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Teaching—What a Joke!

 

Maintaining a Sense of Humor in the Learning Process ®

People who display a sense of humor arc healthier,
more fun to be around, and live longer than those who
do not. It is casy for an educator caught up in the
seriousness of the job to accidentally create a humorless
environment. Many of us believe that a humorless
environment is a humanless environment. Smiling or
laughing, especially at one’s own folly, is a uniquely
human characteristic.

| propose that not only can learning be more fun
with the use of humor, but that learning is actually
enhanced. Encouraging students to display their sense
of humor is important. Humor, being creative in
nature, tends to be left-brained—whereas much subject
matter, especially in business, mathematics, and
science, tends to be right-brained. Research has shown
that learning is enhanced when left- and right-brained
activities are co-mingled. It appears that what one jokes
about, one tends to remember! For example, students
should be encouraged to tell funny stories that are
related to the subject at hand.

l only know two jokes about accounting —a particu-
larly humorless discipline. One is that in determining,
the value to place on your inventory, you may use the
LIFO (last-in first-out method), FIFO (first-in, first-out
method) or FISH (first-in still-there method). Buyers
may not particularly like this joke! The other is about
the accountant who looked in his bottom drawer a half
dozen times a day for 25 years. After he retired his
tcllow employees rushed to the drawer, which he
always kept locked, curiously waiting to see what he
looked at so frequently. They got the key, opened the
drawer, and on the bottom of the empty drawer was
taped a sign which read “Debits left, Credits right.”

This joke should be told at an appropriate time.
Students who have been introduced to basic debit/
credit theory and are struggling with the concept of the
meaning of the words will benefit from this joke and
will probably always remember “debit left, credit
right.”

It is important to make it all right to make a mis-
take—to have little failures—in a classroom setting. If
students can feel comfortable laughing at their own
shortcomings, the whole atmosphere can improve. A
friendly smile and an atmosphere where a student can
“simply try again” is an improvement over a punitive
environment based on fear or threats.

Why we continue to struggle to teach and students
continue to struggle to learn is a question we ask
ourselves from time to time. It reminds me of the joke
about the guy who went to the psychiatrist and said
that he had a brother who thinks he is a chicken. The
psychiatrist said to bring him in right away. The guy
said, “Well, | would, but we need the eges.”

Speaking of eggs, did you hear about the chicken
who....

Jerry W. Lancio, Chairman, Applied Business
For further information, contact the author at Daytona

Beach Community College, Box 1111, Daytona Beach,
FL 32015.

 

 

 

Suanne D. Roueche, Editor
ee aera Lacan

September 29, 1989, Vol. XI, No. 21

Tre University of Texas at Austin, 1989
einer dup ication is permitted by MEMBER
situtons for tneir own personnel

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INNOVATION ABSTRACTS ts a publication of the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development (NISOD),

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