Teaching with humor
I recently became an instructor and just finished a course on Effective Teaching Stratagies. I read that different styles may be used to grab the attention of your students. Well something that I am good at and people tend to love me for it, is my sense of humor. Is this a good and effective way to teach? I've gone over some lecture plans and see lots of areas where I can incorporate some appropriate humor in my lectures.
Thank you,
Sammy P.
Carolyn,
Without humor most of educators would be in tough situations when it comes to keeping our students engaged, especially in classes that run for long periods of time.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I add humor to my class to keep my students engaged.
Barbara,
Yes it does. Without it I'm not sure what I would do to keep my students focused for the duration of my 6 hour classes.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Humor definitely helps in braking the monotony in class,wakes up the students
MARK,
I agree and it is a big part of my instructional interaction with students. A shared laugh goes a long way in the learning process.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Humor is definitely a great tool to use. It allows you to break up the monotony of a dry subject. It also shows the students that you are human, not just an instructor.
Brian,
A shared laugh goes a long way in helping students to become engaged in the course and looking forward to future class sessions. I wish you much success in your new teaching career.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
As a new instructor, I am going to try and use a little humor in my classroom, I hope it can help ease my concerns with effective content delivery.
I agree with Gary. Be careful. You might think they are laughing with you but quite often they are laughing at you. Don't try and be cool. Just be effective.
Everett,
This is a good point about the need to read a class. It doesn't take long for us to read a class and know how they react to humor, stories and activities. Then you can plan from there on how you will engage them. This is always a challenge for sure.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
The struggle I find with humor in my classroom is that either my delivery is over their head, or the class as a whole is not expecting humor of any sort.
I'd say that if the mood of the classroom is on the serious side, keep the one-liners for the next group.
Desiree,
Thank you for these good comments about how humor can be an effective teaching/learning tool. A shared smile and laugh can go a long way in bridging a generational gap. Keep them laughing and helping them to grow in their career development.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I didn't even realize that my humor WAS a teaching tool until I entered this forum. It's good to know that I'm doing something right. Every day can be a struggle when you're trying to get through to people that come from different backgrounds, locations, and generations. Laughter, like music, has helped my classes relate not only to me, but to one another as well. Every class I have some sort of low music playing and during breaks or after quizzes, they'll talk about the music with each other. Both ways are great to lighten the mood and break the ice. Especially when dealing with HUGE age gaps in the classroom. I have students that just graduated high school, and others that are going back in their late 40s-early 50s. Getting them to relate to each other can be a challenge, but I've had success with both of these methods. It can break up the hum drum monotony of some of the material, as well as giving them a chance to clear their heads of the previous material so that they can focus on the new stuff.
Kenneth,
I use humor a lot in my classroom as well. It is a valuable resource to use but as you say it needs to be managed in a way that reinforces learning and is not a distraction.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I think that humor in the classroom can be a good tool as long as it doesn't get out of control. Some students always want to push the limit so as long as you control it, it can be a very useful tool.
Thomas,
Good way to read your students and the inject some humor when needed. This is an important skill for instructors to have as they need to keep the students engaged and moving forward even when the content may not be the most exciting. A shared laugh and a light moment does wonders in helping to reset the brains of students.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
An instructor with a fascinating delivery can make dirt exciting...My old geography course in college was my most memorable and my favorite instructor thanks to humor. I expect there is a time and place for it I find myself using it when the air is sucked out of the room because of dry, raw data. Then a little humor with practical applications seems to brighten everyone back to interaction.
I believe that humor is a great in a classroom setting so long as it is appropriate it is a part of building rapport with students and lightening the mood. A little laughter goes a long way.
Rosalie,
Humor is what gets me through many of my classes. Sharing a light moment and a laugh goes a long way in resetting the brains of students.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
