Humor usage in teaching only facilitates active learning and increased retention of the subject. It makes teaching fun for the instructor, as it triggers attentiveness and positive response from the students. When the teacher gets creative and implements the humor tool in his teaching methods, it fosters the teacher-student relationship and makes classroom environment interesting. It helps in promoting good class attendance and also works in keeping the student awake (those who are physically present but mentally absent). Funny communication skills come in handy in a class to make the most of the teacher's academic proficiency.
Usage of an anecdote or citing a real-life incident helps to gain the attention of the students. Usage of quotes, cartoons or comic strips that the audience can relate to is another simple way of introducing humor in a lecture. A simple analogy used in a lighter vein from a real-life situation can help students comprehend the textbook information. A teacher can use humor to increase class participation by adding one funny question to the pertinent, topic-related ones. For example, "How many believe this to be true?" and "How many believe this isn't?" can be followed by "How many prefer the food-court lounge to this class?"
Joking is only one form of humor and if a teacher is not trained or prepared well enough to pull it off, it would not only smudge the desired result, but also cause unnecessary embarrassment in the classroom environment. Humor as a communication skill is different from jokes, in that a joke that fails causes disappointment, while humor that fails does not cause that impact. Even if the attempted sense of humor doesn't trigger the required response, you can hone your skills and continue making attempts. A joke about the teacher himself is safe in being inoffensive, but could be a high-risk form of humor depending on the teacher's proficiency.
Relevance of humor should be given much thought before usage. A classroom environment demands a code of conduct that has to be followed. Humor in context will serve its purpose better than a humor inserted out of the blue. Information about current events or news can be presented in a funny tone or in a creatively exaggerated way to gain the students' rapt attention. It is also important that humor is used in a inoffensive way and is pertinent to the topic of discussion or at least appropriate to the context. Humor for humor's sake usually never works.