While watching film of one of my classes I saw a still shot of an actor. The concentration on her face (we were saying that she wanted to drink a glass of water) was intense. She was holding a make believe cup in her hand and focusing completely on my words (rule #6).
Many actors just stand there, which is fine, but some actors really get into it. Looking at that image made me reflect on what we are doing in storytelling. There is a whole “acting” piece in what we do. It is waiting there, like the reading and music pieces, to be explored. We need not be drama teachers, but the piece is there if we want to pick it up. Emotions drive language acquisition more than robotic speech.
Stories, reading, music, acting, emotion – we’re not in Kansas anymore….
The Problem with CI
Jeffrey Sachs was asked what the difference between people in Norway and in the U.S. was. He responded that people in Norway are happy and
5 thoughts on “We're Not In Kansas Anymore”
Hey!! There are some Kansans who are tryin’!!!
There are wonderful Kansans in fact and I withdraw that title with my apologies.
It’s okay…I know you weren’t really slamming the ways of Kansans. 😉 Kansas is a mix just like everywhere else–teachers who are convinced through and through that TPRS is the ONLY way and teachers that continue to march through grammar textbooks. I HAD to observe one of these grammer kinds of teachers yesterday (I am still early in my career), and it was an hour and a half of torture talking ABOUT French in English. UGH!!! And she was still trying to convince me that her way is the best as I marched right out of that door…..Hopefully she Retires!!! This young gal is going to have some solid data to show by the end of the school year….
I bet Ben was thinking about the fact that all of us ‘Dorothys’ aren’t in Kansas anymore since I had talked about the yellow brick road and the wicked witch in another post…. my Wizard of Oz analogy! 🙂
PS I’m not, under any circumstances, putting down Kansas or Kansans! I can even say that I have visited the wonderful state of Kansas.