Friday, February 18, 2011

Talking in Symbols

Many a time symbolic language plays tremendous part in making people understand the things easily and clearly which otherwise does not seem to be that easy. The other day, while teaching, I was trying to make it clear to the students as to what a good paragraph was. Even after strenuous efforts, I was not convinced that the students had well taken my point. Suddenly I was reminded of a quotation which goes like this- A good paragraph should be like a lady's skirt: long enough to cover the essentials but short enough to keep it interesting. This was enough and the response from the students was that I was satisfied that the job had been done to the maximum. There was no need for further elaboration. 

22 comments:

  1. It is indeed Mr.bali ,an interesting quotation.I will keep it in my mind for the whole of my life.
    It is good to see you again on blog.
    My good wishes to you and your family.

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  2. Great example of using a simple but powerful mental construct that hits home instead of a lenghty literal explanation that risks going by like a passed ball for some. ( excuse the baseball lingo lol)

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  3. interesting and perfect way to explain

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  4. You seem like a good teacher, Mr. Bali (Oh I'm sorry to have address you that way... I got your name from that of sagebob's comment :)) Some teachers doesn't care whether their student's grab whatever they are saying...
    And yes, symbols aren't that so easy to explain... I have it oftentimes, in dreams. I just hope I know how to explain them BEFORE it actually happens. Oh well, thanks for the comment Mr. Bali :) Take Care!

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  5. I always feel some stimulating synonyms can have a gr8 impression on student's mind!



    Superb Sir !!

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  6. Jagdish ji,

    Excellent one. May be you can look at my post and tell me if I got my paragraph right....being in teaching profession you are the best judge.

    Is it long enough but not too long.....

    :)))

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  7. Following you now. Can learn something from you. If you like my blog, you may want to follow but do not believe you will learn anything but of course you can be the critique...

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  8. that was such a sweet commnet, thank you!
    and now I am really enjoying your posts!

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  9. Loved the quotation Sir...
    Thanks for sharing this incident... :)

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  10. well..that's not a good example..but a GREAT one..
    enjoyed reading a teachers blog..

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  11. Long and short of the matter is that you were able to drive home the point in an interesting manner.
    Very nice!

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  12. This post is like a lady's skirt! Sounds like you're a good teacher. :)

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  13. Interesting post. Congratulations!
    Have a blessed and wonderful day!

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  14. Absolutely spot on! I am measuring my skirt's lengths later on!!

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  15. Baliji,
    Nice post.
    Reminds me of the quotation by Milton Friedman about Statistics when he said: Statistics is like a bikini - what it reveals is suggestive, and what it hides, is vital"

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  16. :) I think you chose the perfect example to get the message across, Jagdish... That by itself was a great piece of communication! :)

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  17. wish i had a teacher like u....

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