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- Herausgeber: Independent Thinking Press
- Kategorie: Bildung
- Sprache: Englisch
- Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2012
There are physical, social and mental benefits that humour can bring to the learning environment - benefits such as creating openness, bravery, teamwork, imagination and creativity and, most of all, improving relationships between students and teachers. This book includes a brief history of laughter, gives you the rules of Funny and explains why having a laugh should be in your job description. Included are exercises to encourage laughter and techniques that will create an environment that is linked to encouraging and improving learning as well as a whole load of comical comments, quotes and, of course, gags.
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For my wife, Kate, who laughs with me every day.
Contents
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank:
Everyone at Crown House Publishing for their support and for allowing me the freedom to follow my passions and share it with others. Your efforts on my behalf are always greatly appreciated.
Ian Gilbert for his wit, wisdom and one-liners that have helped me hugely in the creation of this comical compendium (anything to do with cats is his!).
To anyone who has ever sniggered, giggled, howled or cried with laughter as a result of something I have said or done. It’s all your fault – I wouldn’t do it if you didn’t laugh. You are the very reason that, as a youngster, I never listened to my mum whenever she said ‘Stop showing off’. Please keep egging me on.
And finally, I would like to thank everyone and anyone who has, over the period of my life, done or said anything that has made me laugh my head off! You have all made me very, very happy.
:)
Cheers Dave Keeling
Foreword
The only thing I remember about the course is how forgettable it was. It was run by BT (I think), in London (I’m fairly sure), and I had been sent on it while I was working for a local authority in the Midlands (positive about that bit). It was dry, boring and unremittingly factual, and everyone seemed quite happy with accepting that this would be as good as it got. My only clear memory of the day was the point at which the sweating presenter told a joke. It was a lame joke, lamely told, but what happened next took me by surprise. Everyone fell about laughing. It was as if he had just come off stage at the Edinburgh Festival clutching a Comedy Award. Now that amused me.
What I learned that day was that people like to laugh. It wasn’t the joke that provoked the laughter on that course. That joke couldn’t have provoked a response even if it came with its own defibrillator. What made those delegates laugh was their desire to laugh, something that can be triggered by the weakest of stimuli in the right conditions. I became determined at that point to use humour in my training in education as much as I possibly could, and to follow Walt Disney’s famous mantra that he would rather entertain people in the hope they are educated than educate people in the hope they are entertained. After all, education is too important to be taken seriously.
What I noticed over the subsequent years is the power of humour when it comes to putting across important messages. (And, by the way, when I say ‘humour’ I don’t mean telling jokes. I’m lousy at telling jokes and, anyway, getting a laugh using someone else’s creativity is like getting a date wearing a Brad Pitt mask. Telling jokes isn’t humour, it’s just making people laugh.) By saying things that are genuinely funny you can make people laugh in a genuine way and, while their faces are all folded up, it is amazing what you can shove into their brains. ‘Make ’em laugh, make ’em think’ as the mantra goes.
As you will discover when you read this little book, laughter produces many physical and psychological benefits. For example, I once read that 100 laughs are the equivalent of a ten-minute row, that laughter improves your immune system, reduces stress levels and is beneficial for people with respiratory tract infections. I even read that breast-feeding mothers who laugh release a chemical into their milk that helps to immunise their child against eczema. I have also read of the benefits to learning induced by laughter – that it actually improved recall in students who were played a funny video part way through their learning. Which, of course, is where it gets really interesting for teachers.
When I was doing my PGCE, I remember reading various reports about what children look for in a good teacher and two attributes always shone through – consistency and a sense of humour. The only thing I remember from my maths lessons at high school were my teacher’s jokes. They were the only bit of the lesson I ever understood.1 It is only now, looking back with a combination of hindsight and a better understanding of neurochemistry, that I can understand what is going on when a teacher uses humour, what it is that makes it so memorable and the power of what I like to call ‘teacher’s little helper’, namely the neurotransmitter dopamine (but more of this later in the book).
Another thing that makes young people – and not so young people – laugh is Dave Keeling. I have worked with Dave for many years and seen firsthand the way he can win over even the most recalcitrant and reluctant young learner – and not so young learner – before they have even taken their seats. Apart from the card games and the magic tricks he uses, he is also a very funny, a naturally funny, man. What he shows in this little book of comic wisdom, however, is that being naturally funny is something we can all learn. That there are a whole host of tips and techniques employed by naturally funny men and women that transfer particularly well to the classroom to make the whole learning experience more enjoyable, more effective and more memorable for all involved. What’s more, these ideas are designed to not only bring out your humorous side but also that of the young people in your classroom. After all, in my experience, they are often way funnier than you could ever be. If you don’t believe me, simply try any of the exercises in this book. You’ll be impressed, I guarantee.
