How Teachers Can Use Humor in The Classroom

Humour and fun should be an integral part of the teaching to get continuous attention from the students. Sometimes, time seems to come to a stop; students minds get full of thoughts and feel exhausted. Students find it challenging to catch up no matter how passionately the teacher delivers the lesson. That’s where humour and fun have to play the role of getting the students’ attention. Apart from making fun and feeling good, it has other significant effects on students learning. Humour makes the student feel fresh and more receptive to the learning. It reduces stress anxiety and makes them more relaxed. There are various positive effects of using humour in the classroom, such as increasing passion and confidence, making the students more optimistic. Apart from this, the other benefits are:

  • Increase class attendance

  • Motivation increases of both students and teachers

  • Making the students mentally strong

  • Increase emotional intelligence

  • Creates a learning environment

  • Improve test performance

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Ways to Use Humour in the classroom:

Crack a Joke:

The most straightforward way to lighten up the classroom mood is cracking a joke. Crack a single-liner joke. Sometimes teachers should laugh at themselves to lighten up the classroom spirit.

Organize playing with words:

It is a high-order thinking skill, and it makes the class laugh and improves vocabulary. You can also use it as a teaching tool along with humor.

Incorporate some funny questions in the assignment:

The teacher can make the task enjoyable by mixing some funny questions. The students can demonstrate their knowledge by using funny lines, parody songs, etc.

Go weird:

There is nothing more entertaining than a weird teacher. Develop some strange activities that make the students laugh. Sometimes come to school wearing unique and funny clothes.

Change your voices:

Sometimes change the pitch of your voices and make the students laugh. Try to produce different funny sounds that might make them laugh.

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Get comfortable with students:

Teachers should get comfortable with students because it becomes easier to joke around them. Take time to know their sensitivities and difficulties; once you get familiar with this, it becomes easier to twist things around and convert them into a laughable point. Teachers should take care of the diversity of the classroom so that no one gets offended.

Draw funny things on the board:

Drawing is a great way to illustrate a point, but when you are not a good artist, your drawing will make people laugh.

Give chances to the students to provide humour:

Sometimes let the students display their talent to make their classmates laugh. If someone has a good sense of humour, they should be encouraged. Make sure to maintain the decorum of the class.

Use the humour students can enjoy and understand:

If a teacher knows their students very well, it becomes easier to make them laugh. Teachers should know what sort of things make the students laugh. Try to find the TV shows they find exciting and funny and watch them.

Contributed by:
Edmund Hinkel