The Potency of Humor and Instructional Self-Efficacy on Art Teacher Stress.

"Something special happens when people laugh together over something genuinely funny, and not hurtful to anyone. It's like a magic rain that showers down feelings of comfort, safety, and belonging to a group."- Belfie (2009)Over the past 4 years, I have presented sessions for art educators at school district in-services and state conferences. My goal as a presenter has been to demonstrate humor strategies that enable teachers to teach art effectively while under the duress of classroom disturbances and environmental stressors. In these sessions, teachers of all ages and breadth of experience have shared stories that would make your heart pound. The subjects of their stories range from appalling student misbehavior to escalating job tasks, but all tell of the innumerable obstacles that challenge their ability to teach art effectively. Among the throng of anxious teachers are affable teachers who share testimonies of the requisite wit that has carried them through a multitude of miry instructional impediments. Teachers who have employed humor as a instructional resource in the classroom have not only reduced anxiety, but enhanced teaching effectiveness, increased student receptivity, and fostered rapport (Bryant, Comisky, Crane, & Zillmann, 1980). In many cases, a teacher's high humor orientation has engaged the most distracted students and turned them on to subject content. The idea that the pleasurable sensation of laughter enjoyed within the walls of classrooms may successfully interact with a teachers' effectiveness is precisely what sparked this research inquiry. As primary investigator, I was compelled to explore the relationship between teachers' sense of humor and the perceptions of their ability to deliver instruction, engage students, and manage classrooms.The Potency of Teacher Self-EfficacyThe theoretical framework for self-efficacy is rooted in the social learning theory postulated by psychologist Albert Bandura (1997). Bandura argued that self-efficacy beliefs were self-referent, were directed toward perceived abilities to perform certain tasks, and were powerful predictors of performance (Henson, 2001). Self-efficacy is distinctive from self-esteem or self-worth, as it refers specifically to a teacher's perceptions of their abilities. Bandura (1997) argues that what a teacher believes about his or her ability to perform a task is actually more powerful than their ability to perform the task (Pajares, 2002). Teachers with a high sense of efficacy work harder and persist longer - even when students are difficult to teach, because they hold strong, positive beliefs about themselves and their students (Tschannen-Moran & Woolfolk Hoy, 2001 ). Teachers with a higher sense of self-efficacy than their colleagues exhibit greater enthusiasm for teaching (Allinder, 1994), demonstrate greater commitment (Coladarci, 1992), employ more effective problem-solving strategies (Tschannen-Moran & Woolfolk Hoy, 2006), and are more likely to stay in teaching. Based on research conducted over the past three decades, teachers' internal self-efficacy beliefs appear to contribute more to their instructional effectiveness than external pedagogical strategies or techniques.No Child Left Behind (NCLB) defines teaching efficacy of highly qualified teachers as the ability to inspire students to learn, to incorporate their interests into the curriculum, to earn their trust and cooperation, and to channel their energies into productive work (as cited in Yatvin, 2008). Accountability for test scores, however, has exacted a greater focus on the phrase, "channel energies into productive work," and has overshadowed the affective designations of self-efficacy. NCLB, which set high-stakes testing accountability in motion, seems to have relegated teacher self-efficacy to function primarily with the ability to deliver subject content. This restricted interpretation of the potent core of a teacher's effectiveness challenges the meaning of the self-efficacy construct. …