The next day, a teacher stopped me in the hallway to let me know that one of my current student's parent had emailed her to tell her what a hoot I was at curriculum night. In addition, several parents emailed me in the days to follow thanking me for a fun and informative presentation. One parent went as far as to say that it was her most entertaining curriculum night ever. All of these compliments made my heart soar, but the real question was why was it entertaining and how did I effectively engage humor to engage my audience?
According to Lefcourt (2000), there were a multiple aspects of the presentation that when added together created a humorous and memorable night. Let's break the night down and psychoanalyze it!
The followings is a list of variables responsible for humor in any situation.
1.)The presence of tension and arousal.
It would be an understatement to say that I was nervous. All teachers are nervous on curriculum night. We are used to presenting to kids, but adults is a completely different story. There is always a sense of tension in the air. Parents are uncomfortable being back in the little desks of an elementary school watching a teacher as well. I had to find a way to cut the tension by arousing the parents. Hopefully the way I structured the presentation would do the trick.
2.) Incongruity in situations
I began by mocking the situation that the parents were in the desks and decided that I would treat them like the actual students. I began my presentation by writing the directions on the board for when they entered the room and explained the classroom expectations using our CHAMPS poster. The same way I would introduce any activity to my fourth grade. I explained to the parents that if they behaved appropriately and followed the expectations, I would give them a PAW and if they did not follow the expectations that they would get a Warning Slip. This was the first step of the arousal and began the expression of laughter among the parents. I really did give out PAWs and Warning Slips as the presentation continued. In the end, I even gave them homework. Part of the fun was that the students knew I was doing all of this, but I told them to keep it a secret. That's how and why so many students convinced their parents to come to curriculum night.
3.) The comedian's ability to take appropriate risks
Before the parents had entered the room, I prepared a powerpoint presentation outlining my classroom expectations and procedures, created a quiz show to quiz parents on how much they were listening, filled a backpack up with random stuff from around my room and created a sign that stated, "Mrs. Mahmood (May-mood) The Teacher." I hung the sign around my neck and put the back pack on. I wore these two pieces the entire night. It took a lot of GUTS for me to wear the back pack and the sign. It was not common for teachers to take risk to wearing something silly in front of the parents risking their professional persona, but I took the risk because it was worth the reaction from the parents!
4.) The presence of Koestler’s term "Bisociation" or a good punch line!
I speckled a myriad of jokes throughout the presentation to give it a good seasoning.
-When I was presenting my goals for every student. I told the parents that I was Vanna White on Wheel of Fortune as I touched each box on the smart board to revel my goals.
-When I quizzed the parents, I used funny responses to questions like Homework should never involve a.) reading/writing b.) effort c.) tantrums, mental breakdowns, or hissy fits d.) fun. The parents got a kick out of my quiz questions. When they were taking the time to enter their responses into the remotes, I hummed the jeopardy tune.
- I made silly comments like, "This year we changed book reports from every month to every other month. You all can thank me later!"
-At the end of the presentation, I told the parents, " I am sure that you want me to answer the real question on your mind. What is up with that backpack?" Then I explained the educational theory of students coming to school with an invisible knapsack of their background knowledge and then proceeded to pull out objects that represent what their children would be learning in my class, like: posters, simple machines, flash-cards, planet fact cards, a map of the US, a jar of rocks, a light bulb, amongst other things. The parents were laughing too hard and then one parent yelled out. How big is that backpack? Unfortunately, I had to give her a warning slip for not raising her hand to share.
5.) The presence of Laughter- which sets the mood and allows others to feel comfortable laughing.
When I began my presentation, I was getting into my silly frame of mind. Making voices to imitate the kids and they way they react to all of the classroom procedures and no one was laughing yet. So, finally I had to break the silence and I started laughing at my own jokes. It was amazing how contagious I was. It was like no one was sure that I was being funny until I confirmed that you were aloud to laugh at me, by laughing at myself first. Once a few parents began to laugh, everyone was chuckling louder. The more excited they got, the more excited I got, which caused them to get more excited. Everyone left smiling in the end.
How did I pull it off? I am not sure. People view me as being a fairly confident person, but I have to admit that I am quite vulnerable when it is time to pull out the humor or do anything in front of other adults. I get nervous that the punch line won't come off right or that no one will think that I am saying is amusing. I am fearful for how I will be perceived and I am nervous and embarrassed to do things to make adults or kids smile. However, I take the risk in an attempt to connect better with people; my students, their parents, or my colleagues. I know that humor has a way of connecting people. I hope that I have left a positive impression in the parents' minds and made them feel that their time at curriculum night (after their exhausting work day) was both enjoyable and informative and that they keep wanting to come back to school to get a second dose of humor.
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