Entry #10: The Joy in Learning

 Reading through other blogs continues to be a pleasure for me as I really get the opportunity to gather different perspectives on topics we're all reading together. This week, I took a closer look at Cassidy Nelson's blog post on riddles, and her frame of mind when it comes to teaching through riddles and the outcomes presented by them. 

I was so excited to learn about Cassidy's take on riddles, and how she even decided to include the children she nanny's in the assignment for that week. I absolutely love that she knew how excited a first and third grader would be to come up with riddles, and that she was so thoughtful in hearing what they had to say (which from experience, sometimes these riddles don't turn out to be that great or make sense at all really 😂). Cassidy was able to see first-hand how riddles enhance the development of metalinguistic awareness and vocabulary, and I think that is so special for her as a future educator, and also for someone who clearly loves these children and wants to see them succeed. 

Zipke states, "riddles and ambiguous texts that rely on humor are fun. They create and invaluable enthusiasm for literacy learning that is all too often missing from the elementary curriculum" (Zipke, 2008, p. 136). When teachers include things like riddles, and fun poems in their curriculum, you can see the enthusiasm and excitement that ensues. It's clear that finding different approaches to learning are what keep children engaged and willing to learn more. Cassidy talks about the excitement in the children she nanny's when it came to reciting riddles together. They were so invested in the conversation, they wanted to go get their own book to read! How amazing is it when children find joy in a subject and are willing to pick up a book on their own because of that joy? 

"To begin introducing riddles into your classroom curriculum, stock your bookshelves with different kinds of riddle books... Some of the children in your class will be naturally drawn to the books. Encourage them to share and retell riddles they find especially amusing" (Zipke, 2008, p. 134-136).

Zipke talks about the importance of having riddle books, and books that touch on this type of ambiguous language, readily available in your classroom. I am thrilled to see Cassidy also mentions the need to have riddle books on her own bookshelf in a future classroom, and the significance of these types of texts. I think this relates back to Gholdy Muhammad's HRL Framework and engaging students in a pursuit of intellect, by allowing them to choose their own books and subsequent ideas based on their preferences and likes. 

"I find that intellectualism can be minimized in schools as the focus shifts to skills and test prep...Educators need to move beyond the teaching of skills alone and teach students new ideals in ways that enlarge their mental powers in the disciplines" (Muhammad, 2020, p. 104).

I mentioned in my own blog post about learning vocabulary, how I think many elementary and middle schools sometimes lack the "fun" aspect of learning for its students, and how an important aspect I want to be sure to include in my own teaching is acknowledging the joy in learning again. Teaching students through riddles allows students to be able to spark up different parts of their brains, finding new and multiple meanings to words, and putting them together on their own to find a riddle that makes sense. It's a different approach, but one I think is successful in teaching.  

I am excited to learn alongside Cassidy as we find even more ways to keep the joy in teaching!