If You Are Not Having Fun You Are Not Learning

Once in a while I remind my students about the joy of learning. Remembering this is very important when you are having a hard time learning new ideas. Ideas that are complex and difficult by their own nature and by the fact that it's not easy to contextualize them with our daily lives.
I have used the poem by Wang Ken "Song of Joy" as an inspiration to encourage my students to enjoy learning. I stress and emphasize this so much in my classes that in fact I call homework "Homejoy!"

• Pleasure is the state of being Brought about by what you Learn.
• Learning is the process of Entering into the experience of this Kind of pleasure.
• No pleasure, no learning.
• No learning, no pleasure.

(Wang Ken, Song of Joy.)

Many books and articles have been written around this idea, one in particular is "The Power of Mindful Learning" by Ellen J. Langer. (For more link here.)

And recently a new edition of "Experiential Learning" by David A. Kolb. (link here to read more.)

Of course we must not forget the seriousness of learning and the fact that it can be hard to do, but keeping in mind that successful endeavors require more than just the material means to accomplish, we have to remind ourselves that attitude is critical for success.

Did you see the Seattle Seahawks game against the Green Bay's Packers? 

A good example of how attitude -having fun- produces good results!