Yes - a teacher's words have incredible power to lift someone up or deflate them, don't they ? Thank goodness, teachers are taught to include a lot more self-evaluation nowadays: "How did you feel your scene went ?" "Is there anything you would have done differently ?" (opening for the teacher to make subtle suggestions here) and praise from the teacher and the rest of the class: "What did you especially like about this group's dance ?"

When watching mimes and "freeze frame pictures" (drama teacher's staple diet), I quickly learned, the hard way, not to go for the obvious interpretation and to keep my mouth shut until I found out what was occurring - eg. I have had Vikings who I thought were bandaging each other after the battle very indignantly tell me that of course not - they were giving each other tattoos. The indignation was genuine and totally justified - I had broken the spell of the world they had just created for themselves.

The worst thing a teacher ever said to me (and I can still feel the hurt to this day, like you and your bird dance, Liz) was after I had spent ages using every coloured pencil to draw a picture of Jesus wearing the brightest clothes imaginable. My teacher told me it couldn't possibly be Jesus, because he always wore white.

I hate to think how many times I may have unwittingly used the wrong words to a child at the wrong time. All a teacher can do is try to keep aware of the pitfalls of ill-chosen words, accentuate the positive, give genuine praise - and remember what it was like to be 7.

- jeanie