HUMOR IN THE CLASSROOM: TEACHERS’ OPINIONS
This paper deals with humor in the classroom and more specifically it deals with teachers’ views on whether they do or do not use it during their teaching. The goals of the study include the investigation of their motivations and aspirations regarding the use of humor, and highlight its positive and negative aspects in the school environment, as well as the ways through which it is perceived by students. Πhe methodology followed was qualitative research. Twelve semi-structured interviews were conducted with actively working teachers who teach in public primary schools in the region of Attica, Greece. After the collection of the research data, they were recorded and then a thematic analysis was performed on them. The research findings show that humor is perceived by teachers as something positive. Attempting to give a definition for humor, they associate it with pleasure, relaxation, fun, cheerfulness, and intelligence. In addition, they all believe that humor contributes to the existence of team spirit and pleasant atmosphere in the classroom. At the same time, the positions of teachers show that humor has a beneficial effect on the relationship between teachers and students. However, the majority of teachers also point out that it is necessary to have “limits” and to observe rules of conduct when using humor both in the classroom and in the broader school environment. Finally, from their views on the matter, it appears that there are no sections within the elementary school textbooks, whose content is entirely about humor.