Restoring Our Own Joy This Year Will Support Students’ Language Growth
by Sarah Said
To say that the last school year was a hard year for educators is an understatement. We dealt with two and a half years of constant change from the Covid-19 pandemic. During those summers, we really didn’t get time to rest and recuperate like we typically do, and we NEED that rest in the summer. Not only did our students come back differently than we expected them to return to in person learning, we collectively as professionals came back differently as well. Events throughout the school year created unhappy thoughts for many of us;those thoughts became emotions, those emotions created moods, and those moods had strongly impacted our ability to support students in our classroom and schools the way we typically have in past years.
What we are struggling with realizing is that our moods create actions, communication and tone of voice which shape our classroom culture. When our classroom culture does not create a space that makes students feel at ease while learning language, what Stephen Krashen (1986) refers to as an “Affective Filter'' can be negatively impacted and this can impact student learning and growth.
This article will explain how our interactions when we aren’t in the best place mentally can impact a student’s affective filter for learning. Then, we can learn how we can take time to be intentional about evaluating our values and grounding ourselves in them. Lastly, we will think about ways that we can create a classroom community that inspires joy to support language learning.
How Can Our Interactions With Students Impact the Affective Filter?
Around 1986, Stephen Krashen’s “Monitor Model” of second language learning gave linguists and educators the understanding of what we now know today as the “Affective Filter”. This hypothesis regarding language learning and brain science made us all understand that motivation, self-confidence and anxiety play into students’ abilities to learn language. With this understanding, our brain’s neuroplasticity (this is a term that illustrates that our brains can be molded just like plastic) can be impacted by our environment and the classroom which can impact language growth.
Writer and Speaker, Valentina Gonzalez created a wonderful illustration of how Krashen’s hypothesis relates to classrooms today in her blog. As Valentina explains, certain behaviors we display as educators such as error correction out in the open classroom, lack of comprehensible input, forced output, embarrassment and isolation can negatively impact a student’s ability to have appropriate language instruction and grow. These behaviors come from our own stress as educators. We need to first find joy again in our own instruction in order to then be able to create an appropriate community of learning for our students.
And, the brain science research on this topic is critical for us to understand.As research illustrated in 2014 in an article called The Neuroscience behind Stress and Learning by Judy Willis, “The neuroscientific research about learning has revealed the negative impact of stress and anxiety and the qualitative improvement of the brain circuitry involved in memory and executive function that accompanies positive motivation and engagement.” As we think about this, we know that creating that positive engagement and motivation in the classroom starts with us and seeking our own joy.
Searching for Joy
The reality is we aren’t just going to wake up and feel joyful. The only thing we can control is our ability to understand our thoughts, feelings, emotions, moods and actions in our schools. We cannot control certain policies in our schools and the decisions people make in our environment. We can control ourselves and how we interact with and respond to our school communities. It starts with each one of us working on our and then collectively to make that change and that can support our students’ growth. That takes time, motivation and possibly professional support. Yes, this takes commitment and work. Searching for joy may require assessing your values and grounding yourself in those values. Read more about that in this article I wrote for Edutopia. A values sort is a great way to support this.
When assessing our values, a “values sort” is effective in guiding us to learning about ourselves. This is something that you can do at home alone or with a group of trusted people. Use the categories to sort the values that are most important to you. Try not to have more than 10 values that are most important to you. After you complete this activity, find a trusted person in your life, colleague or if you see a therapist or counselor you can work with them as well and discuss how these values fit into your life. From there, you may be able to understand what your own personal needs are in life and look for ways to cultivate those needs.
Then comes grounding yourself in those values. You can use a “values” tree where you place your very important values in the trunk, activities that support those values in the bark, what is needed to reach those values in the branches and what you want to achieve in life as the leaves and the fruit. Knowing your values will give you guidance on understanding what direction you need currently in life.
The pandemic threw everyone off and we were frozen in time as a society at points of it; now it’s time to focus on you. Focusing on you will give you more satisfaction in your personal and professional life. You can also learn how to prioritize what is important right now and what isn’t. This can decrease your own stress because your mind can become more organized. The best self care is understanding your own personal direction and keeping your life organized so that you can set goals, accomplish them, but also get the rest you need.
When your cup is filled, it brings a whole new set of possibilities for your students. The classroom can be a place they call home and find safety in. Taking the time to self examine life and joy is what you need to start thinking about how your classroom environment can impact joy and growth.
Creating a Classroom Community That Inspires Joy
Now, what does grounding yourself in your values have to do with creating an enviornment that supports language growth? When we are grounded in our values that supports our ability to manage our lives. When we are more managed in life, we are less stressed. Less stress allows us to be mindful in the moment and rested. This gives us better thoughts, feelings of validation, we have happier emotions, better moods and our actions do not stress students out. Students feed off of this.
As we have grounded ourselves, what can we do to create a classroom environment that provides more joy?
Building Relationships and Creating Classroom Spaces - As we consider the “Affective Filter”, considering how we start the year with students is critical. Many times, in the secondary education setting, teachers start the first day with rules and syllabus. Yes, we have to have structure and guidelines. But does this have to happen on the first day of school? Work with students instead on team-building activities and even helping you create space for learning in the classroom. Forget the “teacher store posters”! Allow students to work with you on social emotional learning art-based activities to help you get to know them but also create the physical space of the room. Let them help you arrange the furniture, and use social contracts to think about how we can interact with each other.. When students are part of building the culture of the classroom it builds a relationship with you and a comfort for all.
Bringing Student Cultures Into the Classroom - Whether it’s bringing artifacts into the class, ensuring that student languages are in the classroom displayed or creating activities that involve students introducing their home cultures, bringing student cultures in the classroom helps them bring a piece of home with school which brings comfort to the learning environment for them and also helps you connect with them. The “teacher store” poster of kids where stereotypical clothing and holding hands around a globe isn’t necessarily going to cut it. Students need to feel as if their culture is validated in the classroom. And, an element of joy enters the door as they bring that culture in. Having students' cultures incorporated into the classroom can lower anxiety.
Finding Ways to Play with Language in the Classroom - Find ways to play with language in the classroom. This can be through writing songs, creating plays, illustration with writing and games in the classroom. This can support motivation and create input for students.
Try A New Adventure With Students- Project Based Learning - Yes, this sounds like a lot. Project Based Learning — like the kind in this framework by Jorge Valenzuela — can be more simple than you think. Yes, we should provide students with opportunities for growth in the fundamentals of the four domains of language--listening, reading, speaking and writing. There is this vibe in the language learning world that so much of that instruction needs to be direct. Yes, we do need direct instruction, however project based learning provides a language experience that helps students authentically utilize their language skills and practice their language output in a low risk environment. This builds self-confidence and creates a fun community in your classroom
We’re by no means perfect as educators. We have lives that produce thoughts, feelings, emotions, moods and actions- it’s human. Take some time to settle in, breath, self soothe, and examine who you are as a person, what you value, and what you need. Taking care of yourself takes care of your students. Doing the work can help manage the classroom environment which will support calmness. That calmness will support a mind’s ability to learn language peacefully and effectively.