Using Humor in Your Assessments "Oh no, is that legal?"

So far this blog has covered the many advantages of using humor in instruction, however we have danced, tippy-toed, scooted by, skirted around, slid over and dodged the idea of formalizing humor in our classrooms through the PRINTED WORD and even more so, THE TEST!!! Yikes! Is there room for humor in our assessments? Is it even appropriate to be funny in a test? After all a test is serious business!

Well... Let's not try to answer these worldly questions all by ourselves. Let us turn to research to find out the truth about humor on test items and sewn so seamlessly into the fabric of assessment. According to a research study conducted McMorris, R., Urbach,S., & Connor, M.  (1985) , middle school students took a grammar test which resembled the format of state standardized testing. The students then completed questionnaires evaluating their test anxiety, their perception of items level of difficulty, their attractiveness to a humorous test format, and their actual score in the assessment.

Their results indicated that there were no large discrepancies between the scores of the students with the humorous test items as opposed to the students with the non-humorous test items. However, more number of students reflected that:

• the test items seemed easier
• their anxiety during the test was reduced, and
• they liked/ preferred a humorous format over a non-humorous format.

So hallelujah! The students enjoyed the assessment in a more relaxing piece of mind. And isn't that so our goal anyways? That students feel relaxed while being assessed, so that we can quickly and effectively determine what instruction has worked effectively and what instruction needs to be repeated in a new and different way. So, the next time that you are making a test, add a few punch lines to some of the questions. Here are some examples to get your creative humor juices jump-started. 

1.) The ___________ pumps the blood all over the body.

a.) lungs

b.) heart

c.) little monkeys from the zoo

d.) arteries

2.) Fill in the blank with a word from the word box.  Magnets with like poles _______________.

                    attract       repel             talk              dance

3.) When you are done with your test you should.

a.) put it in the homework bin

b.) run around the room with it above your head shouting free answers to the highest bidder 

c.) crumble it up into a ball and shoot a 3-pointer into the waste bin.

d.) I don't know. I give up. 

Remember it is up to you to keep the excitement going in your classroom. It is one of the most difficult tasks that you are charged with as a teacher. There is no secret formula for success or any magic happy pills that you can feed the students (it's wrong and illegal anyways) to get them up and motivated. So, use what you have got. Your humor. Add humor to test questions to reduce student stress, increase students perceptions of the assessment and make the test seem easier and more enjoyable to students. Don't worry, you would be doing the right thing! 

What Happens to All the Funny Children?

Many people view humor as something that belongs on T.V. or movies, in late night clubs, or enjoyed amongst close friends around food or drink. However, these people are looking at humor through only one perspective: the entertainment perspective. Humor is a fun-damental part of human nature. It exists in every culture, amongst all people and for as far back as historians have studied. Humor is part of who we are as humans and therefore should be embraced in every facet of life. 


Unfortunately, this has not always been the case. Humor was seen as taboo in work settings and schools for a long time. People associated work and school as a place for serious business and not a place of amusement. "Children in school who show aptitude for music get sent to the music room, children with aptitude for art get sent to the art room, and children with an aptitude for humor get sent to the principal’s office," (Morell, 1991, p.359) Interesting quote! And isn't it so true? Those kids who just can't contain their humor in school, find themselves in trouble. Why does that have to be the case?

A recent review of literature by Robert and Yan ( 2007) have delved into the relationships between humor and creativity as well as humor and work performance. The literature that they cite, show that we would be doing our coworkers, and our students a large disservice by excluding humor from schools. Instead, we must embrace humor to help ourselves embrace each other (metaphorically of course, unless you ask permission first). 


