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Humor Improves Instruction


Welcome teachers and other blog surfers,

This blog was created as a graduate school assignment for a course titled Humor and Adult Education. I know you are wondering, why you didn't have a requirement like that in grad school. Don't begrudge me, I didn't design the curriculum at NIU.


It is my goal to educate you (hopefully you are all adults) while discussing humor research (trust me it's not an oxymoron) in a humorous way. Now say that ten times faster! Hopefully, you will pick up a strategy or two that helps students learn more effectively, while making teaching more entertaining.

So sit back, strap on your seatbelt, hold onto your hat. I plan on taking you for a ride.

Sincerely,

A Funny Teacher (or at least one who tries to be.)

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Learning by Way of Incongruity- Learning by Surprise!


This blog entry will attempt to link the theoretical to the practical in aims to help teachers/educators apply humor research to practice. In order to accomplish this fun task, I must first present some theory. However, since this is a simple a blog entry and not a full literature review ( thank goodness!), I am able to present theory more concisely, more informally, and in shorter form!  Therefore, I will attempt to summarize the main theoretical approaches to humor in layman's terms.  

An analysis of current research on the theoretical framework behind humor presents three strong themes. The first theme, superiority theory, was first presented by Thomas Hobbes in 1651. This type of humor is the one in which people are amused through the degradation of others.  The second theory is the relief theory best described by Herman Spencer in the 1800s as the conscious movement of a surplus of energy from a large space to a smaller one. Then there is the incongruity theory, which originated from James Beattie in 1776. The incongruity theory occurs when a situation, story or incident ends with an unexpected twist resulting in surprise or positive feelings. Therefore in layman's terms incongruity theory is built on the idea of what is unexpected or surprising is/can be amusing.  

No you are probably wondering,"How will I apply this fun theory to my everyday encounters in the classroom?" While all theories may play out in the school setting, from the perspective of the teacher, it may be better to focus on simply the incongruity theory. Incongruity can be presented in many different ways:
1.) Incongruity can be in lesson delivery.
2.) Incongruity can be in an educator's attitude.
3.) Incongruity can be hidden within an assessment.
4.) Incongruity can be in the anticipatory set of a lesson.
5.) Incongruity can be used in the examples given to explain a lesson or even in the types of resources brought in to explain the lesson.

Let's examine some different ways in which I have used incongruity to help DRIVE home a lesson.

It was my third year teaching 5th grade and with it comes the responsibility to teach the whole history of America! If you think that I am exaggerating, I am just letting you know right now that I am not. Fifth grade teachers in my district are expected to teach from the ancient civilizations of America to the present day conflicts taking place now in the U.S.  What I discovered early on was that my students were familiar with many notable historical events, such as: the revolutionary war, the civil rights movement, and the elections of the first African American president, however they have no idea in which order these events came. So, to help them out I do a little skit. I act out scenes from the ancient civilizations all the way through the present time. I use funny voices and actions and pretty much present a monologue to my students. For example, I may say the following,"The colonists hated their taxes/ tariffs because they were so high! So, in the middle of the night, the went down to the docks and snuck out onto a boat and started dumping tea into the Boston Harbor. What was that dat called? Boston Tea Party. Then, the British government retaliated by imposing the Stamp act, taking away more of the colonists rights to govern themselves and the imposing more taxes/tariffs on the colonists. A war broke out between the colonists and the British. What was that war called? American Revolutionary War. Thomas Jefferson and a few other important leaders started drafting a special letter to the King of the British letting him know that America was no longer under his rule. What was that special letter called? The Declaration of Independence." As I continue tell the story of the Americans winning the war, but then having disagreements amongst themselves about slaves.... I am acting out the story as I am telling it. I use voices, gestures, acting, questioning strategies and try to make it as dramatic as possible. 

This is where the incongruity comes into play. Students, teachers and educators alike, when asked to summarize the history of America, will turn to a short written piece that lays out the details or a time line of some sort.  No one expects their teacher to tell the whole history of America as if she were a real story teller with voices, actions, gestures, standing on chairs and declaring land with yardsticks. This incongruity acts as the attention getter in the body of the lesson. Students are drawn into the lesson, not know what to expect next from their teacher, because she is so unpredictable, so not only does their attention remain with you, but your acting skills, though good, are not par with the actors they see on TV, and therefore provide comic relief. Though they are laughing, they will have a hard time forgetting their teacher standing on a chair with a flag prominently planted on the chair declaring this land for the British.

Another example of incongruity in the classroom, can be used when you are giving an assessment. Picture this...
The students are reading through a math quiz that you have assigned them. When they come to the final question... It is the much dreaded question, because it asks students to not only solve a problem, but also to give an explanation of the steps you took, as well as the reasons why you took those steps. 

Students always want to put those essay type questions off until the end. However, that dread may be solved with a dose of humor. If students were to enjoy the questions that they had to solve, maybe they would be more excited to complete the task. Use funny objects, famous people's names, students in the class or unusual tasks an you have added an element of humor by adding the unexpected. Here is an example of a fun word problem.

Suppose we have a cube of cheese. This cube is divided into 27 small cubes of cheese, so it looks like a Rubik cube (3 x 3 x 3). Justin Bieber is a little mouse who wants to eat the whole cube of cheese. He starts eating the cube in the center, and then has to continue eating adjacent cubes. (Two cubes are adjacent if they share a face.) Can the mouse eat the whole cube of cheese?

You can find some other great ideas (math stories, movies poems, and fun stuff) at the website: http://mathstory.com/

All different kinds of lessons can contain elements of humor. Most of this humor will stem from incongruity. Here are some videos of teachers teaching their lessons, using unexpected methods. From the content of the movies, you can tell that not only are the students engaged and enjoying themselves, they are also learning. Click on the links to watch these videos.





Finally, it is important to note that what is "learned with laughter is learned well" (Robinson, 1983, p. 121). As educators it is our responsibility to teach well. Teaching well means finding the best methods to make a lesson stick in the memories of students. When we use incongruity theory to enhance our lessons delivery, assessments, and assignments, we are using research based methods to build curiosity amongst students because they want to know what you (as the educator) will do next, thus increasing their interest as well as gaining and maintaining their attention 
(Keller, 1983). Can't think of a more fun way to accomplish all of that!



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