Humor in the Classroom

How are eyes and schools similar?
They both have pupils.


Why is physiology so hard?
Because the teacher is so sternum!


Why did the student drop out of anatomy lab?
She just couldn’t cut it!


When does a skeleton laugh?
When he finds something humorous. (Or, when something tickles his funny bone.)


One of the best ways to keep the mood light and maintain attention spans in a classroom is by using humor. The unfortunate thing about this is that I am a horrible joke teller! I love jokes, but I have to rely on looking at them and reading them. I guess that makes me kind of like a cold skeleton- a bit of a numb skull! Most of my students say that my sense of humor is dry as a bone, and I actually take that as a sarcastic comment and a complement since bones are not dry, but filled with marrow…

The American Psychological Association and the Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching suggest that humor itself aids in the learning process. Some jokes also serve a practical function. They may help to remember material. Here are a few examples:

What did the hippocampus say in his retirement speech?
Thanks for the memories!  (The hippocampus is a region within the brain that is responsible for memory.)

What do you call a group of neural helper cells that want to form a singing group?
A glia club. (Glial cells are cells with varied functions in the nervous system other than the conductive cells, the neurons.)


What does the brain wear in a rainstorm?
A waterproof cortex jacket. (The cerebral cortex is the outer layer of the cerebrum  which is the largest portion of the brain.)


What did the Hollywood film director say after he finished making a movie about myelin?
That’s a wrap! (Myelin is a wrapping around many neurons.)

What did the stimulus do to the neuron after they got married?
Carried it over the threshold. (In order for a neuron to fire, it has to reach a threshold         voltage.)


This is one of Daniel Pink’s essential skills for the 21^st century. It is a skill that is not one that computers can replicate, at least not yet. Pink believes that what he calls “play” makes the workplace more enjoyable for all. I know that it definitely helps me make it through the day with a smile on my face! ;)

Another way to use jokes is to have a joke of the day. You may even be able to post one to your blog, webpage, Facebook group or to Tweet one. If you hear a great one, don't be afraid to share it with others! My students often make up jokes or seek jokes out on the Internet to share in class. If you find any great Anatomy jokes, post one in the comments below!

Remember- he who laughs last thinks slowest! And if you tell the students this early enough in the year, you’ll get many more laughs…

HAM it up!

Below is a link to many more anatomy jokes. Enjoy!!!!
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Iz9vF05lHiJxOfd5lfcNfy6FgKLWKUV3RbNN7DyGsXc/edit

Using Case Studies for Assessment and Engagement

With the onset of the information generation, there is a more compelling need today to design engaging work. Students have the option to delete texts or e-mails that do not interest them, discarding what they do not find pertinent to their own lives. Students only learn from work they do, and they will do engaging work where they see a clear and compelling goal that is linked to a specific product of personal interest and value to them. They will learn and retain the material better, possibly transfer it to new contexts and share it with people who are important to them.

As many students in Anatomy and Physiology have aspirations of being medical professionals, case studies are a wonderful way to explore content in a meaningful way. These lessons strike the emotions of many, and it drives them to want to help. In one model, students are allowed to work in groups and select a particular case that they will later share with the class. In another model, the students work in small groups on a segmented case study to decide which tests they need to perform on the patient, get the results, and continue with the diagnosis. They enjoy acting like diagnosticians, and it gives them the freedom to research as they wish. Case studies employ many of the design qualities for engaging instruction- affiliation, working with peers and others; novelty and variety, using a wide range of media; choice- what they learn and how they learn it; authenticity- linking learning to their own interests.

It is easy to infuse technology into case studies. Employing search engines to research the disorders is very useful to the students. However, many of the online case studies have answer keys available online as well. To solve that problem, students can be given links to websites they should use are resources or to present them in a WebQuest format. Another way to integrate technology is by using a clicker case study. The National Center for Case Study Teaching database offers many of these. If you are a member of the American Anatomical Association or the Human Anatomy and Physiology Society, they also have a database of activities, including clicker case studies. In this type of case study, students are asked periodic questions in a segmented case study. The use of a TweetDeck for this would allow open responses here. Student groups could also be assigned case studies to discuss through blogging, and that may also be used as out of class assignments.

