Innovative Teaching: Bridging Comedy Club Principles with Classroom Learning
Explore the novel approach of applying Comedy Club principles to the classroom setting as advocated by Dr. Whitny Braun. Discover how creating a comfortable environment, encouraging uncomfortable conversations, and enhancing student engagement can revolutionize traditional teaching methods.
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THE CLASSROOM & THE COMEDY CLUB: WHERE THE PRINCIPLES OF THE COMEDY CLUB APPLY TO THE CLASSROOM WHITNY BRAUN, PHD, MPH SCHOOL OF RELIGION
WHERE DO YOU LEARN TO TEACH? The vast majority of university professors have never taken a formal course in how to teach and the vast majority of doctoral students never train to teach. We are taught to master or discipline, hone our research skills, craft arguments, prove theorems, etc So where do we learn how to teach when we get called up to the classroom?
SIMILARITIES BETWEEN A COMEDY CLUB & A CLASSROOM One person stands in front of an audience The audience is paying for the lone person on the stage to intellectually stimulate them The audience is either intellectually or cognitively compromised in some manner. Let me explain
COMEDY IS LIKE A MATH PROOF. YOU POSIT AN ABSURD PREMISE AND THEN PROVE IT. Jerry Seinfeld
RULES OF THE COMEDY CLUB Make people comfortable you can make them uncomfortable. Dim the lights Warm up the room Seat people in close proximity to one another to trigger the laughter contagion Establish a comfortable rapport
WHITNYS RULES FOR THE CLASSROOM Make students comfortable you can make them uncomfortable. Dim the lights Common wisdom suggests a brightly lit classroom Warm up the room Most classrooms are kept at 68 to 72 degrees warm it up or make the students sit closer to together Establish a comfortable rapport
ITS NOT A GOOD CLASS IF YOU HAVEN T HAD AT LEAST ONE UNCOMFORTABLE CONVERSATION. Whitny Braun
UNCOMFORTABLE CONVERSATIONS Make students feel comfortable enough to get uncomfortable. The idea for Uncomfortable Conversations began in 2014 when I was tasked with hosting a black-tie gala for an interfaith crowd in Claremont. I invited a known person of faith and a known atheist from Hollywood and asked them a series of series to stimulate conversation on a topic they weren t quite comfortable discussing: religion and ethics.
COMFORTABLE QUESTIONS Oreos or Chips Ahoy? Pie or cake? Original sparkling cider Martinelli s or the flavored ones? What s you favorite movie and why? What s the funniest joke you ve ever heard? Would you rather have to go through secondary TSA inspection every time you fly for the rest of your life or have to sit next to a crying baby on every flight you take for the rest of your life?
UNCOMFORTABLE QUESTIONS What s the single best lie you ve ever told? Would you rather die suddenly, with no advanced warning or have it be an extended process that knew was coming and could plan out over months? What s one thing you must do before you die? Would you feel comfortable if after your death your family used your DNA/sperm/eggs to create a child and make you a parent posthumously?
COGNITIVE PATHWAY Comfort -> Laughter -> Discomfort -> Laughter -> Memory Retention
THE SCIENTIFIC VALUE OF LAUGHTER Dr. Gurinder Singh Bains wrote in his 2014 dissertation, Humor s Effect on Short-Term Memory in Older Adults: An Innovative Wellness Paradigm : the detrimental effects of stress can impair the ability to learn and sustain memory. Humor and the associated mirthful laughter can reduce stress by decreasing the hormone cortisol. Chronic release of cortisol can damage hippocampal neurons leading to impairment of learning and memory.
COGNITIVE PATHWAY Comfort -> Laughter -> Discomfort -> Laughter -> Memory Retention Laughter lowers cortisol levels and increases memory retention. If you can make them laugh in class they are less likely to forget
COMEDY IS LIKE A MATH PROOF. YOU POSIT AN ABSURD PREMISE AND THEN PROVE IT. Jerry Seinfeld
THERAPHOSA BLONDI THE GOLIATH BIRDEATING SPIDER
RULES ARE FOR THE UNIMAGINATIVE Dr. Ernest Braun
TEXT FINAL THOUGHTS 1. Turn down the lights...put the spotlight on yourself and not on the students until they are ready. 2. Make them laugh...lecture as though you are telling a funny story that makes them uncomfortable enough to chuckle. 3. Hit a nerve...when you have made them comfortable enough to get uncomfortable, then engage them with the information you want them to learn and make them question what they think.
QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, CONCERNS
