Let’s have a multiple choice beginning.
Humor in the classroom is good because:
1) December’s over. You can smile now.
2) Brain scans show students learn better with humor in the mix.
3) Kids say the funniest things.
4) All of the above. [Hint: pick me! pick me!]
Whether you view humor in the classroom as a well-earned option or a utilitarian strategy to infuse young brains with learning (or somewhere in between), seeing students smile or laugh with a spark of comprehension can make a teacher’s day. After all, as educator Joel Goodman notes, “Humor and creativity are intimately related — there is a connection between HAHA and AHA.”
Why Humor Works
When it comes to giggles, science is on your side. In an NEA video three practitioners discuss why humor works and share their own experiences putting it into play. One of the participants, educator Mary Kay Morrison, author of Using Humor to Maximize Living: Connecting With Humor hosts the website Humor Quest where she shares some of the resources from her presentations. For an overview of her take on humor research and strategies, read her post at TeachingShop.com, “Taking Humor Seriously.” Morrison even tackles incorporating humor into the often humor-free zone of standardized testing.
Writing for Edutopia, Mark Phillips considers ‘What’s So Funny About Teaching.’ After he suggests that educators without senses of humor find a different occupation, Phillips explains the difference between simply telling jokes effectively and expressing a sense of humor. He recommends the latter for the long term, noting “What I mean by a sense of humor is an ability to see absurdity in the class, school meetings and in oneself, and an ability to laugh at it.”
http://www.middleweb.com/5053/humor-in-the-classroom/