Proxemics. During this interaction, I have changed my proximity back to the middle of the room, but still maintaining a social distance with those at the front tables and a public distance with those at the back. I remain fixed in this spot because I still do not want anyone to miss any details –even though part of the answer is directed at the 3rd
grade teachers. If I had created a more intimate proxemic distance with the 3rd grade teachers, that may have communicated a more direct connection with them and their schedule issue. However, I stay where I am because the topic of IE-squared time is broad enough that everyone should hear the answer. When I talk about how IE-squared is tied to specials and to lunch, I change my proxemics by stepping to my right with specials and with lunch. This also amplifies the iconic gesture I make with my hands to show how IE- squared is tied with these two segments of the day.
Posture. I am still standing upright and facing the audience throughout the interaction. This communicates that I am providing an answer, which everyone would benefit from hearing. I turn my torso slightly to the 3rd grade teachers in the 15th panel because I am directing that part of my answer to them. I do this because I cannot change my proxemics to get closer to their table without losing the rest of the audience.
Therefore, I stay fixed in my spot and rotate slightly to face them. The clipboard affects my posture slightly; while I am presenting an open posture to communication, the clipboard is closing me off, and it appears that I am hiding something.
Gestures. At the beginning, my left hand still holds the clipboard with the document. My right hand is up (with my pen in hand like a baton or pointer) with my index finger and thumb creating a small square when I say “the IE-squared”. This is an iconic gesture because IE-squared is a specific time in the schedule, and my hand gesture is vivifying that time. This gesture is continued as I say that it is “tied to either the tied to specials like the end of specials of the beginning of lunch”. My hand moves to the right to show IE-squared tied to specials and then further to the right when I say how it is tied to “the beginning of lunch”. It is as if I am physically moving IE-squared in the air and
tying it to other parts of the school schedule. My index finger and thumb actually close when I say “specials” and “lunch.” This gesture tighter and more linear than the iconic gesture I make to show it “just floating out there”: my hand goes out to the right, back in, back out to the right, and then in and downward to show this idea. My hand then pauses and I point with my pen directly to the 3rd grade table as I explain how their IE-squared time was “kind of floatin’ out there,” at which point my hand creates a small pictorial of the floating. I point again at them when I say “for 3rd
grade.” I conclude by starting another downward sweeping iconic gesture that shows “why we” put IE-squared at the bottom of the schedule for them. These gestures attempt to show the complex scheduling decision that we had to make and then to place that emphasis on 3rd grade.
Head Movement. During this interaction, my head movement facilitates my gaze from the audience, to the document on the clipboard, and to the 3rd grade table. I begin with my head turned to the right, and when I stammer a little (“tied to either, the tied to specials”), my head goes down to the schedule document (for security). Once that assurance is gained (at “lunch something tied to something else”), my head comes up as I speak to the audience. I wanted to make sure the audience was still attending to the complicated topic. When I start to talk about IE-squared for 3rd grade, my head turns to the left towards them but then goes down with a small rotational shaking of the head as I say “was going to be kind of floatin’ out there.” This rotational head movement shows that I think it was a mistake for it to float out there (as if saying, “No, no, no” to that). Finally, when I say “that’s why we,” my head tilts to the left in a lateral movement in preparation for the downward hand gesture and words that show where we put IE- squared in their schedule.
Gaze. During this interaction, I move my gaze from the right to the left in the beginning, so the audience can see that I am talking to all of them. When I talk
specifically about where IE-squared is placed in the schedule (3rd panel), my gaze goes downward to the schedule document. I do this to ensure that I am answering correctly about the schedule’s layout. I then refocus my gaze on the audience to the right. Then, I shift my gaze to the left and to the 3rd grade table as I say “that’s why the IE-squared,” back down to the clipboard as I talk about it “kind of floatin’ out there,” and then raise up my gaze quickly when I say “for 3rd
grade.” My gaze, therefore, was structured and sequential during this interaction –especially because I use it to create a closer bond with the 3rd grade.
Print. During the interaction, I am still using disembodied print as I talk to the group; however, I look down and refer to is more often –particularly in the 3rd through 7th panels when I say “tied to either the, tied to specials like the end of specials.” Once again, this makes the print, which remains on the clipboard in my left hand, both disembodied and embodied because it comes alive as I talk about the subject. The teachers are reacting to the disembodied print documents in their folders as well –even though my own copy is hidden.
Layout. The layout remains the same during this scene as it had for scenes one and two.
