Seven Elephants in the Classroom

An elephant. A classroom. What's the common denominator here? In common folklore an elephant is a gentle giant, often presented as wise, caring, playing the role of a peacemaker in the animal kingdom.

This book, however, is not about that role. It's about another elephant; the one that can cause mayhem if it wants to. The elephant with a sore tooth. Or the mother elephant which has to protect its young. It's said the most dangerous elephant is one in the company of its baby. Yet there's another equally dangerous elephant: the rogue elephant. They say when you see a lone elephant it may have gone rogue and therefore extremely dangerous.

The author has used his thirty five years experience of teaching in both public and private schools to identify seven elephants that operate in the school environment. These are people with different roles in the school set up but almost all of them may not be aware that the elephant roles they play are incongruent with the mission and goals of the school they work for. They operate with a blindfold on their faces, almost like the tragic hero that we meet in story books. He is blind to his faults though everybody else knows about them.

What the author has done is to unmask each elephant to help them realise that their actions are detrimental to the common good of the school and suggests a program of recalibration for each so that they can begin to contribute to creating a school environment where learners can thrive and achieve their full potential.