state of joy (and to our true selves). Often, we are weighed down by disappointment and struggles. How do we teach our students to forgive others and themselves? How to create an environment of support and safety for risk-taking? I believe it starts when we as educators expose ourselves authentically with our imperfections and struggles. In January our counsellors launched #daretofail and teachers shared (via video) moments of “failure,” but also how they were moments of learning and life lessons. Valuing lessons obtained from less than perfection allow for assessment as learning. The focus on marks and on comparison with others is not helpful as every human has his or her own journey. I would be curious to know what others think of teaching how to forgive within the classroom community.
| Imagination: the faculty or action of forming new ideas, or images or concepts of external objects not present to the senses. |
In my Grade 11 class, we have been reading Le Petit Prince by Antoine de St. Exupéry. It is just one of those books filled with life lessons and wisdom for accessing our childhood imagination and creativity. I have taught the book several times, yet each opportunity offers a new perspective. In the past, I have always focussed on the quotations: “Ce qui est important, ça ne se voit pas” and “on ne voit bien qu’avec le coeur, l’essentiel est invisible pour les yeux.” This time, I looked at the creativity and playfulness of thought. Joy in following one’s imagination and creativity when there is no rigid interpretation, but the validation of personal thought and childlike wonder provide a certain freedom and lightness. The project for the students was to re-interpret one of the chapters we would not read. We purposefully gave few details for the presentation so that the students would be forced to “think outside the box” and bring themselves to the project as opposed to trying to get into the head of their teacher. Imagination is a very individual and unique. We will have the presentations next week and I am curious to see if the inspiration of Le Petit Prince provided encouragement for them to awaken their personal creativity. 
Le Renard et le Petit Prince
Source: https://lepetitseptieme.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Le-petit-prince-%C3%A0-la-une-1038×576.png
If you understand Spanish, this video is worth watching as it made me reflect on the key to happiness (although I believe happiness and joy are quite different) : La llave de la felicidad (Rorro): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_L6eS5TH1jA . Joy is not something external, it is internal. Every day, we make a conscious decision to be joyful and to seek joy. Perhaps the bottom line is that the creation of beauty, the quest for and realization of vocation, the forgiveness of oneself and others and tapping into personal imagination are a formula for deep and abiding joy for the lifelong learner.
It seems that the key to joy is within us and within our students, but we have to remind them (and ourselves) of these possible tools as we seek joy. Cohort 21 has given me the push and support to reflect on and observe my “dwelling place” and quite remarkably, I find it quite beautiful and filled with joy. Sometimes we need a reminder to stop, breath and look up when we are scurrying around in the trenches. Joy is all around us if we will but actively observe!
Algonquin Skyscape-P. Cobban
I am curious to know what you would add to this list of ingredients necessary for infusing joy into the classroom experience. Comments and suggestions are very welcome.
@pcobban If Cohort 21 was responsible for all THAT then I think we can all walk away feeling full and at peace with the fact that action can look, sound and feel like a lot like the books you read, the conversations you had and the new ideas you generated. It seems to me that JOY was a at the root of all of them. Mission accomplished 🙂
@jmedved Thank you so much for your comment (and for creating Cohort 21). I believe you and @gnichols created the ideal PD structure to provide freedom and individualization for me to grow professionally and as a human. Je te remercie du fond de mon coeur!
@pcobban Je t’en prie…
de rien
@pcobban,
I cheekily call myself the Poet of Pedagogy, but perhaps you should carry that mantle! What a wonderful meditation on how, as educators, our reflective practice is really our best ingredient. If we can model that level of mindfulness in all that we plan and all that we do, then I believe we can model joy, for joy is only truly experienced in the moment when enough reflection has taken place to allow yourself to let go of the reflector. The irony, of course, is that one must spend a great deal of time embedded in daily awareness to achieve this level of presence. Often that means not having an “action plan”, which connotes an almost aggressive control over the moment-to-moment. Perhaps Cohort21 needs to change its model to accept “Feeling Plans” and “Thinking Plans” and “Sharing Plans” as well as Action Plans. Well crafted!
@edaigle Thank you so much for your thoughtful response as it gave me a lot to think about! I believe “Poet of Pedagogy” might be too heavy of a crown for my head, but I appreciate the compliment. 🙂 My blog was actually somewhat selfish and personal as it was really about organizing my thoughts to move forward (I tend to suffer from overthinking). You are correct about daily awareness being essential and that you have to aggressively resist being drawn into the cyclone of madness and “busyness” offered by the world. For me, having the time to reflect offered by the Cohort 21 experience has been invaluable. Thank you for your support. I look forward to connecting on the 20th!
Hello innovation……it’s nice to find you here in Paul’s blog comments 🙂
“”Feeling Plans” and “Thinking Plans” and “Sharing Plans” as well as Action Plans.”
I love it!
@edaigle @pcobban @gnichols
J
Hopefully my response captures a sentiment similar to @edaigle and @jmedved – this is to say I was/am entirely swept away and mesmerized by the extent of depth and thought (and joy!) present in your exploration. There is beautiful symmetry between your learning and lived experience and, as a result, you @pcobban are modelling learning and life and the magic in the authentic overlap, I’ve been thinking a lot recently, wondering just how essential it is for us as teachers and role-models to at least engage in the journey of becoming real versions of ourselves – a difficult endeavour in any given culture and so powerful for students to at least witness. You’ve provided inspiration.
Perhaps just as powerful is the extent to which you have positioned yourself alongside your students in the role of learner. Recently, I’ve been more struck then ever by the intensity of learning through these Cohort21 Action Plans – so present in the recent posts of @acaplan, @hpalmer and @jdykerman and really all other posts. I wonder, even beyond the specific action itself, if this is the enduring quality of the cohort21 experience – how it not only further awakens us to the joy of our vocation but intensifies our connection to the lived experiences of our students. We are better able to promote and provoke learning because we are better connected to learning itself. I would love to know the extent to which this has manifested in your daily teaching life.
Thank you so much for this Paul.
@gvogt Graham, I am completely humbled by your response and was not sure what to write as a reply. My blog post was really about my inner thoughts as I am generally a quiet & reserved person. I believe that what I have been able to process and reflect upon during Cohort 21 is not something for which metrics can be provided and wonder if that, in some way, is not more valuable. The liberty within my “Action Plan” has helped me grow in confidence to make small changes in the classroom which hopefully make it an environment open to overt moments of joy. As someone who is actively engaged in both formal and informal learning, I find it is valuable for my students. Often, we have the same struggles and successes. Learning becomes authentic and real in our conversations.
Thank you for being our group leader, Graham. You ROCK!
P.S. Wouldn’t it be interesting to teach in a school if everyone had the Cohort 21 experience?
@adamcaplan see above
Dear Paul,
Thanks for this incredible post, and I echo the sentiments above. The only thing that I feel that I can add is that you should jump onto @rmarks and see what she is doing with her class, as well as @jdykerman. I think that you will find a lot of resonance there. Your post reminds me of a Cohort 21 alumna @aharding and her work around flourishing. You should try to check this out as they may inform your request for more ingredients 🙂
Cheers,
garth.
@gnichols Thank you very much for your response and for pointing me in the direction @rmarks and @jdykerman. I will also try to look into @aharding and her work on flourishing. It seems that their approaches grow out of their authentic selves and this provides a richness and creativity for their students and their communities. There is no one formula and I think that is the beauty of educational experiences. I applaud your vision and “can do” approach with @jmedved to not only create but sustain and modify the Cohort 21experience. You do not know how much you have done for those in our classrooms!