Is The Use Of Humour In Classrooms Good Of Bad?
There is nothing more frustrating than a bored child, especially in an educational environment. One of the ways to engage a child can be through humour. But be careful, pranks for kids and funny jokes for kids can backfire.
Advantages Of Using Humour
There are a number of techniques for using humour to engage kids dependent on subject. If you are teaching English Language, for example, you can use mnemonic phrases, modified to be comical, such as.
€I before E, except after C, and Weird is just Weird'
Or for spelling.
€BECAUSE: Big Elephants Can Always Understand Small Elephants'
When using humour in English language, the general rule is the stranger and more obscure it is, the more likely the children will find it funny and remember it.
Other subjects, like art can use themed days as humour. Maybe you are studying French painters so dress up in a beret with a silly moustache. The kids will find it hilarious, you could even put on a silly French accent. They will take in more than you think.
In Science, there are a number of chemicals that form spectacular but safe chemical reactions. Chemicals such as Magnesium which flash and fizz when stimulated in water, these reactions can be entertaining and easily made humorous with a little imagination.
You could even tell silly but educational jokes. The following jokes for kids are a sure fired hit.
Joke 1
Question: What gets wetter the more it dries?
Answer: A Towel.
Joke 2
Question: What stays in the corner and travels all over the world?
Answer: A Stamp.
Joke 3
Question: Why are pirates called pirates?
Answer: Because the aaarrrr!
Disadvantages Of Using Humour
Humour can backfire if you are not careful. If you use humour all the time then the students may expect this as as normal teaching behaviour and not be as focused in other lessons. Alternatively, humour could over stimulate the students which may cause them to become unruly.
The other risk is that the your students are encouraged to be silly so they may see an opportunity to play a prank on another kid as perfectly reasonable since you have been playing jokes and prank, and you are an adult. Children will often look at the way you act as opposed how you tell them to act.
Too many jokes could also inspire children to replicate your behaviour and cause them to get into trouble at home or with other teachers because they come up with silly yet inventive answers to the questions they are asked.
In Conclusion
Stimulating learning in children is required if we want children in the digital age to engage with adults and in forms of media which are not as gratifying as video games or television shows. However, children are also at school to learn. By all means use humour in the classroom to keep them focused, but do not rely on humour as a teaching strategy as it can also promote unruly behaviour.
Advantages Of Using Humour
There are a number of techniques for using humour to engage kids dependent on subject. If you are teaching English Language, for example, you can use mnemonic phrases, modified to be comical, such as.
€I before E, except after C, and Weird is just Weird'
Or for spelling.
€BECAUSE: Big Elephants Can Always Understand Small Elephants'
When using humour in English language, the general rule is the stranger and more obscure it is, the more likely the children will find it funny and remember it.
Other subjects, like art can use themed days as humour. Maybe you are studying French painters so dress up in a beret with a silly moustache. The kids will find it hilarious, you could even put on a silly French accent. They will take in more than you think.
In Science, there are a number of chemicals that form spectacular but safe chemical reactions. Chemicals such as Magnesium which flash and fizz when stimulated in water, these reactions can be entertaining and easily made humorous with a little imagination.
You could even tell silly but educational jokes. The following jokes for kids are a sure fired hit.
Joke 1
Question: What gets wetter the more it dries?
Answer: A Towel.
Joke 2
Question: What stays in the corner and travels all over the world?
Answer: A Stamp.
Joke 3
Question: Why are pirates called pirates?
Answer: Because the aaarrrr!
Disadvantages Of Using Humour
Humour can backfire if you are not careful. If you use humour all the time then the students may expect this as as normal teaching behaviour and not be as focused in other lessons. Alternatively, humour could over stimulate the students which may cause them to become unruly.
The other risk is that the your students are encouraged to be silly so they may see an opportunity to play a prank on another kid as perfectly reasonable since you have been playing jokes and prank, and you are an adult. Children will often look at the way you act as opposed how you tell them to act.
Too many jokes could also inspire children to replicate your behaviour and cause them to get into trouble at home or with other teachers because they come up with silly yet inventive answers to the questions they are asked.
In Conclusion
Stimulating learning in children is required if we want children in the digital age to engage with adults and in forms of media which are not as gratifying as video games or television shows. However, children are also at school to learn. By all means use humour in the classroom to keep them focused, but do not rely on humour as a teaching strategy as it can also promote unruly behaviour.