National Endowment for the Humanities
American Literary Humor: Mark Twain, George Harris, and Nathaniel Hawthorne
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.
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Adding Humor to Your Lessons is No Laughing Matter
Try these seven ways to inject laughs into your curriculum, while staying on track academically.
Student Achievement Partners
"The Glorious Whitewasher" from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain with Mini-Assessment
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 as...
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Lesson: More than Brushing my Teeth
Humor can often be found in everyday life. Young analysts critically examine a sculpture and apply what they discuss to their own life experiences. They perform skits of daily activities, such as brushing their teeth. Next, they make a...
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Lesson 3: Puns
Encourage more pun-derstanding of word play in your literary scholars as they explore Brian P. Cleary's book Rhyme and Punishment: Adventures in Wordplay. Although this isn't suggested, consider beginning this study by simply showing...
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What Makes Jokes Funny?
Explore how language is used for comic effect. Middle schoolers determine which of the three formulas for jokes (double meanings, unexpected outcome, humorous mental image) make each of 18 classic, corny examples funny. They complete a...
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Humourous Head Planter Spike: Ceramics Lesson
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...
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Ambiguity and Puns
Get a giggle from this presentation about puns and ambiguity. From ad campaigns to old jokes to pictures of animals made out of vegetables, the slides are amusing, informative, and bizarre. The presentation spends more time providing...
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Language Acquisition
Detailing the stages of language, sound, word, and grammar acquisition for babies, this presentation is a great addition to a lecture that focuses on how the English language is developed in small children. Additionally, the slideshow...
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Literature and Humor
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...
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Humor Theories
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...
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Pair Editing
Practice thinking critically and editing by finding basic errors in spelling, punctuation, and grammar. Partners read the stories What's Up? and Cold Water Clean. They look for and edit any mistakes they find. Worksheets are available...
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Tall Tales
Give your class an overview of American tall tales and some examples with these slides. The basic definition of folk stories, legends, and tall tales is explained, followed by famous characters from American lore. Reading suggestions are...
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Adrian Mole - Diary
Students read a passage from the Diary of Adrian Mole in their groups and then discuss the different characters of the story. They bring the scene to life by setting the scene, selecting who in the story would be involved in their scene,...
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Humor: Features, Functions & Subjects
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...
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Eng 312: Final Exam
When paired with other powerpoints by Don L.F. Nilsen, this final exam covers topics addressed throughout previous lectures (slide 14 specifies which lectures should be reviewed). Teachers could use this presentation to craft their own...
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Humor in Business and Advertising
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...
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Jokes
If you feel like giving your lecture students a chuckle, this entertaining presentation is worth your time. Exploring humor in various types of jokes, the slides include examples of license plate jokes, lightbulb jokes, singlets, and...
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Humor and Aging
Exploring the ranges and applications of humor in the aging process, this presentation provides numerous examples and statistics about how aging is seen in modern society. The slides explore how the elderly regard themselves versus how...
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Humor, Philosophy, and Religion
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,...
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Breaking News English: Humor
In this humor worksheet, learners read the article, answer true and false questions, complete synonym matching, complete phrase matching, complete a gap fill, answer short answer questions, answer discussion questions, write, and more...
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Unit Plan for Mark Twain and American Humor
Students create brochures about the humor of Mark Twain. In this literature-analysis lesson plan, students read "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" and other short stories by Twain. Students write analytical paragraphs and...
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Short Story Lesson Plan
Students read and discuss the short story, "The McWilliamses and the Burglar Alarm," by Mark Twain. They assume the role of the main characters in the story and write a humorous letter of complaint using a business letter format. They...
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Postcards and Greeting Cards
Learners become acquainted with traditional American holidays, monuments, sites and attractions through the review of postcards and greetings. They examine the pictures and greeting used in the cards and determine the purpose for sending...