Your life, including your classroom--especially your classroom--should be full of joy. You know that much more learning takes place in a cheerful environment. Luckily, you CAN create a classroom where healthy laughter is a regular feature.
AND HERE'S WHY!
Medical evidence is mounting
fast--solid support for what so many have known all along.
In Compassionate Laughter, the author cites over 170 books
and articles in support of the healing effects of humor.
Here are only a few:
- Compassionate Laughter, Jest For Your Health, by Patty Wooten, R.N., Commune-A-Key Pub., 1996.; also, Heart, Humor and Healing by Patty Wooten
- "Using Humor to Develop Creative Thinking", by A. Ziv in "Humor and Children's Development: A Guide to Practical Applications", edited by P. McGhee and A. Chapman, Haworth, 1989.
- How To Be Funnier, Happier, Healthier, and More Successful, Too!, by Roger Bates, Trafton Pub., 1995.
- Head First--The Biology of Hope, by Norman Cousins, Dutton, 1989.
- "Humor in the Brain: What Happens When We Laugh" --Interview with Peter Derks; in Humor and Health Journal. 4 (5) 1995, 1-7.
- Humor and Life Stress: Antidote to Adversity, by Herbert Lefcourt and Rod Martin, Springer-Verlag, 1986, and "Humor and Immune System Function", (Lefcourt, et. al) in International Journal of Humor Research. (3) 1990, 305-321.
--Mark VanDoren (poet, novelist, critic)
Using Verbal Games and Jokes
Some samples first, followed by classroom ideas:
The Game of Stinky Pinkies
Q. What do we call filthy fingers?
A. Stinky pinkies.
Q. What's a fat cat?
A. A flabby tabby.
Q. What's a glad dad?
A. A happy pappy! (This is a double stinky pinky--much harder!)
Q. What's a silly fowl?
A. A jerky turkey.
Q. What do we call a chicken purchaser?
A. A fryer buyer.
Q. How can I avoid getting a sharp pain in my eye
when I drink root beer floats?
A. Take the spoon out of the glass.
Sign in my veterinarian's office:
Doctor will be with you shortly.
SIT. STAY.
Q. How does an elephant hide from hunters?
A. She paints her toenails red and sits in a cherry tree.
His mind is so open that the wind whistles through it.
Heywood Broun
Dopey Definitions (another verbal game):
- Climate - the only thing you can do with a ladder
- Camel - a horse designed by a committee
- Atom - a male cat
- Antifreeze - a close relative lacking warm underwear
- Adamant - the very first insect in the world
- Boycott - a crib which is not good for baby girls
- Macaroni - famed inventor of the wireless; the first man to send a message through a length of spaghetti
- Shampoo - imitation poo
- Stalemate - old or worn out partner
- And how is it that my nose runs and my feet smell?
Activities
NOW...ask your students to bring in their favorites
to tell or post somewhere in the room. Vote on the Howler
of the Day.
Use a joke or epigram as the basis for an in-class paragraph--or a short, ex tempore talk (a neglected skill that we all need) --or a debate, so that kids can practice the logical, analytical thinking used in successful debates.
Using the examples here, play Stinky Pinkies or Dopey Definitions in class to stimulate interest in words. You'll be delighted at how energized (and relaxed at the same time!) you and your class become by focusing on that which is positive or downright funny-at least some of the time.
Aren't you awfully tired of gloom and doom and "bad news sells papers"? You're not in the business of selling papers! Your job is shaping the future.
Kids' Funniest Favorites....Or So They Tell Me!
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