Learning doesn't always fit into desks arranged in linear rows, and it doesn't always come double-spaced with one-inch margins. Learning doesn't have to sit quietly absorbed in an task, or watching the clock patiently for the bell to ring so it can move on to the next stop in the educational assembly line.
Learning can be done quietly (and sometimes should be done this way), but it is not the only way.
Sometimes learning is loud and crazy. It happens when a teacher is getting just as excited as her students about learning, emitting screams of "sha-ZAM!" when students finally make connections between concepts. Learning can happen on the floor, sprawled out on a piece of butcher paper with two student heads huddled together in a learning conspiracy, thinking they are talking quietly when the whole room can hear them. It can happen when students are huddled in groups, creating ways to make living sentences out of concepts to present to their peers, or developing unique yet appropriate hand gestures to remember what words mean, or even when it's "all science words must be spoken as if you are on Jersey Shore" day. Learning is especially boisterous when yo momma jokes using physics concepts have been sneakily assigned as an analogy exercise in disguise, with the giggles, guffaws, and shouts of, "NO WAY THAT'S SO RUDE" being ejected into the hallway from the classroom.
Sometimes learning is organized and disorganized chaos at its finest, especially when students are failing towards learning.
So, if you're ever walking by my classroom and hear the screaming, the yelling, the wails, and the "someone just told a bad science joke" moans, don't stop in and ask what the heck is going on. Don't catch me later in the hallway and, with a look of grave concern, tell me to stop "yelling at" my students, or comment on how loud my class is even with the door shut.
We're just learning.