Adults, Let's Jump in the Puddles this Year

I opened staff week with an admission: I hate rain. Yet at Beit Rabban, we believe there's no bad weather, just bad gear. This summer, I kept returning to the idea of playing in the rain—not waiting for storms to pass, but finding inspiration in the moment and jumping right in.

As we navigate these challenging times as Americans, Jews, educators, and parents, I've realized I cannot make it through by gritting my teeth. I actually have to smile. My goal this year is to embrace proactive joy despite constant threats of thunderstorms—not by ignoring pain, but by coexisting with it through leaning into joy.

The most consistently joyful moments of my workday happen at morning arrival. Four days a week, I open our front door at 7:55 AM to a storm of pure joy. There's magic when children appear—kindergarteners showing lost teeth, kids choosing "ALLLLLL THREEEEE!!!" when I offer my daily menu of hugs, elbow bumps, or waves. These moments inject authentic joy that coexists with reality: the ongoing war, unhoused neighbors, and all else that troubles our world.

But I don't want to depend solely on external factors for joy. I want all of us grown-ups to bring and sustain joy proactively.

Despite some tough times, our annual staff satisfaction survey, conducted through Leading Edge last year, showed that our teachers report genuine happiness at school. This made me wonder: how are they finding joy in the midst of everything? Can we break this down into guiding principles to seek joy? And with this, I went down a summer rabbit hole of research on teacher joy, student learning, puddles, and whatnot.

I want to share a theory with you, all the Beit Rabban grown-ups who comprise the village that raises our children: teacher joy leads to student joy, which in turn leads to learning and growth.

Considerable research supports the impact of joy in educational settings. When teachers express authentic enthusiasm, we create more engaging learning environments. Students in joyful classrooms show higher achievement scores, improved retention, and greater willingness to tackle challenging concepts. In fact, studies show that when teacher enthusiasm increases by just one standard deviation, student achievement increases by about four months of additional learning. Four months! That's one-third of a year's worth of learning from teacher joy alone.

Children feel safer taking academic risks, asking questions, and expressing their thoughts and ideas. This emotional safety translates into improved social skills, better peer relationships, and a reduction in anxiety around learning. Think about it—when was the last time you took a risk or tried something new when you felt stressed or unhappy?

And the engagement factor is huge—students are significantly more likely to participate actively when teachers demonstrate genuine joy and positivity. They move from passive recipients to active participants in their education. Research by Christina Hinton, who leads the Human Flourishing Program's work in education at Harvard, shows that happiness is statistically significantly related to both motivation and academic achievement across grades 4-12. This remains true even while our teachers at Beit Rabban compete with the distraction of pigeon cooing from their nests on our AC unit (admittedly, the research here has yet to be peer reviewed). And here's what's fascinating: Barbara Fredrickson, director of the Positive Emotions and Psychophysiology Laboratory (PEP Lab) at UNC-Chapel Hill, has a theory called broaden-and-build that shows us positive emotions, like joy, don't just feel good temporarily—they actually expand cognitive flexibility and build lasting psychological resources. Joy broadens our awareness, encourages exploratory thinking, and, over time, builds valuable skills through neuroplasticity. Our ecology sparks emotional exercise that strengthens our brains.

During traumatic times, children need joy more than ever. Joy serves as a psychological reset mechanism, interrupting negative emotion cycles and stress responses. It enhances cognitive flexibility, reduces cortisol levels, strengthens resilience-associated neural connections, and improves immune system functioning. Joy is medicine that every child deserves.

Joy also builds resilience by helping individuals bounce back from negative experiences more effectively. When children experience joy amidst difficulties, it interrupts stress cycles and sets them up for longer-term satisfaction—financially, relationally, and physically.

This is all well and good, but how do we achieve and sustain joy as educators when both the job and world are taxing? Research identifies several key factors:

• Hope and psychological capital are the strongest predictors of teacher wellbeing—being clear about our purpose and ensuring daily efforts align with that mission.

• Collaboration is crucial: teachers who regularly collaborate report 23% higher job satisfaction. This is why we invest heavily in team planning time and professional learning communities, and why we appreciate your support during professional development days.

• Autonomy with competence also significantly impacts well-being. When teachers control their instructional methods, classroom environment, and student assessment rather than having every detail prescribed, job satisfaction increases dramatically. Simultaneously, they require expertise and support to accomplish this effectively. That's why we invested in extensive professional-led training. Every K-8 educator attended a four-day workshop this summer with Hidden Sparks to deepen their scientific understanding of how students learn and the right approaches for all learners, particularly those who struggle.

• Finally, gratitude practices contribute measurably to teacher happiness. Simple practices like writing down three daily positive moments significantly impact wellbeing. Our principal, Ingrid Goldfein, embodies this, starting each staff email with gratitude alongside logistics and reminders.

Jewish wisdom aligns with this research. We have the commandment "v'samachta b'chagecha"—you shall rejoice in your festivals. But commentators clarify this isn't commanding an emotion—emotions can't be commanded. Rather, it's commanding action. Like commandments to love and fear God, joy is cultivated through intentional actions. In modern times, we refer to this as Positive Psychology, which teaches that emotions can be cultivated; they're not exclusively dependent on circumstances.

Consider children playing in puddles. While I hate rain, I love puddles. Why do kids love them? There's delightful controlled rebellion—puddles represent something adults often forbid, so playing feels thrilling yet safe. It builds confidence and autonomy. From a developmental perspective, puddles offer rich sensory experiences, helping children understand their body's position in space and maintain balance. They build physical coordination through jumping, stomping, and balancing on slippery surfaces while satisfying natural scientific curiosity. Each stomp is a real-time physics experiment in cause and effect, force and momentum, water displacement, and surface tension. Watch a child in a puddle conducting legitimate scientific research with pure joy as methodology: "What happens if I jump with both feet? What if I stomp really hard?" The creative possibilities are endless—puddles become oceans for toy boats, mirrors for reflections, magical portals for imagination, art canvases, or action figure swimming pools. A simple puddle transforms into an entire world of possibility- it can even split like the Red Sea.

There's also something profound about the temporary nature of puddles. They exist in the moment, won't last forever, and that makes joy more precious. Kids instinctively understand what adults forget: fleeting moments of joy are worth fully embracing.

In our Staff Handbook, we have a section that reads: "Happy teachers will change the world: any classroom is only as happy as the teachers who facilitate it. No matter what is going on, look for and find opportunities for your own authentic joy every day. Make this an intentional practice for your personal wellness and for the success of your efforts."

When we grown-ups choose joy, our children feel it, giving them the strength to walk through the world and into the future. During these times of micro and macro anxiety, our children need us to choose joy and take steps to experience it ourselves. We know this creates an upward spiral: happier teachers create happier classrooms, producing more engaged students, which brings teachers greater satisfaction, increasing their joy.

I believe this is true for parents as well—and I am sure that parents and teachers feed off each other's emotions and affects.

As we launch this new school year, here’s my rallying cry… let's jump in puddles and play in the rain, literally and figuratively. Our children need us—not to hold it together, but to choose joy. I'm 100% confident it will benefit our children's futures, and despite all the research, the impact will be beyond quantification.

Let's make beautiful splashes this year. The puddles are waiting.