Hay (2001) points out that there are many possible behavioral responses to humor, however laughter and smiling are only two of them. (Hmmm, I wonder what some of the other responses are.)  One of these behavioral responses may just be creativity. Yes, it is creativity! The very essence of what it means to be an amazing student in America. ( Note: other countries may or may not feel the same way depending on their philosophy of education.) But, yes, here in America we want our students to be more creative to "think outside of the box."  Robert and Yan cite much research (Abramis, 1992; Caudron, 1992; Therrien, 2004) to support the claim that humor enhances or stimulates creative thinking. According to Barker (2002), humor may ‘‘widen pathways among the brain’s lobes’’ (p. 168).  Another theory proposed by Ziv (1988) suggests that the positive mood caused by humorous situations may reduce anxiety when voicing unique or original ideas. Therefore, teachers it is time to break out the comics, the stand-up (or sit-down jokes), the satire, the big guns** ( **I am not promoting guns at school. It is an idiom.) We need those resources to develop students who are more able to take risks in order to share original ideas which will widen their brain's pathways.

Speaking about a reduction in anxiety, research shows that humor may also help increase job satisfaction and productivity. That claim seems to be fair and make sense. I would rather do a task which is enjoyable or fun as opposed to a task that is too serious. Why wouldn't my coworkers or students feel similar? In a study exploring the effects of sense of humor and a humorous situations on stressful tasks, Abel and Maxwell (2002), discovered that being exposed to a humorous stimulus alleviated anxiety and increased positive affect. "Individuals’ sense of humor, and presumably their ability to interpret life events through the lens of humor, also appears to moderate the influence of both positive and negative life events such that a sense of humor is more strongly associated with positive affect after both positive and negative life events," (Martin, Kuiper, Olinger, & Dance, 1993). So, it's up to you to use that humor for the betterment of your colleagues and your students. 

Research shows that humor has a place in school. And not only does it have a place, it has a meaningful place in helping teachers and students to become more creative, as well as helping everyone to love their jobs ( be it teaching or learning) more and even perform better at them, too! So, what happens to all of the funny children? Let's hope that they grow up to be funny adults, so they can be more creative, productive and motivated individuals in their place of work! 

The High-Fives of Humor

As an elementary school teacher, I often start and end my day with high-fives. These high-fives are a way for me to (appropriately) connect with students. What does a high-five really mean to a child? Probably not as much a a good laugh. Using humor in the classroom is one of the deepest ways to connect with your students. Why you ask? Oh no, do I have to cite a bunch of research now to twist your arm into believing me? Fine! Here you go you research junkie!


According to Cornett (1986) and Kelly (1983), humor can facilitate learning in the classroom in the following ways:

1. It attracts attention and provokes thought, helping to hone the skills of prediction, decision making, recall, problem solving, and visual imagery.
2. It liberates creative capacities, helping students to discover incongruous relationships and solve serious problems in creative ways.
3. It helps gain friends, promote group membership, and deal with awkward moments.
4. It improves communication and develops vocabulary and reading skills through the use of puns, figurative language, homonyms, and homophones.
5. It helps to deal with difficult moments.
6. It can be an entry into the study of other cultures and reflects a group's cultural values.
7. It promotes good health and can be effective in dealing with tension, especially prior to test taking.
8. It develops a positive attitude and self-image, assisting in classroom discipline, conflict resolution, and diffusion of tension.
9. It motivates and energizes.
10. It reinforces desired behaviors.

Now, with all of those benefits how could you refuse to use humor in your classroom. There is no denying the endless amount of benefits humor bestows upon a classroom, a teacher and the students!
So let me give you a little high-five to help you integrate humor into your classroom.

In Provine's literature on integrating humor (2000), there are five tactics and results associated with the integration of humor.

1. Make interpersonal eye contact helps to set the mood for students when using humor. It also helps to establish a deeper relationship between the teacher and student. 
2. Create a casual, caring, safe and fun-loving environment is necessary, so that students can relax and enjoy the learning experience as they open up to you and the curriculum. Students should be eager to actively participate in every aspect of the classroom. 
3. Adopt a laugh- ready attitude. When teachers are able to laugh at the silliness of their curriculum or day to day situations that arise, they create an atmosphere where students can also let go of inhibitions to share in the laughter and joy of learning. The students absolutely love when their teacher laughs at themselves! ( Whenever, I make a mistake, I blame it on Monday Brain. The students always laugh and yell out, "It's Wednesday!" and I just say, " yeah well I forgot to take Monday brain off when Monday was over." This gets them rolling with laughter every time. 
4. Provide humorous material and examples for students, especially if you want them to become a humor producer themselves or you can just provide students with humorous examples, assignments, tests, and quizzes to help build their motivation and learned content. 
5. Remove social inhibitions. Make it okay for laughter to ring out in your classroom. When students are comfortable, they are more prepared to learn. Make it okay to produce, appreciate and/or share in the laughter. 

