Have More Fun!

Four ways for you to have more fun in your life, classroom, school, and relationships.

As humans, and especially as educators, we tend to take ourselves very seriously. Educators have a lot to do and not a lot of time to accomplish it all. However, research in the fields of positive psychology and play have proven that there are techniques you can learn to reduce anxiety and stress and feel more connected to yourself and your students instantly. In this section, I’ll dig right in to four ways for you to have more fun in your life, classroom, school, and relationships. All these activities can be adapted for in-person or virtual use and can even be done with your own family.

Positive Mindset

Researchers have found that positive classroom environments help foster stronger learning and student relationships. To create a positive environment, teachers must build a classroom culture in which students feel safe, supported, and are able to share their ideas—which is where one of my favorite improv comedy exercises comes in.

“Yes, and . . . ” is considered to be the first rule of improv. It’s called a rule because it’s needed to make any improv scene or game work. The premise is that you accept whatever anyone says to be true and you add to it.

What I love about “Yes, and . . . ” is that it can also be applied to your life, classroom, and school. When you focus on creating a learning environment based on “Yes, and . . . ,” you are inviting students to try new things, to accept what others are experiencing as their truths, and to practice empathy and active listening. Also, by saying, “Yes, and . . . ,” you open yourself up to positivity. With a “Yes, and . . . ” mindset, you’ll find you listen more, look for the positive in situations more, and feel more connected to those around you. When you express openness, you’ll find it’s easier to build trust in your classroom or learning space.

I’ve used this activity, philosophy, and rule countless times while working with educators.

My most powerful experience was when I was working with a group of assistant principals in a district, and I was supposed to coach them around their data. Right before my session, they had an active shooter training. As you know, those trainings can be very intense and even traumatic triggers for people. Because my time was short, I knew I needed to change the energy in the room, so before I began presenting, we played “Yes, and . . . .” The exercise not only helped refocus our attention, but it also made people laugh, released some stress, and made the group more open to learning. “Yes, and . . . ” really works!

Yes, and . . .

“Yes, and . . .” can be practiced with a group of people, one other person, virtually, or in real life. When you start using it with your students, you might find it’s helpful to pick a conversation topic. The rules are simple: You just have to say, “Yes, and . . . .”

Here’s an example scenario:

You pick a topic, say, “school,”and the first student to speak says, “I’m worried about going back to school.”

The second person must respond starting with, “Yes, and . . . .”
“Yes, and . . . I’m worried about going back, too.”
Then the first person has to say, “Yes, and . . . .”
“Yes, and . . . maybe we could talk about it more together.”
And then both students say, “Yes!”

There are lots of versions of this, and the MAIN point is to say, “Yes,” and then add something. Try it!

You will find that once you start using “Yes, and . . . ,” it affects all areas of your life. You’ll notice that you’re adding things instead of saying “but” and that your brain is primed for positivity. Saying, “Yes” more opens us up to more positive experiences. Plus, it’s fun!

Laughter

Picture someone laughing—seriously laughing at something. What does their body look like? What does their face look like? How are you feeling just picturing that person laughing? Yes, laughter is contagious!

The science of laughter is the subject of lots of contemporary research—though, there’s still plenty of research to do. Laughter has been proven to decrease stress and increase endorphins (i.e., feel-good hormones). Early research has also found that laughter increases social bonds among strangers. In their 2017 article “When Sharing a Laugh Means Sharing More: Testing the Role of Shared Laughter on Short-Term Interpersonal Consequences,” researchers Laura Kurtz and Sara Algoe found that when study participants reported more shared laughter (compared to unshared laughter), they experienced positive emotions toward each other and less negative emotions during shared interactions. Participants who shared laughter also stated that they saw their fellow participants as similar to themselves, which increased their connection with one another.

Laughter can also be a very powerful tool to break up learning and open our brains to want to learn more. I know from my own experience that this is true. When I was a senior in high school taking AP Calculus, the content was very rigorous and took a lot of focused brain power to understand. My teacher knew that, and she was a master at incorporating laughter and movement into her instruction. For one tricky concept, she had us stand up and act out “sine, cosine, tangent” with movement and sound. Not only did it break up the taxing work, but it also made lessons fun and memorable. I still remember what I learned that day.

Laughter can serve as a classroom tool that you can use to help students (and you) feel safer, increase positive hormones that lead to a willingness to learn, and calm the overactive brains of students who’ve experienced trauma (Khajuria, 2018). Many educators, presenters, actors, and speakers have learned how to use humor to help people lean in, learn, and be more engaged.

Here are a few ways to include more laughter in your life and classroom.

Tell a Joke: Ask your students and staff to send you their favorite jokes, then start each meeting or class with one of them!

Laughter Diaries: Have students create “laughter diaries.” For one week, ask them to record things that made them laugh. Then you can have fun on a Friday sharing some funny experiences. You can also have “funny things that happened” sharing events throughout the year.

