Humor is a Spiritual Tool

Being able to laugh and share laughter with students and friends is definitely spiritual.  Humor nourishes the soul.  Humor helps our health by relieving stress.  In the classroom, humor is an indispensable tool.  I am not saying you need to be a comedian or try to force humor into your life or classroom.  But, by relating funny stories and sharing the gift of humor with others, we bring some relief to the stress of our lives and create deeper connections. 

Here is a funny story that happened to me one summer.  I was out on a bike ride when I felt something crawling on my leg.  I looked down to see a huge bee.  Before I could stop riding, it crawled up my shorts.  I had to pull over and try to get this bee out of my shorts without getting stung.  Needless to say, this was a delicate operation.  As I am doing this on the side of the road, a car full of teenagers pass by and have the funniest look on their faces as they looked at me, attempting to extract a confused and angry bee from my biking shorts. At that point, I have to laugh as I realize that I am a funny sight on the side of the road.  Here is another funny aspect of this story.  As I laughed and relaxed, the bee got out and flew away without stinging me.  The humor helped me relax and it was able to get out.

Flash forward a couple weeks later to the first day of school.  After getting business out of the way, I related this story to the students and we all had a good laugh.  It broke the tension and allowed us all to enjoy being together.  At the end of the day in my classroom, we all pack up and students can tell a “minute story” about something humorous that has happened to them.  We establish guidelines that the stories must be appropriate with no “potty humor.”  We get some funny stories from the students and end the day on a positive note.  This also helps the students quiet down and relax when they are getting very “antsy” at the end of the day.

As I am writing this, another interesting question comes to mind.  Do some of us lose our ability to laugh?  Sure.  I even have days where the smile does not come easily.  But, I can change that by remembering something funny that has recently happened in my classroom or my life.  I keep a journal of humorous things that happen in my classroom and in my life.  My 5 year old son is a fountain of humor.  If I need a laugh, I just need to picture him doing one of his funny dances in the mirror.  If you know something that helps you laugh, take time to do it.  Watch a funny movie, cultivate friendships with people who have a good sense of humor or listen to a comedian who makes you laugh those deep belly laughs.

As a teacher, it is important to cultivate and keep a sense of humor and wit.  First of all, students remember lessons better when delivered with a sense of humor and some wit.  Humor also makes the days go more smoothly and eases some of the tense times.  Interjecting humor can be the difference between a positive discussion ending on a good note or an argument ending on a negative note with hurt feelings.  This applies to discussions with students, parents, or colleagues for that matter

I had a student who had a wonderful and mischievous sense of humor.  This student had a reputation for being a real disruption to classes with his “inappropriate humor.”  At the beginning of the school year, he tried to disrupt my class by blurting out something that got the entire class laughing but got us all way off task.  I saw that this boy was funny yet he felt like he needed attention.  So I told him, “If you can stay quiet all day, I will give you 2 minutes at the end of the day to do a comedy routine.”  He got excited.  He asked if he could work up a 3 minute routine and perform on Friday afternoon, so we would all have something to look forward to.  I agreed and never had a problem from him for the rest of the school year and we all got a really funny 3 minute comedy routine every Friday afternoon.  He did one routine on the spelling bee and another on cafeteria food.  Both were hilarious and stayed within the boundaries of what was appropriate.  At the end of the school year, he even got me tickets to see his favorite comedian.  I had to decline the tickets, but appreciated the generosity.

Now, I am not talking about “sarcastic” humor that often hurts others.  I am talking about having a healthy sense of humor and being able to laugh at yourself.  I like the idea that I take my job and life seriously, but I do not have to take myself so seriously.  When I can laugh at myself and the mistakes I make, I open students up to accepting their own mistakes.  My brother is a teacher and every time he makes a mistake, he says, “I think I have made one other mistake in my life.”  After the students hear this a few times, they get the joke.

I try to remember that students often respond initially more to how we relate to them, to our humor, openness and acceptance of them, than the message that leaves our lips.  Once we have “captured their hearts,’ students are more likely to really listen to us.  This is where gratitude, humor and cheerfulness come into play.

It has been estimated that children laugh 100 times a day, but adults laugh about 10 times.  Where does all that humor and laughter go?  Help bring some more of that humor back into your life and your classroom.

Before I give the quote for this posting, I wanted to direct everyone to check out a fellow teacher’s work with gratitude with her 1^st graders.  It is very impressive.  

Follow this link: http://notjustchildsplay.blogspot.com/2014/04/our-gratitude-projects.html

“One looks back with appreciation to the brilliant teachers, but with gratitude to those who touched our human feelings. The curriculum is so much necessary raw material, but warmth is the vital element for the growing plant and for the soul of the child.” - Carl Jung