Figure 18
MULTIMODAL DENSITY CIRCLE: GOING OVER THE 3rd GRADE CLASS AND
IE2 SCHEDULES
During this interaction, my gestures carry the highest intensity because they help both the other characters in the performance and me while I attempt to explain the 3rd grade class and IE2 schedules. My hands and my fingers are positioned in the air throughout the interaction, and they physically show the various parts of the schedule –as if the schedule was floating in the air. While I was confident in my overall knowledge about the schedule, my hands helped me piece it all together. If my hands were not in the interaction, I would have struggled, and my audience would have also struggled to grasp the entirity of my explanation. My gaze has a slightly lower intensity (but not much) because I connect with the different parts of the audience, the print, and then the 3rd grade teachers in particular. Thus, my gaze shows the audience that I am tending to those specific elements during the presentation. Unfortunately, my gaze shifts down towards the printed schedule too much and creates a disconnect with the audience. While the remaining modes share equally low intensities in the interaction, print possesses a slightly higher intensity because I utitlize it and look down at it so
GAZE GESTURES LAYOUT HEAD MOVEMENT PRINT PROXEMICS POSTURE
frequently. Essentially, I use it to assure myself of the lines and the script, so it has a high intensity for me but it creates a disconnection with the audience.
DRAMATURGICAL ANALYSIS: GOING OVER THE 3rd GRADE CLASS AND IE2 SCHEDULES
Framing: shaping and managing information. This information was shaped in the same manner as the other documents –by the performance team of me and the
principal. The only additional shaping has to do with the colors chosen for this particular schedule. To emphasize the various parts of the master schedule –including the IE2 schedule—I decided to give them colors. Specifically, the instructional blocks were white, the specials segments were green, the lunch/recess times were orange, and the IE2 sections were yellow. By creating colored parts, I was trying to help the teachers see their schedules more clearly –and to help other staff members (specials teachers, cafeteria workers, custodians, secretaries, and administration) see how all of the schedules worked together.
Scripting: planning the performance. I am somewhat confident as I deliver this content about schedules to the teachers. I created the schedule after working and revising it with the principal; therefore, I was confident that I was delivering the right message, but there are always questions when a schedule is created. The teachers look at an administrator’s work and tend to either accept it or pick it apart. I was prepared for them to see errors that I did not see and elements to consider that I had not considered. Thus, I was nervous about the questions to come and about answering them correctly in front of the principal. As a result, there are a lot of examples of repeated phrases (“tied to
either…tied to specials like the end of specials” and “floating out there” and “kind of floatin’ out there”) during the interaction.
Rhetorical Devices: use of metaphors, analogies, stories, sensory language. I used sensory language during this performance to help the audience see why we tried to connect the IE2 section of the schedule to recess or specials. Specifically, I talked about not wanting it be “floating out there.” This visual imagery painted a picture of IE2 loosely detached from the rest of the school schedule and “floating” in the air. Our efforts were, therefore, to “tie” it down.
Casting: characters in the performance, protagonists, antagonists. As previously mentioned in the other scenes, I consider all of the teachers and staff in the cast as protagonists. I focused my explanation on the 3rd grade teachers during the final two panels because I thought that they might be upset (and antagonistic) about where IE2 was placed in their schedule. It was put in the afternoon –while the other grade levels had it in the morning before lunch. Therefore, I planned for and somewhat rehearsed those lines because I didn’t want my protagonists to become my antagonists. As a result, they were satisfied by my explanation.
Directions and Staging: physical appearance, props, setting. My physical appearance and the setting remain the same. The clipboard and the schedule document are both props that I hold and use during the performance.
Impression Management. The majority of the impression management
strategies I use during this performance are promotion and face work. By explaining how the schedule works, I am promoting myself, my work, and my knowledge about the subject. I want the teachers to know that I am well-versed about their daily working
lives. Even though I use the pronoun “we” in the final panel to emphasize that the work was done by the principal and me, I want the teachers to know that I did it. That is why I also employ face work during the performance. I am trying to preserve the “self” that the teachers expect, so I present a confident “self” who knows the schedule and how and why it was created. That is why I do not turn to the principal at any point to get help with the explanation. Such a move might muddy their perception of me and my confident “self.”
Improvisation. Nothing is really improvised during this performance. I had prepared for this explanation of the schedule.
Act V, Scene 1: Talking with 3rd grade teachers before the Instructional Support Team meeting
I AM A CAUCASIAN MAN WITH AN INTEREST IN LANGUAGE WHO
BECAME A SCHOOL ADMINISTRATOR, WHO IS EMIC TO HIS WORK, AND WHO FEELS IT IS IMPORTANT TO EXAMINE LANGUAGE USE IN THE AREA OF SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION TO UNDERSTAND HOW
LANGUAGE CHANGES IN THE DIFFERENT SETTINGS AND WITH THE