Ha-Ha Moments
By Peter Barnes

When people ask what I like best about teaching I usually start with three things: summer, winter and spring breaks. From there I then talk about how teaching keeps me young and about the joys of learning alongside my students. In truth, much of the pleasure of teaching comes from what I like to call "ha-ha" moments. My students make me laugh all the time and every time they do, I know teaching is the right profession for me.

The joke's on me
Sometimes "ha-ha" moments are jokes made at my expense. Just the other day Henry told me to point a finger at my head and say the abbreviation for Montana. It took me a few seconds to realize that he was implying my head is "emp-ty." He looked very relieved when I laughed loudly instead of showing displeasure.

Other times my students make me laugh without even trying. A fourth grader whom I tutor after school covered her mouth and opened her eyes wide when my very pregnant teaching partner came into the classroom to ask me a question. "Isabel, what is wrong with you?" I asked her after my partner had left the room. "I think that woman is pregnant!" she said. "I was going to say something, but I wasn't sure if she had noticed or not."

A laugh around every corner
Every once in a while I find a "ha-ha" moment just by walking down the hall. My class and I stopped at the bathrooms recently on our way to gym class. A second-grade class soon lined up next to us. A tiny second grader craned his neck and squinted his eyes up toward my face as if he were straining to see the top of a California redwood.

"Whoa. You are tall," he said. "And kind of scary looking."

A boost of energy
If I can't find a "ha-ha" moment, sometimes I create my own. When we review material for tests my class often plays a "Jeopardy!"- style quiz game. I give groups of students one or two minutes to develop their answers before they have to tally their points. Occasionally I like to sneak up behind one of my students and make an outrageously loud buzzer noise to indicate that the time has expired. The flailing arms and shocked scream from the unsuspecting student never fail to make me smile.

As you know, teaching is very hard work and requires patience, mental toughness, creativity and lots of energy. Laughing gives me a boost of energy and also reminds me why I chose teaching as my career. Seldom does a day go by when I don't laugh at something that happens in my classroom. I really hope that never changes.

Peter Barnes teaches fifth grade in New Albany, OH.

April, 2007, Vol.37, No.7