[Edmentum Podcast] Episode 3: Happier Teachers Cause Emotionally Active Learning

Michael Linsin joins us for episode 3 of the Edmentum podcast. He is the author of The Happy Teacher Habits: 11 Habits of the Happiest, Most Effective Teachers on Earth. Drawing from 30 years of experience as a classroom teacher and educational counselor, he explains that the secret to inspiring students to pay attention and work hard is through “active learning” activities. Though, as I discovered, it may not be the sort of active learning you are used to.

One of the most recognizable paintings in American art is Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks. On the surface, we see three customers in a diner late at night being attended to by a gentleman in a classic white server’s uniform. But, with any great work of art, it’s what lies beneath that draws us. Considering its context, colors, lighting, details, and composition, the viewer engages with history, social norms, industry, and the state of the economy in the 1940s. The fluorescent light shining to illuminate the street outside is an example of realism, an element that makes us feel like this scene could actually take place. The empty stools create a feeling of tension between absence and presence, and the man in white smiling despite the hour allows us to identify with his mood without the use of words. By simply viewing this painting, I am learning and generating emotional responses. It’s clear that learning is taking place, but am I actively learning?

What is active learning

In education, passive learning means that students are solely taking in information. Examples are listening to a lecture, watching a video, reading, or taking notes. Active learning requires physical engagement, such as online discussions, working on a project, role-playing, or explicitly working to apply new knowledge. Using these two definitions, it isn’t immediately clear to me what my learning experience with Nighthawks is. The physical act of viewing the painting is certainly passive—I’m simply looking at it—however, emotionally I’m having internal discussions, placing myself within the scene to identify with its elements and characters, and naturally applying knowledge to better understand the painting’s context. Learning is taking place while I am physically passive but emotionally active.

The emotionally active learning experience above is not achieved through an essay or a group project. It is achieved by experiencing an engaging presentation of content. This is precisely what Michael Linsin has discovered to be indispensable to happy, effective teaching; however, it is often overlooked. I, for one, agree with him.

Active learning in teaching

If you ask teachers what their job involves, you are likely to get more than one answer: content expertise, conflict diffusion and resolution, family counseling, negotiation, babysitting, copy machine troubleshooting, sports coaching, and the list could go on. The fact is that the complexities of schooling distract from a teacher’s primary purpose: to inspire students to learn by delivering exciting, effective, presentations of their subject matter. I would wager this to be what most teachers reading this article envisioned teaching would entail and also to be what they have the least amount of time to refine.

Delivering high-quality presentations of academic content means letting your personality shine through—sharing with your students the dramas, tragedies, and humors of the topics that make them so interesting to you. It means throwing away the script and allowing your students to witness you practice in the subject area live—sharing why a piece of literature makes you feel vulnerable, explaining to your class why you think the Roosevelt signature you’re thinking of buying is way undervalued, or finding a way your school’s science lab can be leveraged by local industry. Through activities like these, teachers can live their passion for their subject every day while they teach it, and students will share in that passion, working ever harder, because it means connecting with the real you.

Here are five takeaways inspired by my chat with Michael Linsin to help educators begin refocusing on delivering fun, effective presentations:

• Schedule professional development sessions focused on how to deliver effective presentations—employing salesmanship, engaging a crowd, improvising based on observing the listeners, using comedy, etc.
• For every topic taught, find a gross, cool, or otherwise interesting story to go along with it.
• Become active in your field—work on math problems that interest you; submit poetry; travel and take pictures; and most importantly, bring these experiences into your instruction.
• The thing your students want the most is to connect with you as a person. Be yourself.
• Administrators, think about ways you can support teachers to perform fewer activities unrelated to teaching and become better presenters.

Be sure to follow the Edmentum podcast on your favorite streaming service, and stay tuned for upcoming episodes!