Joyful Learning: A Step towards the Positive Classroom

Nowadays educationists, psychologists, sociologists and other prominent scholars of various related discipline are emphasizing the innovative and novel ideas, strategies and practices which may prove helpful in bringing out the inner potentialities of every child though having different physiological, psychological, sociological, intellectual and emotional traits. This emphasis leads to the action of making learning happen in a joyful and bright manner which may consequently bring positive climate in the school particularly in the classrooms. Atraditional classroom, which means a batch of students coming and sitting physically in a room and often meeting some teachers daily within the four painted walls, has taken a shift in its meaning.Now classrooms are a place where students learn and construct ideas using their own ways without frequent interruption of teacher who only plays the role of a facilitator, guide or provider instead of being an authoritarian leader. According to A. G. Hughes and E. H. Hughes (1954), We are subsidiary to the process of learning because in this process there are two main factors- child on the one hand and its world on the other hand. teacher's function is to bring the two into contact to put them 'on rapport'.the essential activity is not the adjustment of a child to teacher, but of child to the world. Teachers should continue to foster a learning environment that enables all students to thrive. This abstract idea has taken a concrete shape in the form of'Joyful Learning'.What doesjoy mean?Random House Dictionary calls joy as The emotions of great delight or happiness caused by something good or satisfying. According to the words of Oxford Dictionary, is a feeling of great pleasure and happiness. These two are general definitions of joy. But in this paper, it is being related with learning and teaching which can add and raise positivity in the above mentioned processes. Joy can be put in words like creating and getting space for learning, being authenticated and appreciated by every little effort, emphasizing on process rather than product and personalizing and customizing learning according to the individuality of the learners i.e., their interests, attitudes, intelligence, diverse culture, learning styles, etcetera to ease their overall growth and development. Doesjoy relate to the process of learning?Most ofour greatestjoys in life are related to our learning.? Wolk, 2008Though the straight answer of author's question lies in the quote of Wolk (2008), it can happen in real life classroom situations by the efforts of teachers. As a teacher, we have to bring in front the real self of students and are not allowed to kill their curiosity by our rigidity and authoritarian nature. Maria Montessori's statement in Discovery of the Child (1912) seems quite true, At times (the children) seemed to be almost mad with joy, and this made us reflect deeply upon them.Joy in a classroom looks like avid exploration, children working independently with intense focus as well as working collaboratively and assisting each other. It looks like learners exploring a variety of self-chosen activities. It looks like expressions of contentment shining on the faces of children and teachers (Gayward & Dahlmeier, 2011). In the domain of leaming,joy is seen by Lewis (2000) under two conditions: when the child experiences the relationship with others, i.e., Affective Joy and another one when the child senses the accomplishment in achieving an understanding, i.e., Cognitive Joy. These conditions have to be established and maintained by activity-based, child-centered, flexible, purposeful and safe learning and teaching environment.Joyfulness and Learning can go hand in hand....Yamashiro describesjoyful learning as Joyful learning starts with passion, purpose and play. Components include building strong positive relationships, developing a growth mind-set, connecting learning with social actions in the community; and infusing arts, enrichment and technology into the daily lives of students. …