Talking of funny, did you hear the one about the Minster of Education who actually knew something about education? No? Me neither. Boom boom!
Ian Gilbert, Nina’s Table, Craig Cefn Parc
1 Thus reinforcing the point that some of the most intelligent people I have ever met are some of the worst teachers I have ever had.
Intro
Something which has never occurred since time immemorial; a young woman did not fart in her husband’s lap.
Now this Sumerian one-liner dating back to 1900 BC might not be the best gag ever but it is the oldest. Or at least the oldest on record. Cavemen probably had their own version in a Blazing Saddles meets One Million Years BC sort of way. Laughter, relationships and bodily functions are clearly a part of what makes us human and they certainly form a core part of classroom life, as anyone with a large bottom set will tell you (pun intended).
This little book of mirth seeks to take you on a brief but enlightening journey into exactly what laughter is and what part the use of humour can play in enhancing and galvanising the learning experience for all concerned.
Like Ant and Dec, there are two parts to this book: the first is short, witty and sets the scene; the second is a little bit shorter and funnier. In the first section, I have included all the information and handy hints I could muster from my tour of the world of humour and comedy, ideas that I believe will steadfastly aid and assist teachers in their bid to bring a little more light relief to the classroom. Along the way, I will strive to demystify the art and science of laughter and explore how to seek out and create moments where laughter can occur to make things in the classroom better all round.
The second section consists of a veritable smorgasbord of exercises and activities for use with learners in your classroom – activities proven to create humour, generate laughter, enhance learning and make you look great. Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to take these ideas and exercises and adopt, adapt, enjoy, explore and generally mess about with them to your heart’s content.
Of course, there are many ways to skin a cat (as my first Cub Scouts badge proudly signifies), and I am not in the least suggesting these ideas are the only way to get ’em rolling in the classroom aisles. But, like an old man with a cat, a potato peeler and a bit of time on his hands, they’re a start.
It is also worth mentioning that all the ideas, thoughts, feelings, activities, hints and suggestions in this book have come together through years of plugging away in front of audiences of students, parents, teachers, businesses and the general public. Audiences as big as a thousand and as little as three. Audiences that have ranged the full gamut from warm, welcoming, funny, excited, inspiring and up for it (you’d be surprised) to cold, hostile, indifferent, arrogant, disaffected and downright angry. As one man wrote on his feedback sheet: ‘Dave Keeling has the sort of face I would never tire of slapping’ (there are easier ways to flirt!).
My hope is that this book will, in some small way, give you permission to have as much fun as possible in your classroom and will, en route, inform, empower and entertain in equal measure. After all, having a laugh should be in your job description because, let’s face it, if you don’t love what you do, why should the kids? And let me reassure you too. Some people believe that you are either funny or you are not. I disagree, at least with the second part of that sentence. Later on in this book, I’ll give away some of the secrets that comedians use to create laughter. But, for now, take heart from the fact that everyone can be funny and use humour to enhance the way they work. Trust me, I’m ginger!
So, sit back on your whoopee cushion of learning, rub Vaseline on your funny bone, plaster an intrigued smile across your face and imagine everyone around you is naked, as I endeavour to explain what this funny business is all about.
My act is very educational. I heard a man leaving the other night saying, ‘Well, that taught me a lesson.’
Ken Dodd #:-)
Section I
The World of Humour and Comedy
Education: A technique employed to open minds so that they may go from cocksure ignorance to thoughtful uncertainty.
Chapter 1
Funny Business is a Risky Business
Don’t worry, don’t be afraid, because this is just a ride.
Bill Hicks
Just before we crack on, a quick word of warning. This may only be a little book but taking on board the ideas and the philosophies within it will demand some big risks. Yet, as John Vorhaus states in his opus, The Comic Toolbox: ‘What we don’t always have is the will to risk and the will to risk is really the will to fail. Behind all bogus thinking is the biggest bogus thought of all: If I fail I die’ (1994: 9, 11).
So, there you have it. No one was harmed in the making of this book and no one will be harmed while reading it. You will not die as a result of implementing the ideas contained herein and all will be well. Cross my heart and hope to die (me, not you). All I ask is that in order to get the black-and-white pages of this book up and running, you allow yourself to indulge in the art of play.
Never trust a man who, when left alone in a room with a tea cosy, doesn’t try it on.
Billy Connolly (:-{~
