Addressing Teaching Challenges! Curriculum and academic pressure, insufficient time to plan lessons, disruptive classroom behaviour, student challenges with technology, performance anxiety and stress, demanding parents, and the constant fear of covid-19 pandemic. It's 2pm: you had screening duty before school, cleaned up a bloody nose, and now, with 30 minutes left of class, your last whiteboard marker has dried up and the power is off in the classroom. Sometimes, all you can do is laugh. Laughter may not substitute for proper medical care, but research does point to serious health benefits. Laughter can relieve stress and improve your memory. It also boosts the immune system, something every teacher needs—and even helps out your cholesterol numbers. I take teaching very seriously. The work we do as educators is important. But I also wish so much of it was not so humourless. And I frankly think that teachers and administrators who lack a sense of humour should find another profession. Being able to survive and thrive in these contexts depends on the ability to detach, see the absurdity, not take oneself too seriously, not personalize, not become defensive and, as much as possible, laugh with some degree of frequency. By being detached, I do not mean not caring. So instead of seeing a situation as threatening or the student as a problem, we see the humour in what otherwise appears to be a humourless situation. Humour also has a very positive effect on our mental and physiological states, inducing endorphins, creating more relaxation and ease. Yet, like most of us, I sometimes lose my sense of humour when I need it the most, being too disappointed or too defensive to see the absurdity of the moment and change the game. As singer and TV host Kelly Clarkson always says; “If you’re not having a good day, just change it!” Enjoy the weekend