VIA FUNNINESS IN THE CLASSROOM SETTING
REYMON V. PADIS
First, we want everyone reading this to go ahead and lower their expectations. While the two of us are big fans of comedy and using humor in many walks of life, we aren’t terribly funny ourselves. But here’s the thing: that’s sort of the point. While we’re not comedians, we use humor as a teaching tool Comedy need not be shoehorned in, separate from core concepts. Priority should always be placed on teaching the most important concepts in the most efficient way. Our argument is that comedy is a useful tool for accomplishing this goal rather than only an entertainment feature to be reflected in evaluations (though that side benefit should not be undervalued). The more difficult it is to engage students and the more important the concept, the greater the potential for comedy to be helpful. Otherwise dry and challenging subject matter like tax and campaign finance law have been taught more effectively through the use of humor (Beavers 2011; Cecil 2014). This can be accomplished through two basic approaches. Mode 1 – Be Funny Yourself Those of us with the gift of comedic timing should not be afraid to employ it as appropriate. It helps that we as instructors are the beneficiaries of low expectations when it comes to being funny while teaching. Take advantage of that. While valuable, this mode of incorporating humor is more challenging and not something everyone can or should do if it does not come naturally (Wanzer and Frymier 1999 Mode 2 – Bring in Humorous Content This brings us to mode 2, bringing in humorous content from other sources. We need not be comedians to make expert use of a funny video clip or image. Departments and instructors being asked to teach more students with less funding may find such resources particularly valuable. Larger classes, for example, may require more concerted efforts to keep everyone engaged. This can be accomplished with a funny meme to humorously drive a point home or a clip from any number of television shows, educational videos on YouTube, or documentaries to explain complicated concepts and inject humor with production values that educators could hardly hope to replicate. This can be especially useful for online classes.
Comedy has the potential to diffuse tense situations as well as avoid or reduce anxiety in classroom interactions and on assessments (McMorris, Boothroyd, and Pietrangelo 1997; Berk 2000). This can be done with humorous instructions or funny character names in test questions (Powers 2005) .
The use of humorous methods has been found not only to better capture the attention of students, but by doing so also improves retention (Ziv 1988; Miller et al. 2017). When you make class more fun, you make the content more memorable and improve the student experience. Students are more positive about the class and more engaged, which aids in retention of information (as well as retention of students!).
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The author is Teacher I at Maimpis Integrated School, Division of City of San Fernando(P)