Comedian, motivational speaker and magician Brad Montgomery has three children, ages 4, 7 and 8. My own kids are 6 and twins aged 3. All we have to do is tell each other what the kids did and we have plenty to laugh about.

The same thing happens with teachers. Just write down the funny things that happen throughout the year.

You can always tell the sign of a healthy school if you go into a teachers’ lounge at lunchtime and the teachers are laughing.

When people say: “Brad, we need our school to be more fun”, the first step is to decide that it’s OK for that to happen. I have seen people who are the most dour, sour, uptight people in the world and you can tell they are not funny. In fact, they are the opposite of funny. Funny is not allowed. Some teachers are like that.

Everything will follow if you not only allow yourself to be funny, but you allow others to be funny. How do you do it? Just laugh yourself. The next time something crazy happens in your classroom - laugh. Everyone else will see that, and they will realise you have and cherish a sense of humor. With your laugh, you are giving permission to share humor and have fun in the classroom.

How can kids be learning in the classroom if you are playing around? In the hands of a master teacher, laughter and humor can create unforgettable experiences. I think to be an amazing teacher you have to use humor. When a kid comes back 2-3 years later and he or she says: “You know, you really were teaching us” — wow! What a thrill! They actually get it.

Idea!
Wouldn’t it be cool to set up a notebook in the teachers’ lounge and the job for every teacher is to collect the funniest things that happen during the day.

Listen to my podcast on permission to laugh

(File size is 2.1 MB) (Show length 9 minutes)

Laughing is good for us. Those little neurons open up and our bodies react in positive ways. There are even people who study the science of laughter.

Magician, comedian and motivational speaker Brad Montgomery says that no matter what our job is, we could all do with an injection of humor in our day-to-day activities. This applies particularly to teachers - one of the hardest jobs on the planet.

In Brad’s experience, there are people who study humor techniques and those who are funny in front of groups professionally. Those who study what humor does to the body — the science of laughter — have long and detailed analyses of how laughter and smiling make physical changes in our bodies. Yes! There is hard science supporting this nebulous thing.

But really, humor just feels good. Somehow those scientists just need to sit down and laugh. People who are in front of groups every day, like teachers, need to laugh. And teachers who know how to get their students laughing are creating a wonderful learning environment that keeps them coming back for more.

Future podcasts will feature Brad Montgomery’s tips and suggestions to help teachers inject a little humor in their classrooms, as they convey all that really important information to their students.

And for more information about Brad Montgomery take a look at www.bradmontgomery.com.

Listen to my podcast on using humor to teach

(File size is 1.6 MB) (Show length 6 minutes 38 seconds)