The Great Globe and All Who It Inherit : a Narrative and Dialogue in Story-telling with Halliday, Vygotsky, and Shakespeare

"Every storyteller soon discovers the difference between putting a story inside children and trying to extract it with comprehension questions and putting children inside a story and having them act it out. Teachers may experience this as a difference in "difficulty", or in the level of motivation and enthusiasm, or even in the engagement of creativity and imagination, and leave it at that. This book explores the divide more critically and analytically, finding symmetrical and even complementary problems and affordances with both approaches. First, we examine what teachers actually say and do in each approach, using the systemic-functional grammar of M.A.K. Halliday. Secondly, we explore the differences developmentally, using the cultural-historical psychology of L.S. Vygotsky. Thirdly, we explain the differences we find in texts by considering the history of genres from the fable through the plays of Shakespeare. "Inside" and "Outside" the story turn out to be two very different modes of experiencing--the one reflective and narrativizing and the other participatory and dialogic. These two modes of experience prove to be equally valuable, and even mutually necessary, but only in the long run--different approaches are necessary at different moments in the lesson, different points in development, and even different times in human history. In the final analysis, though, this distinction is meaningless to children and to their teachers unless it is of practical use. Each chapter employs only the most advanced technology ever developed for making sense of human experience, namely thinking and talking--though not necessarily in that order. So every story has a specific narrative to tell, a concrete set of dialogues to try, and above all a practicable time and a practical space for children, their teachers, and even their teachers' teachers, to talk and to think."--Publisher's description Every storyteller soon discovers the difference between putting a story inside children and trying to extract it with comprehension questions and putting children inside a story and having them act it out. Teachers may experience this as a difference in "difficulty", or in the level of motivation and enthusiasm, or even in the engagement of creativity and imagination, and leave it at that. This book explores the divide more critically and analytically, finding symmetrical and even complementary problems and affordances with both approaches. First, we examine what teachers actually say and do in each approach, using the systemic-functional grammar of M. A. K. Halliday. Secondly, we explore the differences developmentally, using the cultural-historical psychology of L. S. Vygotsky. Thirdly, we explain the differences we find in texts by considering the history of genres from the fable through the plays of Shakespeare. "Inside" and "Outside" the story turn out to be two very different modes of experiencing--the one reflective and narrativizing and the other participatory and dialogic. These two modes of experience prove to be equally valuable, and even mutually necessary, but only in the long run--different approaches are necessary at different moments in the lesson, different points in development, and even different times in human history. In the final analysis, though, this distinction is meaningless to children and to their teachers unless it is of practical use. Each chapter employs only the most advanced technology ever developed for making sense of human experience, namely thinking and talking--though not necessarily in that order. So every story has a specific narrative to tell, a concrete set of dialogues to try, and above all a practicable time and a practical space for children, their teachers, and