‘Don’t speak!’ I find myself saying this daily…with great aplomb and dramatic gesture. It works every time. Chatter stops and they all watch me for directions. It helps that I am tall.
I thought about ‘Don’t speak!’ the other day and I wondered vaguely where I had picked up this piece of Broadway theatrical speech. It came to me. In ‘Bullets Over Broadway’ a Woody Allen film starring Dianne Wiest…her character walks around saying constantly, ‘Don’t speak!’ when there is someone or something she doesn’t wish to deal with.
Thanks Woody. Thanks Dianne. I may try this outside the classroom…especially as the holiday season begins in earnest.
690 Saint Paul 