So, there you have it! The high-fives of creating humorous classrooms as outlined by Provine. Are there other high-fives in education that we should be made aware of? Absolutely! Check out the list to the right of this post. Click on the picture of the high-fives, so that you can read the funny lists about humor and teachers. 


One of my favorites is: Top 5 Things Teachers Do with Their Spare Time.

1. What spare time? Don't have any! 


Take a moment to check out the other lists. They are from the book, The Laughing Classroom. A book worth finding because it has so many different ideas of how to increase laughter in your classroom. Good luck with your continued quest to be the funniest teacher you can be!

I Want to... But I Just Can't...50 Excuses

So, you are intrigued to become a more enjoyable teacher, and you've read some of my other posts that could help you get there, but you are still stuck.

You Want To... But You Just Can't

Ronald A Berk (that professor from Mars) in his book Professors are From Mars and Students are from Snickers reminds teachers that:
It has been estimated ( not sure by who) that people remember:
10% of what they hear
30% of what they see
60% of what they hear and see
80% of what they hear, see and do
100% of what they hear, see, do, smell, feel, taste, inhale, inject, and purchase on credit.

Therefore, if we are going to get 100% of our students to meet standards as measured by testing such as the ISAT or better known as (I Stink At Testing or Illinois' Stupid Ability Test or Is Standardization Always Trustworthy), then we better use humor to ensure that they are fully engaged, receptive, tuned-in, turned-on, and progressing towards mastery or at least towards laughter.

If this isn't enough un-cited research to convince you that you should be using more humor for the good of the students, then click on the picture to the right. This picture will lead you to 50 Excuses for Not Laughing in the Classroom. You may suffer from some of these symptoms. Have no fear, your educational doctor (ate student) is here.

Let's take a moment to cure the top 10 symptoms on this list!

1.) I tried it once and it didn't work. 
What would have happened if Edison said that the first time he tried to invent the lightbulb?


2.) Our school is highly academic.
First, I have to say... I hope so... then point to the multitudes of research that shows humor helps students retain information.

3.)The students are already hysterical.
Great... that means you don't have to be that good!

4.) I will have to ask my principal first.
Really? Okay fine then. If it makes you feel comfortable, then ask. Start with something like, "According to a whole bunch of research to increase engagement, classroom climate and memory, I would like to..."


5.)The children might miss their busses.
Avoid using humor the last 15 minutes of the day to allow students to pack up in time to catch their busses.


6.) I'm not dressed for the occasion.
Really? What were you planning on wearing a Bozo the Clown costume? Right apparel not needed.

7.) I don't have time for such non-sense.
Then why are you doing all that other non-sense? Make time.

8.) It's not proper training for the real world.
Okay, this may be my opinion, but I rather hire the guy or gal who is personable, witty and engaging then the numb one.

9.) I might get laugh lines.
That's what Botox is for.


10.) I don't do stand-up comedy. 
No one is asking you to do stand-up comedy. You can certainly sit down too!

Some of my other favorite excuses include...


31.) I'm too old to start laughing now.
Don't worry, there is no age limit.


33.) What if I lose face?
You can go look for it, or teach without one.


41.) I'm saving it for summer vacation.
Without laughter, be prepared for a year that feels like 20 years. 

43.) I read that laughter destroys brain cells.
I think you are getting laughter confused with something else.

So, don't be a party pooper by getting yourself stuck at one of these road blocks. Create your own pathway, trail, or road to a laughing classroom. If you come to a roadblock, pull out your list of 5o excuses and ask for help finding a better path or at least one that ends at an ice cream shop.

There is no time, like laughing time and there is no better time to laugh, then now!

Do it here, do it there, do it everywhere.

