I had the students create a painting for their parents as a Holiday gift. I decided to make this activity extra fun by adding some silliness to it. I told the students that my friend, who was a famous painter, would be coming to help with the lesson. I told them I would be right back because I had to go get her. I went out in the hallway, threw my hair up goofy, tucked my pants into my socks, and came back into the room. I "pretended" that I was the famous painter that "Ms. Brenny" was talking about. The students laughed a lot and really enjoyed the lesson. However, it did cause many of the students to be rowdy and extra goofy themselves. I pushed through the experience and did have the "famous painter" leave in the middle of the lesson. I knew that this was going to happen before I even did the lesson, but decided to do it anyway. This group of students will push as far as they can. I LOVE adding humor to my lessons but have had a more challenging time doing it this year because this group of kids often become distracted by the fun and lose focus on the main idea. I have had to really retrain myself and my thinking before adding humor into my lessons. Too much humor may cause chaos. However, just the right amount of humor could increase engagement and give me more reasons to love my job.
Kathy, I love this! I think pretending is really fun to do in the classroom. I pretended to be a sub one day from the 1960's to come talk to them about the time period. I had a black wig and all. It was really fun but like you said some kids can't handle it. They get too distracted by the fun that they can't refocus on the whole point of the lesson. We need this just as much as them. They turned out super cute too!
ReplyDeleteHumor is key to survival in education! I'm glad that you brought humor into the lesson and shared it with your students. I think it both makes us seem more human and approachable, and it makes learning more fun for them. Balance is key with all things, but this is a great example!
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