by Sean Sweeney February 26, 2024 2 min read
Looking for narrative structure in varied places will yield you many TOOLs! This includes sources such as games, current events, interactive websites, and of course, videos. In this post I want to expand upon the great work of Dr. Anna Vagin, who several years ago co-presented a webinar with Maryellen Moreau on the power of using animations for social and language learning (Play..Pause...SGM, still available for free here).
A quote from this webinar resonates strongly: Jerome Bruner (1986, 1996) referred to narrative thinking as a capacity to “read other minds”; “to make accurate inferences about the motives and intentions of others based on their observable behavior and the social situations in which they act. Narrative thinking is the very process we use to understand the social life around us,” take perspective and to construct situation models.
These teaching points apply to a series that Dr. Vagin has since championed, that of Maca and Roni, two lab “helpers” who often experience multiple kick-offs per video episode, the playlist to be found here. Dr. Vagin has also created a Super Social Learning Spreadsheet in which she details many categories of social concepts which can be targeted using the videos, with links.
I hope your “lab” is free of Maca-and-Roni-style, generally avoidable kick-offs this week!
Sean Sweeney, MS, MEd, CCC-SLP, is a speech-language pathologist and technology specialist working in private practice at the Ely Center in Needham, MA, and as a clinical supervisor at Boston University. He consults to local and national organizations on technology integration in speech and language interventions. His blog, SpeechTechie (www.speechtechie.com), looks at technology “through a language lens.” Contact him at sean@speechtechie.com.
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