Delivering Humor Effectively in the Classroom

So, you want to be a fun teacher, or do you want to be a funny teacher? There is a difference. A fun teacher makes the class enjoyable, whereas a funny teacher makes the class hysterical. A fun teacher's lesson makes the material more easily memorized, whereas a funny teacher makes the material more memorable. I choose to be a funny teacher who has fun lessons. There are many reasons why I choose to be the funny teacher. 


1.) The students love what is unexpected, and a teacher cracking jokes is at the top of that list.
2.) Humor builds a positive climate in my classroom.
3.) The curriculum becomes more fun for everyone and therefore easier to learn and remember. 
4.) I like my job more.
5.) Do I really need to think of another point to convey my point?

While the first three are important points, the fourth one is the most important point to me. Come on- a teacher's happiness is the root of all happiness in the classroom. If I keep my spirits up, I keep the students engaged and their spirits even higher. After all kids are naturally spirited folks, so I don't even need to be a professional comedian. Just about anything out of the ordinary tickles their funny bone enough to invoke laughter.

So, let's say that you are not the Jedi Master of Humor. How can you make yourself more humorous? Good news, this guy Ronald A Berk wrote this book Actually, "the original title of the book was 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, but he ran into some legal snags." So the new book was instead titled...( Wait for it...) Professors are From Mars and Students are From Snickers.  And isn't that so true. Though we come from different planets, we are both chocolate, but I guess the kids are more nutty (Snickers, get it? Maybe I didn't need to explain that one).
So if you want to be nutty too, remember these tips to get your humor on.

1.) If you stink at spontaneity, pre-plan your humor!- Find a funny cartoon, a hyperbole, a ridiculous image, an outrageous simile, metaphor, idiom, joke, or artichoke about your topic. Don't fear, use google to find these!

2.) Timing is everything! Wait for it, wait for it, wait for it... Don't be in a rush to deliver the punch line. A dramatic pause leaves every student hanging off the tip of your tongue. (Not literally, thank goodness!)


3.) Involve your Audience in the action. Ask them a humorous question, give a funny quiz, have them shout out answers. Use the participation to build the tension before punch lines or to add silly movements to a sit and get presentation. When asking my students to get ready for white board exercises in math. I have them practice doing biceps curls and military presses with their white boards. This always gets a good response. Remember the most memorable activities involve your audience to write, speak, shout, move, stand, raise their hand or smack the person next to them (preferably with a blunt object). 


4.) Keep the students entertained by varying your voice! No one wants to listen to "Bueller... Bueller... Bueller," in a monotone voice. You are an actress (or actor) and you are on a stage. Heck you are famous, (at least to these 30 wide eyed children in front of you). So, take advantage. Use emotion, funny voices, dramatic pauses, screeching, shrills, noise effects, bodily sounds and songs to really make an impact on your student memories. Remember when it comes to voice level, tone and speed, the unexpected will always result in what you hope to expect... laughter!


5.) When you have nothing good left to say, spice up the curriculum with your face and body gestures. Your body tells more of the story than your voice. You have to paint a picture of funny in the students minds, so what you say is not as dramatic as what you do. Each point needs a funny face or dramatic acting to drive the point home. The more you act, the more engaged the students are. They forget that they are watching a teacher and start to feel that they are watching a movie or t.v. The only down side is the paycheck that you receive for your phenomenal acting skills. 


CAUTION: When implementing these tips, students may die of laughter, pee their pants, have crazy laughing fits or even worse love coming to school every day!


Remember, you want your students to remember the material! You want your students to remain engaged (after all increased engagement leads to less behavioral referral paper work for you). You want to love your job. So be the classroom comedian that I know that all of you can be!

If you are having trouble implementing the strategies above, please turn on your local comedy central and start taking notes.

Humor Styles and their Effects in the Classroom

So you want to be a comic teacher? Did you know that there are actually different types of humor? According to Romero and  Cruthirds ( 2006 ), there are multiple humor styles that can be employed in the classroom and even workplace. Caution: Not all Humor Styles are effective in all situations. Don't worry, I can be your guide and lead you to the best possible humor styles for each of the specific diverse moments that you experience in school as a teacher and as a coworker. Oh don't worry, I am not making this stuff up, I am by no means the expert, I am simply going to translate the research of Romero and Cruthirds into teacherneese. After all they are from the business world, so without a guide as competent as me in both languages, much of the research could be lost in translation.
So what are those Humor Styles? Have no Fear, a Brief List is Right Here!

