Find JOY in learning!DECEMBER 2016 CHARACTER EDUCATION LESSON #1

Learning Target

I can find joy in my personal learning by:

1. Doing my own work 2. Having a good attitude & believing in myself

3. Finding my strengths and interests 4. Putting forth time and effort

Find JOY in learning…

Does it seem impossible to enjoy coming to school to learn? After all… that IS why we have school. Of course, there are other benefits and fun things that go on, but LEARNING is the ultimate goal…. And it is one of our goals at Snowcrest’s to help students find joy in learning!

Think to yourself for a moment. What is your favorite class? What is your favorite subject? Sometimes, students choose a favorite class because of a teacher or because they excel at the subject. How can you find joy in learning? What things do your teachers do to help you be engaged?

Where does joy in learning come from?

The joy of learning comes from the experiences of success

The achievement of small goals as a part of a greater learning process: These small steps are important when it comes to the joy of learning. It’s like setting a goal and taking small steps to achieve a larger goal.

Find your success…

As you begin to experience achievement of a goal or success at doing something or learning a skill… and it can be anything!

A subject you are knowledgeable in or good at Drawing or being creative in some way Playing an instrument Learning how to play a sport Building or creating Being good with tools… dancing… singing… writing… reading… snowboarding

You begin to feel pride and find joy in what you are doing and have a desire to nurture and grow in your learning.

How can I begin to find joy in learning?

1. For starters… Make sure you are doing your own work. When you accomplish something yourself, you feel a great deal of satisfaction in knowing you worked hard and completed a task. That doesn’t mean you can’t get help or ask questions. It just means that YOU have taken the time and put forth the effort to get something done.

If someone does the work for you and you take credit for it... there has been no personal interest in the task, no achievement, no growth, and there is no internal reward. This is actually called cheating. And who is the one getting cheated?

YOU! And the person who did the work. You are cheating yourself out of the opportunity to learn, accomplish, achieve, and the feeling of integrity, doing the right thing.

Another form of copying: Plagiarism

To plagiarize means:

to use another person’s ideas or words without crediting the source to present something as new and original (as your own idea) when it is

actually an idea or words of someone else. plagiarism is an act of fraud.

Retrieved from Plagiarism.org: http://www.plagiarism.org/

All of the following are considered plagiarism:

turning in someone else's work as your own. copying words or ideas from someone else without giving credit (even if

you change some words). failing to put a quotation in quotation marks. copying so many words or ideas from a source that it makes up the

majority of your work, whether you give credit or not.

Retrieved from Plagiarism.org: http://www.plagiarism.org/

Give credit where credit is due!

When you are researching a subject and using someone else’s thoughts, ideas, writings, etc., even when you put it in your own words, make sure you give credit to the author.

Retrieved from Plagiarism.org: http://www.plagiarism.org/

When you copy someone else’s work

1. You are not stimulating your mind. You are not learning. 2. You are cheating. Not only are you cheating yourself out of gaining

knowledge and progressing, but relying on someone else to do the work for you.

3. It is unethical. Unethical means not morally correct. 4. Showing a lack of integrity. It’s not the right thing to do. It’s not right

to copy someone else’s work or to let someone copy yours. 5. Does not build confidence (in fact it does the opposite), does not

build pride or achievement or help you reach goals.

When you do your own work

1. It helps you enjoy school more and actually appreciate the opportunity to learn and what your teachers do for you!

2. You are learning a good work ethic 3. Shows you have good integrity 4. Helps you achieve 5. Helps build confidence 6. Allows more creativity 7. Feel pride in your accomplishment 8. You are teaching your brain to build new skills!

Class Discussion…

How do you find joy in learning?

What would you like to learn?

How do you successfully get through your most difficult classes or the subjects you dislike? And why should you persevere through those tough subjects?

Give examples that help you learn or what some of your teachers do that you find beneficial.