Basic Teaching Skills for Career Education Instructors

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Basic Teaching Skills for Career Education Instructors

Chapter 17

Learning Is a Laughing Matter


Critical Concept• It has been long understood that when students are

laughing and having fun, they are learning even more.


Desired Performance Goals• List the best conditions for learning.• Define learning and laughter.• Explain the theories of what makes us laugh.• List the mental-, physical-, and work-related benefits of

laughter.• Explain the 4 stages of humor competence.• Identify strategies for improving creativity.• List ways to integrate humor in the workplace and

classroom.


The Master Educator• Facilitates internal jogging to stimulate beneficial brain

neurotransmitters.• Teaches learners to fake laughter that ultimately

results in genuine laughter.• Uses laughter to engage both sides of the brain for

more comprehensive learning.


Interesting Facts About Laughter• It produces endorphins.• People who laugh are liked more.• Teachers who use humor are liked more.• Self-deprecation is safe humor.• Humor facilitates more risks.• Fake smiles differ from sincere smiles.

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Interesting Facts About Laughter• Rituals provide security.• Emotional cues result from educator’s mood.


Humor Assists Teachers• Helps reveal a secure attitude.• Gains and holds learner attention.• Increases retention of information by learners.


Learning and Laughter Defined• Learning: To acquire knowledge, understanding, skills, or

behavioral tendency by study, instruction, or experience.• Laughter: The sound of laughing; the cause of

merriment. Laughter is the psychological response to humor.


Two Parts of Laughter• One part: Gestures• Another part: Sounds

– 15 facial muscles contract during laughter• Gelotology: Formal name for the physiological study of

humor


Purpose of Laughter• To make and strengthen human connections and

relationships• Laughter Theories

– Incongruity theory– Superiority theory– Relief theory– Spontaneity theory


Mental Health Benefits of Laughter• Less stress

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• Reduced anger and anxiety• Increased joy and aliveness• More positive and optimistic mood• Greater sense of control• Emotional release

Mental Health Benefits of Laughter


Work-Related Benefits of Laughter• Improved team-building and communication• Better conflict management• Greater morale and job satisfaction• Enhanced creativity and problem solving• Resilience• Managed stress and productivity


Physical Health Benefits of Laughter

• Strengthened immune system• Improved physical health• Reduced stress hormones• Increased weight loss


StressDefined as a physical, chemical, or emotional factor that

causes bodily or mental tension and may be a factor in the cause of disease.


Four Stages of Humor Competence

• Unconscious incompetence• Conscious incompetence• Conscious competence• Unconscious competence


Laughter Enhances Creativity• What is an idea?

• Inspiring an idea– Self-esteem is key.– Lives are altered by

attitudes.– Positive self-talk


Origins of Imagination• Everyone is born with an imagination. If you don’t

believe that, give a 4-year-old a stick and watch what happens.


Stimulation of Imagination• Do different things; vary your routine.

• Work on observation skills; notice details.


What If?• Ask and do: develop a passion for knowledge.• Switch gears: when experiencing blocks in the creative

process, switch gears and keep up the momentum.• Take action: strive to avoid making excuses as to why

something cannot be accomplished.


Humor in the Workplace• Keep goofy toys at desk.• Use funny visualizations.• Laugh 5 minutes on way to work.• Wear temporary, funny tattoos.• Conduct daily huddle for laughing.• Communicate with cartoons.• Wear funny hats for different moods.


Humor in the Classroom• Build a “mirth-aid kit”.• Create a Joy Jar or Silly Sack.• Create an Inspirational Insights Bag.• Incorporate humorous video clips.

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Humor in the Classroom• Wear a goofy hat to present.

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Humor in the Classroom• Count daily laughter events.• List positive things and share.• Give projects funny names.• Wear humorous T-shirt under lab jacket.• Use games.• Create prize categories and prizes.• Offer assignment options.

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Humor in the Classroom• Write silly songs about serious subjects.• Encourage silliness in students.• Buy laughing CD or laughing toys.• Have students crate fun ways to learn.• Wear purple, fluorescent eyelashes.• Schedule hilarity breaks.


Wrapping It Up• Laughter is a form of internal jogging.• Laughter is good for our health.• Children laugh 400 times per day.• Adults only laugh 15 times per day.• We can fake a laugh and it becomes real.• Humor may not add years to your life, but it will

definitely add life to your years!


In Retrospect• List the best conditions for learning.• Define learning, laughter, and laugh.• Explain the theories of what makes us laugh.

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In Retrospect• List the mental benefits of laughter.

• List the work-related benefits of laughter.

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In Retrospect• List the physical benefits of laughter.

• Explain the four stages of humor competence.

• Identify strategies for combining ideas and letting creative juices flow.

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In Retrospect• List ways to integrate humor into the workplace and

classroom.


Congratulations!

You have completed seventeen units of study toward completion of

your instructor training program.

Basic Teaching Skills for Career Education Instructors

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