The Laughing Classroom: Everyone's Guide to Teaching with Humor and Play

by Diana Loomans, Karen Kolberg, Martha Weston (Illustrations)

What distinguishes a boring classroom from a learning classroom? Laughter. This book helps move teachers from a “limiting” teaching style to a “laughing” style that inspires creativity and helps students learn faster and better. Cowritten by a former educator and the founder of a comedy improvisation company, The Laughing Classroom helps teachers — and parents — make learning fun while instilling self-esteem, solid work habits, and the joy of learning in children. Suggested activities involve silly songs, special dress days, vocabulary-building, observation, communication, social skills, and self-expression. The book gives teachers 50 ways to say “you did OK,” 15 play breaks, and humorous homework assignments to make the task fun. This edition includes a new introduction by the authors and a foreword by veteran comedian Steve Allen.

Genres: Education, Teaching, Humor, Nonfiction

240 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1993

Reviews

[Tara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book so much that I bought it for a teacher friend. I will also keep it even though I don't teach in a classroom anymore. I did use some of the ideas (or variations of them) while teaching middle school and the effect was amazing. If you teach children, this book is for you!

[John Blake · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite teacher resource books. Sometimes a good laugh makes the difference between a sane and insane day.

[Silvia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is so full of wonderful ideas for creating a safe and happy learning environment and to make learning fun. I absolutely loved everything about this book!

[Cynthia Sherman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting ideas for use in the classroom.

[Dawn · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was more of a cutsey book to be entertained by. It made me laugh about things but didn't really provide many specific classroom-related ideas... Many of the examples that were there were for K-12 with a heavy emphasis on high school classrooms so they weren't relevant for me. I was also not overly impressed with the ideas given.

[Anne]

Hahahahaha!

[Monique]

I've read this before, and it does have some fun ideas. I put it aside this time because I had other books I wanted to read before I finished this one.

[Tracey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although this book had good ideas, it really didn't feel like anything new.

[Ruth · Rating 1 out of 5]

Most of the ideas could not be scaled down for homeschooling.