Verballing

I have to agree with Jay Cross in the post he called Verbals. Words alone really are "a clutzy way to communicate." words are sometimes a clutzy way to communicate. words lack precision. words require mental translation. words force us to play an internal game of telephone, whispering the message to ourselves, reverberating back and forth as the mind seeks patterns. the mind messes with the message as much as a chain of conniving, deceitful interpreters, misunderstanding & shaping & rejiggering the original into what they want us to hear. some educators tell stories to make an end run around the interpreters, to convey meaning even when a few details are out of whack. others turn to multiple media. if i hear it, see it, smell it, taste it, feel it, try it, practice it, challenge it, & teach it, the better the odds that i will learn it. all of which makes one wonder why we cling to words as if words are the only way to teach and to learn. But then in the communications business, particularly in public speaking, we are well aware of that. We use everything we can to harness a person's attention and to get the message across. We supplement verbals with all the body language, gesture and facial expression we can muster to support the message. We vary our pace, pitch and intensity. We use all the "multiple media" we can lay our hands on - judiciously, with forethought about the message, the media and the audience. And what makes him think that teachers don't?