Passionately engaged learning!

I love seeing people passionately engaged.  It doesn't really matter what it is either.  Watching someone intensely study, work, practice, investigate, rehearse, repeat, or try to do something successfully for the very first time is intriguing!

Both of my boys play soccer.  They love soccer!  Every now and then, I catch one of them alone in the yard, working on a new juggling move.  They try it over and over and over again until they get it right.  Then they try it over and over and over again until they get it right pretty much every time.  There have been a few occasions where I watched them from a fairly close distance and they didn't even notice I was there.

This type of passionate engagement is magic!  It is where the brain grows and the deep learning occurs.  I have seen this same type of intensity in classrooms many times.  Amazing lesson design in an amazing learning environment makes it happen!  It is not easy.  It doesn't happen all the time.  But when it does, it is the kind of lesson that the teacher will always remember.

I have a few of my own teaching memories of these magical learning activities.  Building bridges, the Bike Accident Trial, and hiking in the dark come to mind rather quickly.  I loved these more than the kids.  I loved them because the kids learned from them and THEY loved them.

These are the lessons worth repeating!  These are the types of lessons we want more of!