Is Learning Fun? (Part 2)

Yesterday, I told the tale of two children. Today, I will explore how this answers the question "Is Learning Fun?"

The six year old loathed reading, which was very difficult for her. Learning was not fun, and phonics lessons was something of a chore for both the mother and the six year old. The mother kept at it and eventually, little by little, the six-turning-seven year old had developed enough skill to successfully read a Frog and Toad book. Fast forward six months later, and this same child, age seven-and-a-half, could read increasingly difficult books. She even chose to read books for her own enjoyment. What began as a horrible torture ended up becoming a wonderful pasttime. It took time and a whole lot of hard work. But once the basic skill had been mastered, it became easy...

and dare I say it....

it became fun.

What does that mean for teaching? Should the teacher doggedly stand her ground with every skill? Should learning be drudgery with the hopes that someday it won't seem so bad? What, if anything, should the mother of the six year old do to make learning enjoyable? And is this even possible?

Now, we'll look at the mother's methods a little bit closer:
First, the mother laid a great foundation for reading. She did all the typical things that are good for young pre-readers:
She read aloud to her daughter
They went to library storytime classes
The daughter saw her mother read for enjoyment
They picked out a large number of books from the library each week
They participated in summer reading programs (the mom read 30 books in one month to her daughter, as part of the pre-reader program)

Next, the mother laid the foundation of skills:
At age 3, the daughter learned her alphabet
At age 4, they watched Leap Frog videos together
At age 4 1/2, mother and daughter played with letter magnets together, and the daughter learned each phonetic sound
The mother presented a variety of games and activities for phonemic awareness

Last, the mother implemented these teaching strategies:
She gave it lots of time and patience (well, ok, not always patience...)
She mixed up practice sessons with game time, so liven it up
She watched her daughter's progress carefully, to assess if she needed a different approach or to determine if there were any learning difficulties (vision, hearing, eye tracking, dyslexia)
After she had given it some time, she tried a different approach

In conclusion, learning is fun when the student is internally motivated to learn. When a student struggles or has no desire for that particular skill, learning is not fun. Sometimes, a dreary task can be made a little more fun by mixing in some games and activities. Still, this doesn't always work to make the task fun for the student. If the teacher is mindful of the student's needs and continues in her efforts, the student may enjoy the new skill after it is mastered. The teacher needs to consider if she is truly "killing" that student's love of learning, or if a true love of learning will develop once the skill is in place.