Curated OER
What is April Fool's Day?
Students explore humor by creating their own practical joke. In this April Fool's Day lesson, students read different situations in which practical jokes were taken too far. Students discuss their reactions to the jokes and identify when...
Curated OER
Listen to a Radio Show
Students practice the art of listening. In this listening skills lesson, students listen to an old-time radio show and identify hidden messages, innuendo, sarcasm, double entendres, puns, hyperbole, irony, colloquialisms, inflections,...
Curated OER
Vocabulary in Conversation: Humor
In this vocabulary worksheet, learners read the conversation and fill in the blanks with words about humor to make the story make sense.
Curated OER
Humor: Vocabulary Skills
For this online interactive vocabulary skills worksheet, learners answer 10 fill in the blank questions regarding humor-related vocabulary. Students may submit their answers to be scored.
National First Ladies' Library
Will Rogers
Learners explore the concepts of irony and humor. They discuss Will Rogers' history and determine that he was a humorist who many viewed as very wise. They read quotes of Will Rogers and determine that everybody is ignorant, only on...
Curated OER
SATIRE AND POLITICS
Students, after analyzing a satiric song written during the Prohibition era, illustrate how humor can be utilized as a political tool by writing satiric lyrics on a current political issue at the front of the news world today. They...
Curated OER
Using Cartoons and Comic Strips
Students explore cartoons and comic strips to practice a variety of language and discussion activities. They explore the themes of humor, culture, and issues in cartoons and comic strips. They draw pictures to represent the last frame...
Curated OER
Humor and Irony in Eudora Welty's The Ponder Heart
Students demonstrate an understanding of humor in writing, specifically the use of irony (verbal, situational, and dramatic). They evaluate an event from his or her life that lends itself to a humorous retelling, and demonstrate an...
Curated OER
Transforming Anansi Folktales Into Storyboards
Students work in small groups to illustrate a story board of a folktale. They develop the meaning of a trickster as a humor device in folktales by listening to several about Leprechauns and the Coyote of Native American tales. They then...
Curated OER
Get the Joke!
Middle schoolers explore humor through word context and inference used in everyday language.
Curated OER
Art & Drama for Middle Grades
Students define humor and consider how people have different senses of humor and therefore different ideas of what is funny. They explore improvisation, cartooning, comics, body language and storytelling as the means to express humor.
National Endowment for the Humanities
Neh: Edsit Ement: Mark Twain and American Humor
This lesson leads high school students through a greater understanding of the conventions of the literary device of "Humor," through a study of Mark Twain and the story "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County." A three-part...
![Dr. Chase Young, Ph D: Reader's Theater Script: The Vinder Viper [Pdf] Activity](https://d15y2dacu3jp90.cloudfront.net/images/attachment_defaults/resource/large/FPO-knovation.png "Dr. Chase Young, Ph D: Reader's Theater Script: The Vinder Viper [Pdf] Activity")
Chase Young, PhD
Dr. Chase Young, Ph D: Reader's Theater Script: The Vinder Viper [Pdf]
A reader's theater script for the short story, The Vinder Viper, is provided on these pages. Thirteen character roles are needed in this activity.
PBS
Pbs Teachers: On Stage at the Kennedy Center: 2001 Mark Twain Prize: Twain and R
Use this instructional activity to study the lives of Mark Twain and Will Rogers. Analyze the writing styles of both authors, and identify the men as humorists who reflected and changed American culture.
Unite for Literacy
Unite for Literacy: Our Joke Book
A colorful joke book with monsters and animals. Includes audio accompaniment.
National Endowment for the Humanities
Neh: Edsit Ement: L2: "Old Southwest" Humorists and George Washington Harris
In this lesson plan, learners will consider Lesson 2: "Old Southwest" Humorists and George Washington Harris. Worksheets and other supporting materials can be found under the Resources tab.
National Endowment for the Humanities
Neh: Edsit Ement: American Literary Humor: Twain, Harris, and Hawthorne
In this curriculum unit, students will consider American Literary Humor: Mark Twain, George Harris, and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Worksheets and other supporting materials can be found under the Resources tab.
Georgia Humanities Council and the University of Georgia Press.
New Georgia Encyclopedia: Roy Blount, Jr. (B. 1941)
Leading humorist Roy Blount is profiled on this page. The brief biography is followed by an even shorter list of suggested readings. Good for a quick look at the writer, rather than his work.
University of Florida
Baldwin Library: A Cracker Bon Bon for Christmas Parties by Robert B. Brough
This is an online photocopy of the original text of the children's book Baldwin Library: A Cracker Bon-Bon for Christmas Parties by Robert B. Brough (1861). This is a collection of short witty plays, poetry, and character sketches.
TED Talks
Ted: Ted Ed: How to Make Your Writing Funnier
Emmy Award-winning comedy writer Cheri Steinkellner offers a few tips and tricks for finding the funny in your writing. [5:07]
University of Florida
Baldwin Library: Chip's Un Natural History by Frederick A. Stokes & Brother
This is an online photocopy of the original text of the children's book Chip's Un-Natural History by Frederick A. Stokes & Brother (1888). It features funny, pun-filled definitions of a variety of humans and animals; each definition...
Other
Spelling police.com: Irony
Informational site that provides the definition for and examples of irony.
Other
Speaking Effectively: Supporting the Talk
This substantial section focuses on supporting the main points of your speech or presentation. Find out how to avoid faulty reasoning and irrational appeals.
Other
Story in Literary Fiction: Humor and Fiction
This essay discusses the effects of humor in fiction, and provides some advice to writers on how to incorporate humor in their writing.