Teaching may be for the birds, but many educator birds have been abandoning the field of late for downier nests. Several species still remain, including the crown-tufted superintendent bird, the red-throated assistant superintendent bird, the crested fly-catcher principal bird, the exotic scenery bird, the roadrunner psychologist bird, and the…

American literature is full of stories, humorous and serious, concerning physically and mentally handicapped characters. Unfortunately, not all portrayals of the disabled in literature are kind, especially in the American comic tradition. (DB)

Discusses potential benefits of humor when it is integrated with guided imagery to alleviate stress. Indroduces the Humorous Imagery Situation Technique, a therapeutic method of systematically using humor for stress management which produces a method for the client to use humor to reflect on major problem areas. Includes a case example which…

Argues that humor is an international language and phenomenon that retains, in the transposition, its own subtle boundaries, and that the essential duality at its core will continue to require familiarity with the contours and mixed reality of the chosen homeground. (RAE)

This article provides a rationale for using humor to increase creativity in gifted students and suggests a variety of activities which focus on humor. (DB)

Discusses the benefits of using humor in the workplace. Offers guidelines for using humor at work, and gives examples of effective ways to use it. (SR)

Assistant vice president for academic personnel at public university took notes on incidents that caused participants to laugh during meetings of academic managers between 1988 and 1993. Recorded percentages of males and females in attendance, who conducted meeting, and who initiated laughter. Found differences in how men and women used humor to…

Notes that caregivers of the dying would do well to consider the prescriptive power of humor when confronting the challenges of healthy care for the terminally ill. Addresses laughter as the best medicine not only for the dying person but also for family and principal caregivers. Includes examples of therapeutic use of humor with the terminally…

Debunks five myths about using humor in training: (1) the subject is too serious; (2) "I'm not funny"; (3) someone will be offended; (4) it won't help; and (5) it is distracting. Suggests that humor builds rapport, encourages creativity, makes learners feel safe, reduces fatigue, and activates long-term memory. (JOW)

Presents an interview with Dianne Monson, 1994 winner of the International Reading Association's Arbuthnot Award, a woman of many talents and enthusiasms, all of which are apparent in the way she approaches both teaching and children's books. Discusses her career as a reader, a critic, and a teacher of children's literature. (SG)

Faced every day with the prospect of getting--and holding--the attention of a room full of students, that ever-resourceful professional known as a teacher resorts to the use of a number of tools and tactics. Among these may be humor. This article presents both examples of the use of humor in the classroom, and resources for further exploration…

Four skits depicting the difficulties faced by famous men and women in science for seeking fund for their research are described. It is a spoof on the History of Science.

Like their counterparts elsewhere, Australian children favour humorous novels; comedic writers consistently dominate the preteen and early teen fiction market in Australia. Regardless of its popularity, however, in comparison to more serious writing, humorous literature has received little critical attention. Of the studies aimed at this area,…

The Russian-educated author describes active-learning classroom activities that she created and implemented during her first experience teaching lower- and upper-level undergraduate mathematics courses in the United States. The article begins with a discussion of how the author incorporated humorous stories and memo-pictures into the classroom.…

This project posits that incorporating political humor into the classroom can have a positive effect on learning in higher education. Specifically, we present preliminary findings from a quasi-experiment in which a humorous, "mock" textbook titled America (The Book) (Stewart, Karlin, and Javerbaum 2004) was incorporated into Introduction to…