Learning from Stand-Up Comedians

Most of us have heard about the sage on the stage or the guide on the side.  But how many of you have heard about the guy on the fly?  No, that’s not right.  How about the teach underneath?  No, no, that’s not quite right either.  Anywho, in a recent C&RL News article, Long Island University reference and instruction librarian, Eamon Tewell, draws some insightful lessons from stand-up comedians for library instructors in, “What stand-up comedians teach us about library instruction – Four lessons for the classroom.” Tewell asserts that librarians who provide instruction and stand-up comedians have more in common than not.  Comedians have a great deal of experience in public speaking as well as reading and relating to new audiences night after night.  Does that challenge sound somewhat familiar?  Tewell thinks so (and so do I).  While these lessons may be familiar, Tewell offers a refreshing perspective and unique contribution to this ongoing professional discussion.  Let’s take a look at Tewell’s Four Lessons. 1)      Read the Audience

Developing your skills in thinking on your feet or assessing audience expectations on the fly is crucial to improving your teaching.  Teaching is a different experience every day.  Even if the material is the same, the audience/students are not.  Or vice versa – you may have the same set of students but different material.  Tewell explains that comedians use crowd work to start their performances.  A few ways to do this with your students is to begin asking them questions, start with an icebreaker, or a short anecdote.  This allows you to get a feel of the classroom and connect with your students.

2)      Vary Your Methods

Not all comedians have the same delivery or execute their jokes in the same way for every audience.  Get creative in your approach.  Mix it up.  This isn’t about different strokes for different folks.  This is about utilizing the most effective teaching method to get your message across.  Tewell shares some examples such as drawing a concept map to discover keywords for searching, using clickers, and providing interactive games.  There are a dizzying number of resources to study on teaching methods.  The professional literature is full of helpful articles and books.  And there are many useful websites as well.

3)      Build Empathy & Relate

Good stand-ups are masters at incorporating their individual experiences into their acts and making a personal connection with their audience.  When teaching, it’s important to establish a rapport with your students.  Building empathy and relating to your students on a personal level can help reduce barriers and anxiety.  Tewell states that one of the best ways to do this is to teach as your authentic self.  In other words, be yourself.  Don’t try to be someone you are not.  This will come across as phony to your students.  Be natural and play to your personal strengths.

4)      Gather Feedback

Skilled stand-up comedians know to use audience feedback to hone and improve their performances.  So, too, should librarians.  Assessment is king.  Gathering feedback and assessment is essential to improving your teaching whether it is through tried and true methods such as polls, colleague observations, the one-minute paper, or pre- and post-tests.  How can we know the degree of success, or failure for that matter, if we don’t ask the questions and review our performances?

Rinse and Repeat. After gathering and reviewing your feedback/assessment, it’s necessary to rework your material and try, try again with every new class.  Experimenting with new teaching methods and honing your craft will not only work to improve your teaching experiences, but will improve your students’ experiences too. Those of us who teach have experienced both good and bad classes.  And maybe we even completely bombed a class or two.  When we experience a not-so-good instruction session (and even when we don’t) the overall lesson is to be productive in our reaction and think about the Four Lessons from stand-ups, some of the hardest working comedians in the biz.