The Importance of Fun and Joy to Manage Classroom Behaviour

This amazing reel really captures the energy and fun I shared with my group of teachers attending an Accredited Train The Trainers Course commissioned by the visionary Shri Ram Schools in Delhi.

See the reel here – https://www.instagram.com/p/DXtzl82Ep3b/

I believe all our interactions with young people, whether as parents, carers or teachers, need to contain moments of pure shared silliness. A great psychologist, William Glasser (published 1960s – 2000s), repeatedly and brilliantly tried to alert all of us to what human beings need in order to release their full potential… and (I will love him forever for this) he puts FUN AT THE TOP of his pyramid of human needs – arguing that for each of us to be most fully ourselves we need to develop our ability to play, be spontaneous and to laugh a lot.

I have seven new books published this year by Taylor and Francis and ALL flag up the amazing scientific research that supports the mental and physical health benefits of laughter – and its FREE!!

However, teaching is going in the opposite direction. I have been teaching students and experienced teachers for many years academically and in-situ in their schools – and the changes in teachers are not good. As a profession we have become more anxious, tired and stressed as a result of coping with ever increasing educational demands. Consequently, we are losing our capacity to engage with our students playfully and lightly through FUN!

Surveys repeatedly show that young people evaluate the worth of their teachers by the laughter they’ve shared together in tandem with good subject teaching.

My training courses, conferences and online teaching webinars (on Mental Health, Inclusion, Classroom Behaviour, Playful Lunchtimes and Positive Relationships) all show teachers how to weave the thread of magical laughter and fun throughout their lessons in a way that actually increases their lesson control and children’s respect.

Pulling this thread throughout your lessons will imprint your lessons even more vividly on young peoples memories. We all know that ‘a life without joy is no life at all’ (sadly I didn’t write this it was my hero William Glasser who did!)

Register your interest for my new webinar ‘Inclusion in Action: Creating Positive Behaviour in Primary Classrooms’ – email circletime@jennymosley.co.uk