SENSE OF HUMOR: A MUCH- NEEDED QUALITY OF A TEACHER/WORKER

Contributed by: Elvira A. Cruz – Administrative Assistant III, Mariveles National High School (Cabcaben)

According to the Webster Dictionary, humor is synonymous to wit, fun, antics, jokes and laughter. This is a very much-needed quality of a teacher, or else the classroom will be boring, tedious, uninteresting and dreary. However, a teacher should be cautious in employing humor in his or her antics, since humor can be cruel and insulting, oftentimes offensive though it can also be kind and helpful. The teacher can employ humor to drive home a point or just to break the monotony or tension. Sometimes teachers use humor to point out people’s fault and always people benefit from it.

When employing humor, the teacher must eliminate judgmental attitudes.. Why try to remove a speck of dust from someone’s eye when you yourself have a plank in your own eye?

Naturally, as humans we all have that judgmental attitude in our system, but of course it can be totally eliminated. For teachers why make a jest at the expense of someone when you can be kind and helpful to your student?

All humans possess the gift of humor and the capacity to laugh, plus of course the power of speech, but be sure to use humor wisely. Teachers must avoid jokes that could hurt, so that when you crack jokes, what you say must be helpful and useful to students. Do not jest at the expense of a student; instead a teacher must learn to incorporate positive humor in a talk among co-workers, speeches, conversations and other speaking sessions.

Try to make humor work for you but not at the expense of others. You can always drive home a point through humor. Telling stories in the class is a very good strategy to make the students happy. Make the telling humorous, but see to it that the students understand the story, and not focused on the joke and humor.

As a teacher, how can you develop this? First always see the funny side of every annoying situation you may encounter. Every annoying situation has a funny side. Second, be positive at all times. Fill your thoughts with positive things. Expect pleasant surprises to come and all surprises will truly come. You cannot be happy without thinking that you are really and truly happy. Third, pass on the happy feelings you have. If you want to say a mean word to someone, curb that tongue. Besides making yourself feel good, you also make another human being feel better because of the word of cheer you pass on. Fourth, surround yourself with all things that are good.

As a teacher, learn to live with all kinds of co-workers and students. The best weapon in all kinds of situation is a good sense of humor.

Reference:

W.C Tapalla.The Gift of Humor. Woman’s Home Companion. (1998)