If you watch a ten-minute news show (CNN10) every morning with your high school Literacy class, at some point your students will probably surprise you with their random bits of knowledge. They might, for example, know exactly where Venezuela is even though they recently mixed up Japan and Jamaica (“They’re both islands, Miss”), or maybe they’ll share a remarkable series of facts about the Apollo 13 mission after Artemis lands safely.
Perhaps, after a spirited class discussion about hantavirus and what it might feel like to be stuck on a ship where hantavirus has killed several passengers, you will say something about how rats initially spread the disease. And maybe, just maybe, a student will perk up in the back corner of the classroom and blurt out, “It could be a capybara.”
Huh?
“Hantavirus is spread by rodents, not just rats, so it could be capybaras. Capybaras are the largest rodents. They can get as big as wolves.”
If you are lucky, you will not spit out your tea as you try to suppress hilarious laughter at the vision of wolf-sized capybaras capering about the cargo hold of a cruise ship.
If you are very lucky, your student will then pause thoughtfully and add, “but it’s probably rats.”
Persistence and Pedagogy 
Oh Amanda,
I love this slice which lets us be a fly on the wall in your classroom which is clearly a safe and animated space.
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“Animated” is a perfect description of the class. They are a riot.
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This structure reminded me of If You Give A Mouse a Cookie!
A few years ago I had a group of students OBSESSED with capybaras. It’s a thing!!!
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I sort of used “If You Give a Mouse” as a mentor here. I’m so glad you noticed! And I had no idea that capybaras were a thing. Now I know!
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Amanda,
I’m filing this under “a little knowledge is a dangerous thing,” LOL! I read a thread by an immunologist this morning indicating the hantavirus death toll is now four. My son and his wife want us to go on a cruise w/ them next summer. I’ve avoided ocean cruises the last 12 years.
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The closest I’ve come to a cruise is a small boat in the Galapagos; even without hantavirus I’m not sure I could handle a “real” cruise. Wonder if you’ll hold out or give it a try. Some are supposed to be great.
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I’ll go and take my chances if that’s what my kid and dil want to do. Otherwise, they may not ask again.
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Fun to read student reactions from your point of view. I often watch CNN10 so connected wel to this slice!
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