what is the elephant who is the elephant elephants are amazing: when the teacher is the distraction
Yesterday in class we were discussing Jo Kyung Ran’s amazing short story “Looking for the Elephant” and students were puzzled in a kind of urgent way about the elephant: who is the elephant what is the elephant is the elephant real. And I kind of blurted out (in a way we often don’t appreciate when our students do it), “Elephants are amazing. Do you know this? Do you know how amazing they are?”
There was a brief moment of silence. Then they all looked at their laptops and quietly started tapping away. “Are you googling elephants?” I couldn’t help but laugh. They laughed and nodded yes.
So we took about 20 minutes for some research time. Then we got back to the story: what is the elephant who is the elephant elephants ARE amazing.
Looking for the Elephant is in an anthology put together by the wonderful Words Without Borders.
Posted on October 12, 2012, in College Writing R1A and tagged Jo Kyung Ran, learning, Looking for the Elephant, reading, short story, teaching, Words Without Borders. Bookmark the permalink. 2 Comments.
Thanks, Marcus–You know one of the things I love about social media is the unmasking of the teacher. I try to teach in public as often as possible–by which I mean be in the classroom pretty much like I am elsewhere–online, in person, etc. I know that a lot of faculty have concerns about how much to reveal, how much to keep private, etc. And maybe it’s because I hope to retire in a couple of years that I feel I have little at stake in letting students, friends (from all realms) and colleagues, broadly speaking, in on what goes on in my mind (and in my classroom