Make 'Em Laugh

 

Humor can go a long way in the classroom. However, it's not enough to just be funny, you have to be funny and something else. Humor is like a condiment. No one says, "Hey, let's got to Chili's and have all the honey mustard."

In this week's readings, I found a special connection with Booth & Wanzer's (2010) article concerning humor in the classroom. The authors broke down humor into multiple categories, reviewed the benefits involved with classroom humor, and explained the importance that nonverbal communication and behavioral skills play in bringing humor to the classroom. Seeing as how nonverbal communication (or for Karen, the attachment of verbal signifiers to physical actions) makes up between 75-91% of the message process, physical presence is essential in adding humor to the classroom.

That being said, I'm not implying that we as educators need to bring slapstick routines so our classes are entertained for the entirety of each class. However, nonverbal cues are an essential element when making attempts toward humor, as demonstrated by one of my favorite physical comedy actors:

This brings up the question, "How can I be funny in the classroom? I'm not a funny person." One of the wonderful things about the modern age has been the dawning of the internet, with access to the wonders of websites like YouTube! We have the ability to access gigabytes upon gigabytes of humorous material as a means to help make the material we teach relatable  to our students.

Moving beyond technology into humorous performances in the classroom, Booth & Wanzer (2010) stress the importance of kinesics and paralanguage when trying to be funny in front of a class. Elements of timing, voice inflection, intonation, facial expression, body presence, and volume play key roles in effective humor and what's more, these are skills that can be improved over time and practice.

It is important to note, however, that certain boundaries exist when dealing with humor in the classroom. I find it important to view humor from either a relief theory perspective (humor as a cathartic release of pent up emotions) or through incongruity theory (humor in the unexpected).

As such, sarcasm can be a hard cookie to bite through. Sarcasm relies heavily on subtle nonverbal cues to convey specific messages which can sometimes be interpreted as offensive rather than funny. This interpretation falls under superiority theory, a "premise that people laugh a others' shortcomings, failings, or inadequacies" (Gruner, 1978, 1997).

Booth & Wanzer (2010) mentioned sarcasm as a type of humor initially deemed negative, but later found to be appropriate for instructional humor. However, I stress the importance of not using sarcasm to marginalize students in the classroom.

Using humor in the classroom creates a positive environment for students, likeability of the instructor which leads to a more receptive student-teacher relationship. However, humor's effectiveness as an instructional tool requires that the humor relate to the subject matter, and that the nonverbal cues are appropriate to the type of humor.

I'm a big fan of humor in the classroom and even if you would deem yourself as "not funny", I would challenge my fellow instructors to take chances, incorporate more laughs in the classroom, and just see what happens. Just remember, our humor should never cross the line to marginalizing students or creating laughter at someone's expense. In the words of another physical actor I greatly admire:

B. L.