Silly Smile: Have a smile contest (virtually or socially distanced). In this activity, students smile at one another and the first person to laugh wins . . . or is out and the remaining players must keep smiling without laughing. You get to choose the rules. Choose whatever helps to keep laughter alive!

Video Freeze: This is a game you can play if you are teaching or working remotely. Everyone has seen someone’s camera “freeze” on video chat. (It’s never a pretty picture. Callers end up looking up the unfortunate person’s nose until their computer unfreezes.) The goal of this game is to have everyone make their best “freeze face” and hold it for five seconds. The last person to laugh, wins!

Singing

As we have discussed, we are neurobiologically wired for connection, and we need to feed our social brain—especially when we are isolated. Singing can help with that. Not only can singing produce feel-good hormones, it also can break up your day and help you laugh and feel more connected. (Seeing a theme?)

Singing has been connecting humans to one another since the beginning of time! One study published in the Royal Society Scientific Journal (Pearce, Launay, & Dunbar, 2015) found that when strangers sing together, it can quickly facilitate social cohesion. This is probably why we sing in church, school, and even at sporting events. Research has also found that singing can help us connect to our emotions and release pent-up feelings (Pearce et al., 2015).

One of the most interesting phenomena to come out of business and school shutdowns due to COVID-19 was how people started using music, especially song, to connect and bond with one another, even when they could not be together in person. Sing-along groups popped up on social media and it seemed like educators started to share more singing videos online. One educator made a fun video where she started to sing, but then screamed for a while. Educators continue to post creative videos making up their own words to songs, and even district leaders are doing this now, too!

Here are some ways you can include singing into your daily routine (if you don’t already).

Just Sing: Pick your favorite song right now, and sing a few lines of it! How do you feel?

Staff Sing Along: In the next staff meeting, even if it’s virtual, start by asking everyone to sing a few lines of a popular song of your choice.

Word Song: As an icebreaker for a group of students or staff, pick a word—“moon,” for example. Then ask the group members to work together to come up with as many songs as they can with the word “moon” in it.

Song Mix-Up: This is a game I play a lot! The premise? You ask students to rewrite words to popular songs based on a topic. For example: Give your students the tune of a popular song and have them replace the lyrics with ones about multiplication. Have students perform their new tune. Another option: Make a song up yourself, and share it with your students. I guarantee they will remember whatever you sing about!

My Favorite Song Mix-Up Example

This video shows sixth grade students replacing the lyrics of a popular song performed by the singer Lizzo with ones about preparing for an i-Ready Diagnostic.

Movement

Moving can help reduce stress and anxiety and make you laugh! Research has shown that if you are feeling negative emotions (e.g., stress, anxiety, worry, or sadness), moving can help you express and release them (Wilson & Conyers, 2014). And while you might be aware that movement is a powerful emotion regulator, you might not know that it’s also a great learning tool. Scientists have found that you use the same part of the brain to learn as you do to move (Jensen, 2015). In fact, when we move our bodies, it enhances the neural connections in our brains, which help us learn.

It’s still unclear to me why, with all the positive research on the correlation of movement and learning, “sitting and getting” is the dominant classroom modus operandum. What if we did things a bit differently? What if we intentionally incorporated more movement into the day, and not just for physical education? Even now, as we are working in our homes more and are being asked to socially distance, and our other movement routines have been interrupted (e.g., going to the gym), it’s critical to bring back movement into our lives!

The Benefits of Exercise

Exercise has been proven to improve your quality of life. Research has found that even 30 minutes of exercise a day can reduce stress and increase happiness. Other benefits can include better sleep, fewer feelings of depression and anxiety, and a greater sense of fulfillment. Exercise can also be a great way to connect with colleagues: Plan to take a walk after school or on your lunch break, or take a fitness class together (virtually or in person).

Here are some ways to incorporate more movement into your classroom and life—even if it’s at your desk at home or in your living room!

Get Moving: Set an alarm or use an app that prompts you to move during your day. Stretch. Jump around. Get your blood flowing.

Minute Movement: Every hour, stop whatever you’re doing to do five jumping jacks or five squats.

Dance Break: Build dance sessions into your day. If you are teaching in a physical classroom, dance after lunch or whenever you need to break the day up! If you are teaching virtually, end your lessons with a dance party.

Alphabet Dance: This activity is my favorite! Simply put, all you do is put on a fun song that makes you want to move, and you spell out the alphabet with your butt. Yes, you read that correctly. I’ve done this activity with thousands of educators, and I use it on my own when I’m feeling down. Lower or uppercase letters? It doesn’t matter. What does matter is that the Alphabet Dance boosts your mood, makes you laugh, and is a sure way to feel more connected to others and yourself. Try it!