• Affiliative Humor- This is the joke telling, joking around, positive, good-natured type of humor. This type of humor brings people together. 
• Self-Enhancing Humor- This type of humor is the one displayed by people who are looking to have a more humorous look on life.  People use this type of humor to have a more positive look on life, like a coping mechanism (probably a more healthy approach than alcohol). 
• Aggressive Humor- This is the more negative style of humor. It is used to manipulate others through the threat of ridicule! (If you want to keep your job, it may be a good idea to stay away from this type of humor.)
• Mild Aggressive Humor- This type of humor is aggressive humor watered down (without scotch or any other strong form of mind altering substances).   It's used as a playful way to disagree or convince others to change their behavior. 
• Self-Defeating Humor - This type of humor is used to downgrade yourself. People use this style to bring their own status down, by exposing their faults or at least their faults in a humorous way.

So what does this all mean in the school setting? Well, nothing if you don't choose to use it.  Well the good news is that this information is actually meaningful to a teacher. Let's pick apart some day to day scenarios that you may face as a teacher and how you can turn to humor to.... well to do ..... something.

1. SCENARIO 1- Getting your classroom to feel united can be a daunting task when so many students (30!), from too many different backgrounds, inhabiting a room smaller than their house, that often smells of old socks ( lack of deodorant) and feels like the Sahara desert ( No air- conditioning).  Well HUMOR can help!   Look just there I used affiliative humor to joke about the classroom situation. Every time, I bring up these facts to my students, they always roll around on the floor exhausted from laughter. We have so much fun joking about our horrible classroom conditions, that we feel more connected living in them for 6 hours a day together!
2. SCENARIO 2- Getting through the students' ears and into their brains can be difficult when the students are having to learn boring material in insufferable conditions. Turn to HUMOR, it can be your co- teacher, your attention grabber, your.... mental magnet, so to speak! As I see my students sinking into their chairs becoming melting more and more into their desks, I pull out my mild aggressive humor to help shape their behaviors. I begin to poke a little innocent fun and the way they are melting and falling into their desks. I ask them if I am really so boring that a nap seems more appealing! I tease them innocently about how they are like limp puppets that need to be brought back to life! The kids get a kick out of all of the comparisons and are eager to come back to our classroom discussion or activity more engaged and better behaved. So guys (Greatbatch & Clark, 2002), discovered that humor increases motivation, enhances listening, and understanding of the messages teachers are trying to deliver. 
3. SCENERIO 3- Relating to the students can be so hard in the classroom because you want them to view you (the teacher) as the authority, but at the same time, you want them to know that you like everyone in the world are human. You struggled as a kid (or maybe you still do) with many of the same behaviors/ academics that you are helping them with.  Use self-defeating humor to bring your status down to their level, so that they can connect better to you. I always try to make jokes about my self and my horrible spelling or the number of warning slips I received as a student for my non-stop talking disability (well at least I thought that it was uncontrollable, so therefore must be a disability). The kids get a kick out of my slamming my own weaknesses, and then feel more connected to me. They begin to realize that I am not judging them. I am just like them. 

There are so many benefits of using humor in the classroom and around it. You can take these humor styles and use them to better communicate with your students, relate to their needs, shape their behavior and create more cohesive classrooms. Humor could be your answer to many of life's problems, except  for why fried eggs always stick to stainless steel pans, and why the strawberries always spoil before you can finish them. OK, so maybe HUMOR can be your answer to just some of life's problems.  
  

How Humor Can Work For You at Curriculum Night

         So I have just finished another assigned reading for this grad class on humor and I am attempting to apply what I have read to my ridiculously fun life as an elementary school teacher. Last week, we had our curriculum night. For those of you, followers, who are unfamiliar with what a curriculum night is, let me explain. It is the night that parents come to school to hear a presentation from their child's teacher. For my presentation, I decided to take a humorous approach to an often tension-filled experience of the nervous teacher presenting to a room filled with parents' high expectations for their children.

         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.