Why did the teacher buy bifocals?

Because she had bad pupils.

It’s all fun and games until someone starts learning something.

I came across a really refreshing book the other day that made me breathe a sigh of relief when I was feeling overwhelmed with the tasks of having to learn so many standards, best practices, lesson plan design and all of the other necessary, yet never-ending aspects of becoming a teacher.

I remember when I was a kid and how much fun I thought it would be to have authority over a classroom full of students – to be in charge of minds and subject matter. After years of studying to become a teacher, I have learned that structured tests, standards and administrators’ expectations of me are sometimes the ones with the authority and in charge.

Where is the fun in that?

The book is called The Laughing Classroom: Everyone’s Guide to Teaching with Humor and Play. As I went through the text, I was amazed by the success stories and could not help but wish that my schoolteachers had been like the ones described.

The book is broken up into several parts ranging in topics from how to become a laughing teacher and create a laughing classroom to ways to heal with laughter and how to use laughter forever.

The book cites several educational advantages to having a laughing classroom, stating that laughter and play will:

· Maintain a high attention level,

· Relieve physical and mental stress,

· Build rapport,

· Increase retention,

· Enhance self-esteem,

· Promote divergent thinking,

· Bring new insights,

· Allow for pleasurable learning, and

· Increase a feeling of hope (p. 33).

Who doesn’t want these things going on their classrooms? I know I do. I recommend that everyone finds a way to incorporate laughter in the classroom because our jobs require too much work not to enjoy ourselves too.

Check out these articles to find out more information about how to incorporate laughter in the classroom:

Learning about and through humor in the second language classroom

The use of humour in classroom interventions with students with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties

An experiment relating humor to student attainment in mathematics

Techniques for using humor and fun in the language arts classroom

Another joke from the book:

Q: What happens when you stifle laughter?

A: It moves down your body and starts to expand your hips.

:)

Hotkeys: From A to Z

I love my MacBook. I have had it for two years now. I remember when I took it out of the box and how anxious and excited I was to learn a new operating system. I immediately tried to transfer my PC knowledge to my new toy. Specifically, I was interested in learning all the new hotkeys that I could.

What’s a hotkey, you ask? It’s a keyboard shortcut that allows you to bypass the mouse and complete commands in a fraction of the time. That means you can save, open and close files; you can change font sizes, colors and styles; you can insert hyperlinks, print documents and quit programs – all without ever clicking the mouse.

Here is a list of the Command hotkey combinations that you can learn and take advantage of if you find yourself crunched for time while using a Mac.

• Command + a = selects all (highlights all text and/or selects all objects)
• Command + b = makes a text selection “bold”
• Command + c = copies a selected text, object, icon or file
• Command + d = in Word, this command allows you to customize your font
• Command + e = changes alignment to “centered”
• Command + f = “find” tool that lets you search an entire document or webpage for relevant words or phrases
• Command + g = in Word, allows you to “go” to a specific page, section, footnote or selection of your document
• Command + h = hides your window
• Command + i = makes selected text “italicized”
• Command + j = changes text alignment to “justified”
• Command + k = allows you to insert a hyperlink
• Command + m = minimizes your window
• Command + n = creates a “new” file, document or project once a program is opened
• Command + o = opens a file
• Command + p = prints your file
• Command + q = quits a program
• Command + r = changes text alignment to “right”
• Command + s = saves your file
• Command + t = creates a “quarter of an indent” for the selected paragraph
• Command + u = underlines your highlighted text
• Command + v = pastes your copied or cut text
• Command + w = closes your window without completely closing out of the program
• Command + x = “cuts” your text, image or selected object
• Command + y = redo function
• Command + z = undo function

• Shift + right or left arrow = allows you to highlight text to be able to manipulate it
• Control + Option + Command + 8 = Inverts your screen’s colors to make it easier on your eyes and save on your battery

Hotkeys are not just timesavers; they also allow users with digital-dexterity disabilities (problems making their hands move slowly to successfully navigate with a mouse) to perform functions with less of an importance on precise clicking.

I have worked as a Mental Health Support Specialist at a local counseling center for the last two years. I have actually been able to teach these shortcuts to some of my clients to help develop independent living skills. I can definitely see the importance of this universally designed feature in the classroom as well.

Students with certain disabilities are often allowed to use computers to complete writing assignments but are not usually taught how to customize their work with different alignments, font styles, sizes and colors or any other seemingly unimportant “cosmetic features.” What if these personalized adjustments could be made in less time than it takes to sharpen a pencil or even get one out of your backpack? Students without disabilities are allowed to use pens of different color ink when completing assignments, so why can’t students with disabilities be granted the opportunity to modify their work as well?

Well, with hotkeys, they can.

For more information on Mac hotkeys, check out these sites:

Mac OS Keyboard Shortcuts
Leopard Booster Keyboard Shortcuts
Magical Macintosh Key Sequences