Pictures in the sand....

From the beginning of human existence on this planet, we have communicated in many diverse ways by telling our story, or sending messages with pictures and graphics.  We have painted on the walls of our dwelling places, in the tombs of our warriors and leaders, left our mark and told our stories in our meeting places and in our communities.  We illustrate our stories, we draw pictures in the sand to enhance and enrich our tales or elucidate our teaching.  Where would we be without the picture in the book, our maps, our diagrams, our signs and symbols?  How much more vivid and memorable is the sound of a story told or read to us out loud, a poem recited, a song?   Our earliest memories of learning are often full of sounds, music, snatches of rhyme, images from story books or pictures on the wall.  Sound and vision.  Powerful, evocative, memorable and engaging.  Why then, do we too often, as teachers, inundate our learners with text, text, text?  Multi-sensory approaches are proven in successful engagement of learners.  We have the technology.  What are we waiting for?

Being a very, very visual learner/teacher, I love all these wonderful tools for capturing stories, telling tales, teaching, sharing and showing, engaging the disengaged, the disenchanted or the disinclined, lighting the spark and letting creativity teach and be taught.  We still need to draw our pictures in the sand..........

TTFN

:-)