Case studies allow students to use higher level thinking skills. They have to truly understand what they are learning to be successful in answering the accompanying questions. This is much better gauge of understanding than is a paper and pencil, multiple choice or fill in the blank test. Students can easily find the answers to most of those questions within seconds simply by typing the question into a search engine. Assessment is more valuable when students are asked to synthesize all that they have learned and apply it to a real world situation.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I still use “standard” assessments in my class as well. There is definitely some basic information that students should be expected to know. Nobody would have confidence in a doctor who had to look everything up on his iPhone. There just needs to be a balance of each type to allow students with different strengths to succeed in the classroom. Some students are great memorizers, but that does not mean that they understand the concepts. Some students see the big picture, but can’t remember each little detail. By using case studies for assessment, the synthesizers are allowed to shine and the fact oriented can strengthen the details that they memorize.

Several case study sites are linked on the sidebar to the right. The National Center for Case Study Teaching also has many case studies in areas other than Anatomy and Physiology. Consider incorporating them into your class as well!

http://sciencecases.lib.buffalo.edu/cs/collection/results.asp?search=anatomy+and+physiology&subject_headings=&educational_level=&type_methods=&topical_areas=&x=0&y=0

Twitteriffic!

Twitter makes networking with other professionals or your students very easy. In generating my Twitter lists, I was looking for active tweeters who had similar interests. I searched the keywords that I was most interested in for my research- “anatomy and physiology”, “authentic assessment”, “e-portfolios”, “web 2.0”, and “assessment”. When I found people who looked interesting to me, I looked at their home pages to see how many followers they had, how often they tweeted, if they were tweeting about anything I wanted to read, and if they responded to other tweets. I used their lists of followers and people they were following to search contacts as well. I also looked at the lists from our school and our district’s technology directors.

There were two individuals in particular whose interests were most similar to mine, as they both taught Anatomy and were interested in technological tools. These were @daveandcori and @chrisludwig. Several others tweeted frequent useful links to technology integration. These were @rmbyrne, @krains, @allinlearning, @JudyArtz and @web20classroom. One artist, @HumanAnatomyArt, tweeted links to her blog and new works of anatomical art, showing a creative use of anatomy in a non-health related field. Howard Hughes Medical Institute, @HHMINEWS, offers updates and information to educators in the field of medical research.

Please feel free to view/use my Twitter list at https://twitter.com/#!/melisuesoxrox/lists to create contacts of your own and to learn more about this blog’s topic areas. I hope that you will find some valuable resources!

After generating a Twitter list to gain contacts and resources for this blog, I was disappointed to see how few Anatomy and Physiology links there were to actual teachers and professors of the subject. The vast majority of tweets on the subject were from complaining students. I was disheartened while sifting through all of the tweets from students who were bored, confused, or overwhelmed by their Anatomy and Physiology classes, but these are all great reasons for creating a network of professionals to improve our levels of student engagement, understanding, and communication.

Twitter may be used in the classroom in a much more constructive manner by students than registering their opinions of the class while the teacher is lecturing. It fosters a quick interaction where many students can simultaneously participate in discussions through a Tweetdeck (grid of tweets) that can be displayed on a screen in the front of the room. It allows students to respond freely without falling fear to shyness. It makes them synthesize their information to a few most important words. This is a good alternative to using clickers for a review or formative assessment activity, as it offers the freedom to use open responses rather than being limited to a single letter response.

With the generation of Twitter lists, students could continue any discussions outside of the class, as the teacher will have linked them together and the students could subscribe to the list for their class. Outside of class, the teacher can still monitor or participate in the discussion. The students can contact one another if they have questions or thoughts about homework and the teacher may also be able to respond.

Using Twitter is much more feasible in a high school or college classroom where many students have their own smartphones or laptops. This way, the number of school computers needed would be less and students might be put in small groups or pairs based on the availability of these technologies. Some schools may block Twitter in the school, but many are allowing it, as they see its merits and use it as a quick and easy way to communicate to teachers, students, and parents.

Twitter is also useful for teachers to remind their students of homework assignments or help students with homework assignments. If students are having difficulty with a topic, the teacher may tweet links to sites that may be of help to them. The dependent factor here is that students have access to a device that goes online.

For more ideas on how to use Twitter in the classroom, try some I have bookmarked at http://www.delicious.com/stacks/view/QFWJYu

If you have any great stories or suggestions of how to use Twitter in the classroom or great links to share, I’d love to hear them!