Humor in the classroom can be implemented in many ways. A joke could be told, a video could be shown, or making fun of the assignments or yourself as an instructor. Anything that would make a student laugh in the classroom is considered humor in some form. Humor allows the student to relax and enjoy the material they are learning rather than stress about it. It also allows the student to learn better because of the lack of stress. I always say that humor cures everything, and in the classroom, I think this is especially true. Another way to improve the classroom energy is to have celebrations. I think something as simple as clapping or high-fiving students when they answer a question is a celebration. Celebrations allow students to feel recognized for their contribution, while also validating their ideas. Everyone should feel welcome and safe to share their opinions and celebrations allow that. With humor and celebrations, you have to be careful that you are including everyone in them and that no one is ever offended. If you are to use humor, you have to make sure your joke is actually humorous and not hurtful to anyone in any way. You also have to be careful it doesn’t single anyone out in the classroom. Group jokes are better than individual ones because you stand the chance of hurting an individual and making them feel uncomfortable with you.
Application:A way that I really enjoy humor in a classroom is take the content and relate it to a TV show or movie. During lessons, I could have pre-planned clips of shows and play them throughout. This would allow some humor in the classroom, while also still relating to the content. I always found it useful to see it related to in pop culture and then apply it to my own life. It was another way for me to have the material stick and often times would clarify the topic as well. Another way to include humor would be to ask students a silly question as a check-in for each class. Everyone in the room has to answer the silly question and that would count as their participation for the day. One of my classes did this in undergrad and it always get everyone laughing before class. This brought the energy level up and increased the learning right from the beginning.
Assessment: Quick Write (Barkley & Major, 2016, pp. 105-110)Instead of having them only say their answer to the silly question, I could also have them write it down. That way they could turn something in and also share it to the class. The quick write could even be used to say if they are struggling with anything or something that is working for them on top of the answer to the question. This could help them get in the mindset of having fun during class, while also asking them a more serious question.