Student interaction with teachers is crucial to developing caring relationships. Research suggests that when teachers work to build nurturing learning environments, there are substantial benefits for students, especially those from historically marginalized groups. Tiffini Pruitt-Britton, Anne Garrison Wilhelm, and Jonee Wilson share examples from…

The purpose of this article is to show that health and physical education (HPE) teachers who implement humor in the classroom intentionally create a more relaxed classroom environment, build stronger relationships with students, and engage students in the learning process. Humor used as an instructional strategy eases teacher stress and engages…

Classroom engagement is an excellent indicator of students' learning, grades, achievement, test scores, retention, and graduation. However, classroom engagement is heavily dependent on teacher-student interactions. Teachers' role in engaging students in the lesson learned is critical. Using a free and convenient tool, such as teachers' humor, can…

As colleges moved to online teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic, many instructors found it difficult to maintain student engagement and classroom community in the virtual environment. We developed a semester-long activity for a molecular biology research methodology course where students created, and shared original memes related to course…

In this article, the author shares his fear that students will become accustomed to an educational experience that lacks joy and fun as a result of the changes made to education due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He and his teaching colleagues have noticed that when students are learning virtually, they act much more as receivers of knowledge than…

In a global context where children are increasingly exposed to hostile humour in cartoons like Adventure Time and Spongebob Squarepants, it is not surprising that we see this play out in school settings. More concerning, however, is how teachers can misuse their position of power to wield such forms of humour against students who dare to question…

Snark is a form of verbal aggression that uses humor to diminish a victim. The present study explored predictors of U.S. teachers' use of snark in the classroom. Kindergarten-12th grade teachers (N = 516) self-reported on their social and emotional competencies (i.e., perspective taking, forgiveness, mindfulness, expressive suppression, and…

Due to numerous reforms, modern teaching now asks for the role of the teacher to be redefined as well. One of the teacher's many tasks is to master the competencies which would enable them to encourage and stimulate their learners. In this article, authors report on a research conducted at Preschool Teachers' Training College in Kikinda, which…

While student stress and anxiety are frequently cited as having negative effects on students' academic performance, the role that instructors can play in mitigating these challenges is often underappreciated. We provide summaries of different evidence-based strategies, ranging from changes in instructional strategies to specific classroom…