Laughter

I think there is part of me that longs to be a stand-up comedian.  When I did my debriefing last week, many students commented on my stories.  They love them.  I'll see a student I had years ago and that is one of the things they will always say... "I loved your stories!"  One student last week made a very insightful comment.  She told me that she liked my stories and she thought they actually helped her to learn somehow.  I think their is a real connection between laughter and learning.  I encourage my students to emotionally invest in their learning.  We remember things that have strong emotions attached to them.

So... I try to get my students to laugh every day.

I want my students to enjoy my class.  I want each of my students to come to class with an expectation that something funny is going to happen today.  This improves attendance, attitude, effort and results.  Most of my stories are from my past.  These usually are silly, weird, a little gross and some even life threatening.  But they all bring out strong emotions... either laughter, disgust, sadness and sometimes even amazement.  Sometimes there will be a point to the story but often I'm just trying to get them to laugh.

When I'm teaching, I'll often get into the 'place' where we are learning and having a lot of laughs.  I love those days!  The students are totally engaged.  They are laughing.  They are participating.  When the bell rings they walk out smiling, and some will even thank me for the day.  I have students tell me that they look forward to my class.  I have students tell me that they always hated math until this year but now this is there favorite class.

"Laughter is healing to the bones"... 'it is good medicine.'  Many of my students have difficulties in their lives.  I want my class to be a safe, loving, happy place where we will learn, work,  fail,  and improve together.

Laughter is the glue that connects students to the content.

Day 43