Getting a connection with a young person is imperative if you want to have any kind of influence in their life. Humor is a great way to keep things light while still dealing with real issues.
In my classroom the success of a student is directly related to how well I can connect to them. It is especially important for students who feel detached from education and from the education system. If I can use humor to break through the walls they have put up, I can usually get the connection needed for their success.
When you are teaching, in a classroom or just in life, you are asking kids to change the way they think, do things they've never done before, and push their boundaries. If that gets too intense, they often just give up. Humor helps lighten things up and make people happier (and happy people are much easier to teach than grumpy, negative people).
I use humor when I'm tired of asking a student to do the same thing a hundred times. Asking them in a humorous way makes them listen because it's not the same old thing they've been tuning out forever. It keeps me from having to be a nag and gets the whole class involved in a sort of positive peer pressure.
Humor also combats fear. You have to be willing to laugh at yourself and let them see that you make mistakes and that it doesn't stop you from moving on. It combats fear (of failure, looking dumb, making mistakes, being laughed at, etc) and it is comforting to know that other people aren't going to take every little thing too seriously.
For more humor resources on social issues click here.
Rebekah Engle is a teacher in an alternative high school. She is very involved in her community and writes a local blog called Look What's Happening in Salem.
Friday, May 29, 2009
3 Reasons Kids Abuse Drugs and Alcohol
There are many factors that affect the use of drugs and alcohol among teens in today's society. In my observation, there are three main things that negatively impact a young person's decisions regarding drugs and alcohol.
1. Their friends are doing it.
And we're not just talking peer pressure here. Pressure is a factor, but even more important is the fact that teens will have access to drugs and alcohol through their friends. The other issue is that it's not much fun to hang out with a group of friends who are drunk or high if you are not in the same altered state. It's a subtle, but powerful, form of peer pressure.
2. Their parents or family are doing it.
If parents drink or do drugs, the likelihood is that the children will have the opportunity to access drugs and alcohol. Children are likely to emulate their parents and if they see them drinking or smoking pot (even in moderation) they will often pick up the same habits.
Unfortunately, kids don't always have the maturity to see that their parents practice moderation. When the child picks up the habit, it can have very bad results.
3. They don't have other options
Most kids actually do have other options, but it's very hard to see them if the bad choices are easily accessible. If drugs and alcohol are the options your friends and family are choosing, it's pretty hard to veer off that path. If options likes sports or other activities are available, kids will often to choose to do something productive. If all their friends are participating in paintball tournaments, the likelihood is that the teen will choose to do paintball activities rather than sit around drinking or doing drugs by themselves.
Of course, once an addiction has been started, it is much more difficult to make good choices. The trick is to keep kids active and help them find friends and activities that don't give them access to drugs or alcohol. And I realize that can be a real trick sometimes. But I think it's worth working towards if it means we can keep kids clean and sober.
For more good influences and tools for keeping kids clean and sober, check out this link.
Rebekah Engle is a teacher in an alternative high school. She is very involved in her community and writes a local blog called Look What's Happening in Salem.
1. Their friends are doing it.
And we're not just talking peer pressure here. Pressure is a factor, but even more important is the fact that teens will have access to drugs and alcohol through their friends. The other issue is that it's not much fun to hang out with a group of friends who are drunk or high if you are not in the same altered state. It's a subtle, but powerful, form of peer pressure.
2. Their parents or family are doing it.
If parents drink or do drugs, the likelihood is that the children will have the opportunity to access drugs and alcohol. Children are likely to emulate their parents and if they see them drinking or smoking pot (even in moderation) they will often pick up the same habits.
Unfortunately, kids don't always have the maturity to see that their parents practice moderation. When the child picks up the habit, it can have very bad results.
3. They don't have other options
Most kids actually do have other options, but it's very hard to see them if the bad choices are easily accessible. If drugs and alcohol are the options your friends and family are choosing, it's pretty hard to veer off that path. If options likes sports or other activities are available, kids will often to choose to do something productive. If all their friends are participating in paintball tournaments, the likelihood is that the teen will choose to do paintball activities rather than sit around drinking or doing drugs by themselves.
Of course, once an addiction has been started, it is much more difficult to make good choices. The trick is to keep kids active and help them find friends and activities that don't give them access to drugs or alcohol. And I realize that can be a real trick sometimes. But I think it's worth working towards if it means we can keep kids clean and sober.
For more good influences and tools for keeping kids clean and sober, check out this link.
Rebekah Engle is a teacher in an alternative high school. She is very involved in her community and writes a local blog called Look What's Happening in Salem.
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