A teacher is not a comedian; his job is to teach, educate and motivate students. Therefore, it is recommended that he ought to have a sense of humor to improve the learning process. Nevertheless, he must determine lucid rules when he intends to apply humor. Such rules will protect him from falling into embarrassing mistakes and facilitate to reach his goal. One of the rules is knowing his students very well. Knowing their age characteristics, interests and what amuses them. Telling a joke is not appropriate in some contents, and telling them all the time is unacceptable, too. So, a teacher should see when it is a good time to use humor and how often he can do it (How to Use Humor in Teaching, n.d.).
Laughing is a development trait that children naturally apply most of their day. The teacher should be part of the development process and encourage them to have it and do it in the right time. Numerous things can make them laugh, for example, imitating a clown, satirizing a monkey or any silly tricks. They get simple jokes and enjoy funny stories and movements and that engaged them more to the teacher and the subject he presents (D'Arcy Lyness, 2012).
Using humor in a kindergarten’s classroom is not only to keep the children’s attention, but also it has a long term goals. In the beginning of a school year, new kids want to feel that they are part of the community. Hearing or seeing something funny and laughing about it as the other kids will make them more comfortable and welcomed. Humor builds a good relationship between them and their teacher. However, it shows them how to insert it in seriousness to make learning better.
Learning is not fun, and most of classes are boring, but there is no need for clowning or rudeness to apply comedy in kindergarten classes. A smart teacher with a wise sense of humor could make it amusing, enjoyable and memorable.
Here is a useful discussion related to the topic : How Humour Affects Learning video
I think you are right,, although humor is a smart way to grasp the children's attention, it's hard sometimes to maintain the line of respect and disciplinen between you and them.
ReplyDeleteInteresting entry! I'm a little confused by your last paragraph, though. Do you support the use of humor in the Kindergarten classroom or not? I get the sense from the rest of your blog entry that you DO think humor is useful in the classroom, but your last paragraph gives the impression that you might think otherwise. You've got a great topic going here, and I'm looking forward to reading more in the future.
ReplyDelete"Learning is not fun, and most of classes are boring" that it is true Hala. But being not fun does not necessarily mean boring, don't you think so? May be in higher levels than Kindergarten students will find some classes interesting even if there is no humor in class.
ReplyDeleteI agree with faisal, teachers could make the topic interesting without craking jokes every 5 minutes.
ReplyDelete"A smart teacher with a wise sense of humor could make it (learning) amusing, enjoyable and memorable." I couldn't agree more.
ReplyDeleteLovely way of educating, especially for children. it take a lot af patent and hard working to get to children's minds. Good luck
ReplyDeleteYeah, I think humor is indespensable especially for small kids to get attention. It is important for them to "enjoy" learning.
ReplyDeleteThe teachers need to mix humor and learning in order to keep the education process smooth. Very nice article Hala. Keep it up :)
ReplyDeletei think it depends on the level also even in kindergarten you need to a mixture of humor and obedience to control the children
ReplyDeletenice info
Very nice topic Halah. I believe Humor is one of the teaching techniques to get the attention of the students, but it is not the only technique. Been funny is something difficult if you don’t have the sense of humor. The teacher should know himself and never try to be funny unless you are sure you can be, otherwise the results will be dangerous.
ReplyDeleteIt is very interesting topic. Just reading your blog without experiencing your situation as a kindergarten teacher may give false feeling that it is easy to teach children and use humor with them. I think it is very difficult to teach children and to get their attention. I will fail, for sure, to do so :)
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