The Swallow, The Flock and The Writer’s Block

As the jumble of words in my head steadfastly refuse to flock together into a narrative on an assignment, I am finding it helpful to get back to the books, to sort the quotes again and think about the story they are telling.

I enjoyed this excerpt, from O.E. Mandelstam’s The Swallow, used in Lev Vygotsky’s Thought and Word and quoted here from Harry Daniels’ Vygostky and Pedagogy.

It also reminds me of the challenges our learners face when they can’t articulate their thoughts in our ‘target language’ and the importance of us providing support and opportunities for them to create conceptual understandings even in spite of linguistic limitations.

I forgot the word I wanted to say,

And thought, unembodied,

Returns to the hall of shadows.

This is printed and on my door now.

Hopefully soon enough the thoughts will flock, forming something coherent and perhaps as beautiful as this murmuration of starlings.

<p><a href=”http://vimeo.com/31158841″>Murmuration</a&gt; from <a href=”http://vimeo.com/islandsandrivers”>Islands &amp; Rivers</a> on <a href=”https://vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a&gt;.</p>