Wellness is the result of internal as well as external factors. This article examines 3 internal means for promoting wellness: humor, metaphor, and writing. By using these resources, individuals may stay healthier and happier psychologically and physically. Research on the power of these factors is briefly described.

Humor is a powerful tool. It can disarm an adversary. It can leaven the purposefully self-aggrandizing nature of a job interview. Perhaps most important, it can serve as a window to personality in the same way that a resume is a window to experience. In this article, the author emphasizes the value of having a sense of humor. He emphasizes that it…

The author poses a set of imaginative, sportive strategies designed to make the big error look small. (MB)

A teacher of teachers who is alos the mother of teen-agers publicly renounces all theories of adolescent psychology learned from the literature and offers empirically based principles of her own. (Author)

The first of two articles discusses the human predilection for classification, using several eccentric taxonomies as examples. (MES)

A humorous proposal for establishing a professional fee system for teachers. (MD)

In order to provide empirical evidence on the role of a web-based avian influenza (AI) education program for mass communication and also ultimately help young children learn and develop healthy behaviors against AI and all types of influenza, an education program with two episodic variations (i.e. fear and humor) has been developed and examined…

The current study is the fourth in a series on various components of advisor-advisee communication. In the latest study, the influence of a variety of communication variables on the graduate advisor-advisee interpersonal relationship is examined. Graduate students' perceptions of their graduate advisors' use of humor as it relates to other…

What kinds of books do children want to read? And how can a teacher find those books? The author provides some ideas for interesting new books in the categories of graphic novels, humorous adventures, poetry, and books about math.

The focus on the achievement gap for minority students is an issue facing many school districts across the county. The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation highlighted the fact that many minority students are not achieving at or above expected levels in classrooms across America. Teacher quality is found to be an important ingredient of a…

This study investigates the use made of humour by teachers during classroom interventions with adolescent students with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties (SEBD). Literature mentions the use of humour as a key tool in successful classroom interventions with students with SEBD and yet there is little quantified research on this topic.…

This article considers previously ignored aspects of verbal communication, humor and laughter, as critical components of social interaction within group discussions. Drawing on data from focus groups, Robinson uses a feminist perspective to explore how mothers living in areas of poverty in Liverpool, UK, use humor and laughter to discuss their…

Much of the sociological curriculum often represents society as tragedy. This article explores the incorporation of a society as comedy component in introductory courses at two institutions using the sociological insight and social critique of comedians. A general discussion of parallels between the comedic eye and the sociological imagination is…

This study used an exploratory mixed methods design to address the questions: (1) "Is there a positive language of youth purpose, and if so, what is it like?" and (2) "Which kinds of purpose best predict reports of positive states and coping styles?" Qualitative coding identified references to positive states and coping…

In this lighthearted essay, the author, a library media specialist at Bowie High School in Texas, shares the lessons she learned from her experience dressing up as "the Bookinator" for her school's superhero day.