Start with Joy

Children come to school to become better readers, writers, and thinkers, but they also walk into classrooms hoping to be happy. Katie Cunningham argues that happiness must be as much of a priority in teaching as proficiency or achievement. When teachers intentionally design curriculum with joy at its heart, learning becomes more meaningful and memorable.

Start with Joy: Designing Literacy Learning for Student Happiness links what we know from the science of happiness with what we know about effective literacy instruction. By examining characters in the books they read, children develop empathy for others and come to understand that we all struggle and we all love. When given a choice about what to write, children express hopes, fears, and reactions to life's experiences. Literacy learning is full of opportunities for students to learn tools to live a happy life.

Inside, you'll find:

• Seven Pillars: The author offers seven pillars that will make classrooms more joyful, engaging, and purposeful: Connection, Choice, Challenge, Play, Story, Discovery, and Movement.
• Ten Invitations: These ten lessons may be presented at any time of year in the context of any unit and include children's literature suggestions as well as recommended teacher talk to meet children's specific needs.
• Teaching Tools: Tools and resources that will help students tell their stories and make literacy learning something all students celebrate and cherish.

This book honors the adventure that learning is meant to be. By infusing school days with happiness, teachers can support children as they become stronger readers, writers, and thinkers, while also helping them learn that strength comes from challenge, and joy comes from leading a purposeful life.

Katie Egan Cunningham is a veteran classroom teacher, literacy consultant, and teacher educator with twenty years of experience in education. She is an Associate Professor of Literacy and English Education at Mahattanville College where she teaches literacy methods, teacher research, and children's literature courses. Katie is the author of Start with Joy: Designing Literacy Instruction for Student Happiness published by Stenhouse in the fall of 2019. Her book, Story: Still the Heart of Literacy Learning, was published in 2015 also by Stenhouse. She is the co-author of Literacy Leadership in Changing Schools, published by Teachers College Press in 2016. Katie is also the co-author of The Classroom Bookshelf, a weekly School Library Journalblog dedicated to children's and young adult literature. Passionate about the power of stories and the belief that schools should be designed to help students find their own happiness, Katie loves working with students, teachers, and school leaders to create joyful learning environments. Katie lives with her husband, a fellow educator, and two young sons who teach her every day about the importance of joyful living.