Make learning fun, not funny

I am always comical when delivering speeches, doing reports, and even when teaching.  Every time I am on the platform, my listeners are always laughing as I crack jokes, and I like it. I usually crack jokes during my reports and teaching demonstrations because I think it’s the best way to catch my listeners’ attention. However, after I did my report on a professional education course, my teacher told me that my listeners were not laughing because of my joke. Rather, they laugh because of the manner I present the joke. In other words, they are not laughing because of the joke; they are laughing at me.

            My teacher suggested that during reports, especially during a graded teaching demonstration, I must be serious because my grade is at stake. Worse, the learning of my students is at stake. My teacher also said that the discussion was already good, but a joke cracked in the middle of the discussion seemed to be distracting the students in the learning process. The teaching profession must be taken seriously.

            Being a serious teacher does not really mean that you will not make your topic fun and interesting. It is a skill that a teacher must master in order for his/her lesson to be fun. Students, if they know that you are a good and skilled teacher will not laugh at you when you crack a joke. Rather, they will laugh because they find it interesting, and that they understood your joke, which is of course, related to the lesson of the day.

            As a 21^st century teacher, I must not only consider the learning environment and the learning styles of my students. I must also consider myself as a teacher – the manner I deliver my lesson, and my teaching pedagogies that will make the students understand the lessons I teach. I must deliver and discuss the subject matter in a manner which the students will not make fun of me. I should be a good and skillful teacher, so that the students will find my lesson interesting and amusing. In this way, I will be able to make the learning process fun, and not funny.