even their teachers' teachers, to talk and to think Front Matter....Pages i-x Story and Play....Pages 1-20 Giving and Getting....Pages 21-45 Where and When....Pages 47-69 Who and What....Pages 71-89 How and Why....Pages 91-112 The Pronouncing Parent and the Questioning Child....Pages 113-135 The Projecting Character and the Performing Player....Pages 137-158 The Deciding Speaker and the Doubting Self....Pages 159-178 The Action Thriller and the Actual Tragedy....Pages 179-199 The Delving Clown and the Dying King....Pages 201-222 The Shipwreck of Creativity and the Isle of Imagination....Pages 223-243 The Great Globe and its Heir....Pages 245-266 The Nest of Conspiracy and the Ordeal of Reflection....Pages 267-288 The Music of Politeness and the Mooncalf of Primitivity....Pages 289-309 The Sensuous Man and the Signifying Maid....Pages 311-332 Play and Story....Pages 333-352 Back Matter....Pages 353-358 VYGOTSKY: BURIDAN'S ASS AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF DECISION MAKINGGENRE: THE PROSAIC FABLE AND THE POETIC ONE; THE NEXT CHAPTER: WHO AND WHAT; REFERENCES; CHAPTER 4:WHO AND WHAT; HALLIDAY: MANAGING EXCHANGES AND MAKING QUESTIONS; VYGOTSKY: FEELING, THINKING, SAYING, AND DOING; GENRE: FROM EPIC TO NOVEL; THE NEXT CHAPTER: HOW AND WHY; REFERENCES; CHAPTER 5:HOW AND WHY; HALLIDAY: ARRANGING THEMES AND ORDERING INFORMATION; VYGOTSKY: THEME AND GIVEN DISAPPEAR; GENRE: FROM NOVEL TO PLAY; THE NEXT CHAPTER: PARENT AND CHILD; REFERENCES; CHAPTER 6:THE PRONOUNCING PARENT AND THE QUESTIONING CHILD TABLE OF CONTENTS; EDITOR'S NOTE; CHAPTER 1:STORY AND PLAY; "WHAT'S IT ALL ABOUT THEN?" FIVE STORIES, TWO PLAYS, THREE WISE MEN; ROTE, ROLE, RULE: A TOO SIMPLE THEORY OF DEVELOPMENT; A TOO SIMPLE THEORY OF GENRE: STORY AND PLAY; THE NEXT CHAPTER: GIVING AND GETTING; REFERENCES; CHAPTER 2:GIVING AND GETTING; HALLIDAY: THREE STRATA AND THREE SPEECH FUNCTIONS; VYGOTSKY: THE RICKSHAW PULLER AND THE TRAM-DRIVER; GENRE: WHEN DO FABLES BECOME FABULOUS?; THE NEXT CHAPTER: WHERE AND WHEN; REFERENCES; CHAPTER 3:WHERE AND WHEN; HALLIDAY: CONSTRUING CIRCUMSTANCES, PARTICIPANTS, AND PROCESSES SHAKESPEARE: "HAD I BUT TIME ... I COULD TELL YOU ... BUT LET IT BE."NEXT CHAPTER: SHIPWRECK AND ENCHANTED ISLE; REFERENCES; CHAPTER 11:THE SHIPWRECK OF CREATIVITY AND THE ISLE OF IMAGINATION; HALLIDAY: REPETITION, SYNONYMY AND HYPONYMY; VYGOTSKY: IMAGINATION AND CREATIVITY; SHAKESPEARE: UNITIES AND SYMMETRIES; NEXT CHAPTER: THE GLOBE AND ITS HEIR; REFERENCES; CHAPTER 12:THE GREAT GLOBE AND ITS HEIR; HALLIDAY: HYPONYMY, MERONYMY AND COLLOCATION; VYGOTSKY: EVERYDAY CONCEPTS AND ACADEMIC CONCEPTS; SHAKESPEARE: METAPHOR AND METONYM; NEXT CHAPTER: CONSPIRACIES AND ORDEAL; REFERENCES HALLIDAY: PROSODY AND DIALOGYVYGOTSKY: THE "GENETIC" LAW; SHAKESPEARE'S CONTRADICTIONS; NEXT CHAPTER: THE CHARACTER AND THE PLAYER; SCENE ONE; SCENE TWO; REFERENCES; CHAPTER 7:THE PROJECTING CHARACTER AND THE PERFORMING PLAYER; HALLIDAY: TAXIS, PROJECTION AND EXPANSION; VYGOTSKY: WHY THOUGHTS ARE QUOTABLE AND FEELINGS ARE NOT; SHAKESPEARE: FROM INTERPERSONAL TERROR TO INTRA-MENTAL HORROR; NEXT CHAPTER: SPEAKER AND SELF; SCENE ONE; SCENE TWO; SCENE THREE; SCENE FOUR; REFERENCES; CHAPTER 8:THE DECIDING SPEAKER AND THE DOUBTING SELF; HALLIDAY: ELABORATING "TO BE OR NOT TO BE VYGOTSKY: MAPPING LEARNING-AND DEVELOPMENTSHAKESPEARE: IS HAMLET MAD OR JUST MELANCHOLIC?; NEXT CHAPTER: THRILLER AND TRAGEDY; SCENE FOUR; SCENE FIVE; REFERENCES; CHAPTER 9:THE ACTION THRILLER AND THE ACTUAL TRAGEDY; HALLIDAY: EXTENSION, ENHANCEMENT AND PROJECTION; VYGOTSKY: INSTINCT, HABIT, INTELLIGENCE AND FREE WILL; SHAKESPEARE: IN PRAISE OF BOWDLERIZATION; NEXT CHAPTER: CLOWN AND KING; SCENE ONE; SCENE TWO; REFERENCES; CHAPTER 10:THE DELVING CLOWN AND THE DYING KING; HALLIDAY: CURSING, SWEARING AND OTHER FORMS OF LEXICAL COHESION; VYGOTSKY: MONODRAMA OR MELODRAMA?