The end of this semester is a little bit more bittersweet than others. The overwhelming sense of a relief a teacher feels when class is over is just indescribable. Don’t get me wrong. I love teaching, but there’s a point where I feel I have nothing left to give. This semester is different though because it was the first semester I taught my comedy- and humor-themed research composition class at Wright State. I prepared for this class for months and this fall, my experiment began.
I asked my students to write jokes, research papers on comedians or comedic techniques and journals on academic articles related to humor. I even had a local stand-up comedian come to class to share his expertise. We compared and contrasted Dave Chappelle and Bill Cosby, Jim Carrey and Robin Williams. My students even had the option to do some stand-up at the end of the semester.
And I think I can say that this has been one of the best courses I’ve ever embarked on.
My students were excited to come to class and they were barely absent. Class participation was off the charts. I am used to students just staring at me with frightened looks when I ask a question, and then I try to fill the awkward silence. Sometimes I dance a jig. Not in this class. Sometimes I was not part of the discussion, which was fine with me.
I felt like I was allowed to be funnier than usual, which made me more comfortable to teach. Even though I’ve been teaching for seven years, I still get nervous to walk into a classroom. The theme of humor took away any intimidation felt by me or my students. Stronger connections and bonds were formed because of laughter. One of the best parts of the class is how much I learned. I read papers on slapstick and sarcasm, as well as comedians including Ellen DeGeneres, Mel Brooks, Dave Chappelle and even Fanny Brice. Feeling excited to grade papers was an intensely weird feeling. Some students wrote about humor in relation to their discipline. They wrote on topics including humor and teaching, humor and nursing, humor and disabilities, humor and physiology, and humor and psychology. And that’s not all. One assignment asked my students to interview a comedian or just someone they find funny. I was actually interviewed by a couple students who believe I am hilarious. This was an oddly satisfying experience. Talking about myself and humor was different, but it was actually natural for me.And that was my favorite part of the course. It felt natural. It felt right. After all, I decided to teach this course because my student evaluations proclaimed that I was a good teacher because I made class fun. So while I am sad this semester is ending, I’m also happy. I get to teach the course again next semester with a few minor adjustments. I’m adding a satire exercise and character analysis with The Simpsons and a lot more joke-writing. Laughing and learning go hand-in-hand, and I feel like I’ve done something really special with this class. So for this wanna-be stand-up comedian, the classroom will have to be my stage for now. by Jessica Graue Assistant Managing Editor jgraue@civitasmedia.com This article appeared in the Fairborn Daily Herald.
Jessica Graue is the Assistant Managing Editor for the Xenia Daily Gazette and the Fairborn Daily Herald.
