Introduce your students to humor in the workplace with this thorough presentation, which provides numerous examples of why humor in business is beneficial - and even profitable. A good resource for a semantics class or beginning business...

Get a chuckle from this presentation, which studies the types of humor in psychology and philosophy. The information provided would fuel a good conversation in your lecture, and the multitude of examples will get your class laughing. The...

Lighten the mood in your film class (or film as lit class) with this amusing presentation. From pictures of Sacha Baron Cohen as his infamous character Borat to a play-by-play of jokes and exaggerated plot lines in many popular movies,...

Laughter is the heart of dark comedy. It makes the unbearable bearable. Joseph Heller crafted his dark comedy Catch-22 to enable readers to laugh at the painful realities and underscore the absurdities of a war where people you...

From Canterbury Tales to The Odd Couple, this presentation details the different treatments of humor in different literary formats. Numerous authors and works of literature are represented here as examples of satire, irony, comedy, and...

Providing ample examples of humor in literature, psychology, and sociology, this presentation studies the concept and function of humor in society today. Covering what is classically "funny" and what is not, and why, the slideshow will...

Use a resource that highlights Roald Dahl's seven tips for imaginative writing while reading The BFG. The activities encourage learners to become creative writers through finding harmony, establishing stamina, engaging in imaginative...

Philosophy and religion are the topics of this presentation, though humor is what ties them together. Providing many examples of humor in different religions (Evangelism, Buddhism, Mormonism) and from different philosophers (Plato,...

Nathaniel Hawthorne as a humorist? Really? The three lessons in this series focus on the the storytelling style, conventions, and literary techniques employed by Hawthorne, George Washington Harris, and Mark Twain. 

If your writing classroom was the Wild West, what phrases would be "outlawed"? Here is one poster that every writing instructor, and really, any teacher of communication, should have in their classroom!

“The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” is famous, in part, because it established a uniquely American form of humor. For this famous story, Mark Twain combines the tall-tale, the dialect story, and satire. Here is a resource...

What word has two syllables and means a ray of moonlight? If young readers guessed moonbeam, they are correct! With the Shakespeare in Love study guide, participants test their guessing skills in an exciting game of Shakespeare Taboo...

A free press is entitled to its opinions. While the news pages report the facts of events, editorial pages feature writers' and cartoonists' opinions about events to either directly or indirectly persuade. Introduce viewers to the art of...

In this everyday editing learning exercise, students correct grammatical mistakes in a short paragraph about the noted American poet Ogden Nash. The errors range from capitalization, punctuation, spelling, and grammar.

What if the Gingerbread Man was trying to catch you, rather than the other way around? Pupils can find out what happens by reading the story The Gingerbread Man Loose in the School by Laura Murray and enrich their experience with the...

Both informative and open-ended, this presentation provides students with the features and benefits of various types of humor. The middle slides allow teachers or professors to elaborate on talking points such as the educational and...

What's got 60 eyes, 150 fingers, and an endless number of ideas? Your language arts class! Challenge young writers to come up with clever riddles with an online poetry lesson.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn continues to be one of the most frequently banned books. The satire and social commentary present challenges when using the book as a core text. Direct readers' attention to how Twain uses plot,...

Providing countless examples of gallows humor in both literature and film, this presentation explores the many instances and utilities of "black humor." While the definition is not explicitly stated, students can deduce what gallows...

It's the classic scene: Tom Sawyer is whitewashing a fence. Expose your learners to Mark Twain's humor while reinforcing reading comprehension. Eighth graders are encouraged to read and reread, achieving as much exposure to the text...

Bring on the coffee—it's dissertation time! As a handout on dissertations explains, over 50 percent of PhD candidates never finish their dissertations. The handout, part of a larger series on specific writing styles, helps motivate...

What a great activity. Kids create humorous ceramic character (heads) spikes to enliven a planter. Modern art is full of expressive and exaggerated forms and your class gets to create them out of clay. This would be a lovely activity to...

Learn about American pop culture, art, and the social voice that art can convey. The class discusses the life and art of Barton Benes, views his piece Reliquarium, then discusses what they see and feel when they view his work. Make sure...

By posing controversial questions about racially charged words and jokes, this presentation explores the function and use of ethnic humor. Sure to inspire debates and discussions in your sociology or anthropology class, the slideshow...