Students Need to Laugh - The Smarty-Pants Scientists Said So!!

Today the kids wore hats. Not just any hats, but bejeweled crowns, sparkly joker hats with bells, and giant blue top hats. They also wore glitter necklaces and one chose to answer all questions while speaking into a sparkly microphone.

Please don't make the tragic error of assuming that these antics had anything at all to do with curriculum because they most certainly did not! Instead, they had everything to do with laughter and fun. Research has consistently shown time and again just how deeply stress interrupts the learning process. In a nutshell, brain mapping has revealed that the hormones released from stress actually act as barriers to the parts of the brain that deal with higher cognitive functions making it almost impossible to learn at deeper levels. Also, when students are experiencing joy, dopamine and acetylcholinem (say that 5 times fast) are released in their brains. These have a positive effect on memory and even help to improve attention and focus. To me laughter=decreased stress and increased joy!

One particularly interesting study found that students were more likely to retain information presented in a lecture that included jokes - as long as the jokes did not take center stage. I love that science backs up something that so many educators already know in their bones. Students absolutely want to be able to find the fun in their day, but they actually want to learn as well.

I also believe that laughter provides us with the best way to deal with most of a classroom's management and discipline issues. The other day a student just simply would not get to work. Every time I looked at him he was doodling, staring at the ceiling, bothering the student next to him, or sorting through endless piles of paper. Instead of asking him - again - to get to work, I walked over to his desk and fell prostrate to the floor. I proceeded to beg him, amid gasping sobs, to begin working because his laziness was literally killing me. After about a second of stunned silence, the class roared with laughter...and lazy-bones got to work. Of course their are times that you will just have to bust out your "I - ain't -playin' - with - you - child" voice, but I am convinced that is only necessary on the rarest of occasions. If a kid thinks your mad, he/she will begin to experience stress, and we already know what that leads to.

I would like to say that the main reason I let kids wear a pair of fairy wings while writing an essay is because neuroscience tells me it is a good idea. I'd like to make it seem like that is what informed my deep thoughts about the value of ribbons and glitter. But, alas, that is a lie. Truthfully, it just makes me laugh to see a linebacker sized teenager furiously typing in a pair of fairy wings. Maybe it is selfishness on some level, but my day is just so much better if I have a handful of tears-in-the-eyes laugh sessions with my kids. I wonder how many educators can say that they have these each day?

If you want to read more about some of the science I reference check out the article here or here.

I have also attached a list of my favorite strategies for planning - that's right, planning - for laughter in the classroom!

And finally, I think it is most appropriate to end with a joke.