I was going to resist posting about incidents from school, but I caved. Something made me laugh aloud in English class today: we were discussing the latest text that we are studying in class, and I asked students in pairs to sum up the main message of the text with the best sentence they could. Some of the sentences were decent. I gave them my summary sentence after having heard the whole class. Toward the end of my never-ending sentence, I referred to "the protagonist's inner journey"... and promptly heard a whisper come from the back of the room, "this sentence is a journey". I probably wasn't meant to hear it, but had a little chuckle nonetheless.
It got me thinking about 'reaction time' on witty responses. Some people just 'have it'. They can fire sharp comebacks in the heat of conversation, while others smile and nod, sit down to eat their lunch, go about their day, and then on the trek home think, "I should have said that!" as their wit-ometer slowly ticks around and catches up. Is it something you can teach? Or is it completely innate? I'm very intrigued by that sub-layered curriculum of teaching; beneath all the content there's that something else the more interesting teachers can offer - those little pearls of wisdom, life advice, those things that round out a person. There's more to teaching than you think, particularly if you overthink everything like I do.
Onward and upward,
Luke
Hah! I'd have to give that kid a high five. ;) I think having a quick wit comes from a lack of inhibition. You can encourage and foster that attitude, but I wouldn't consider it something you could easily teach someone. /shrug
ReplyDeleteGreat post! :)