National School Reform Faculty

Storytelling
Date: August 29 - September 3, 2003.
Listserv: Coaches

Thu, 29 Aug 2002 08:38 AM
I just started reading "Figures, Facts & Fables: Telling Tales in Science & Math" by Barbara Lipke, in preparation for the class of new teachers that I'm beginning to teach next month. I'm really struck by the power of storytelling to connect us with our students. It worked for me as a child/learner and I think it works for a lot of our kids as well. I'm remembering the times when I'd "lapse" into telling my kids a story, and then catch myself because we needed more "time on task.” They always wanted more time for stories, to hear mine, share theirs... I think this book is going to show me how to capture that interest and serve the curriculum simultaneously.

On a related note, I just interviewed Peggy Silva, one of the authors of Standards of Mind and Heart and she spoke of the importance of storytelling among members of the school community in order to keep the school's vision alive and well...

Are you using storytelling in your classroom or broader school community?
Debbie, Pennsylvania

Thursday, August 29, 2002 4:56 PM
Deborah,
Thanks for bringing up the topic of stories and their use in the classroom. It's one of my favorites. I am particularly interested in how students (of any age) are able to listen with more complete attention when a story is being told, as opposed to a lecture or purely didactic information. While I am not a brain researcher I am quite sure that we literally shift into a different mode of brain function and receive story information through a different channel than otherwise. "Once upon a time." or any version of a story beginning is like an instant doorway into this other mode of listening. Stories seem to have a "space" that we enter into collectively and if they are told with visual cues, they create images that we can hold onto long after the story has ended. So I have used them in a number of ways. One is purely practical. When I need to get a group's attention I try to enter into the story mode even if it is the simplest of tales, something that may have happened in school ten minutes ago.

When I taught art to lower school students I often created stories that would lead them into the art experience. I recall one of my favorite moments with first graders. I wanted them to explore ways of using paint and mixing colors. I told them a totally silly story about a party with Willy White and YoYo Yellow and Betty Blue. And who is this? I held up the red. "Rambo Red!" one child offered. The dance floor was the white page and this is where the party would happen. It was the first time I had used the story mode in quite this way.

I distinctly remember their body language when I held up the blue paint and said, “This is Betty Blue.” Their eyes widened, faces relaxed and they all shifted slightly towards me. I was ok in their eyes. I had entered the story space where they were so comfortable. The paintings that day were extraordinary. They narrated the paintings as they were making them. "And now Betty Blue is gonna dance up the side of the page. She's shy...And here comes Rambo red! They're going to dance together now.” And so on. The paintings were everything that I had hoped for, open, joyous, experimental. And the learning that I had wanted to take place happened very naturally: color mixing, full use of the page, experiments with textures and shape.
I have also experimented with storytelling with the whole middle school, gatherings of 250 students. There is complete silence and full attention during the course of the story. It is a perfect time to use the story in the ancient tradition of the teaching parable. Rather than telling kids they ought to be more generous with each other or not tease or whatever, the story demonstrates the teaching and lodges it in their memories in a way that is very different than just being told, "it's good for you, you ought to."

I think the uses of stories are endless in education (at every level, especially with adults who need so badly to step out of "task mode" and re-enter the story space). The speakers and teachers that I have most loved to listen to shift back and forth from story mode to presenting information. There’s something to it. Is it taught in any education schools? I would love to hear what others have done with stories.
Thanks
Eric, New York

Thu, 29 Aug 2002 9:18:51 PM -0400
Eric,
Thank you for sharing your powerful use of storytelling in your classroom. I'm wondering if the use of stories is a way of making our classrooms more inclusive. Many of our children come from homes where storytelling is common, even though reading aloud may not be. By consciously incorporating stories we can invite them into the group, into the "story space.” I grew up in a family where everyone told stories, but I never saw this format used in school and consequently saw it as less important or valuable, for far too many years.

I'm also thinking about last fall's Equity Meeting in Bloomington where the power of people's personal stories helped us understand each other and our work in new ways...
Thanks again,
Debbie, Pennsylvania

Friday, August 30, 2002 12:05 AM
Hi Deborah,
This is an interesting topic. I teach biology, chemistry and physics to 10-12th grade students in an urban school district. I have experimented with storytelling as a way to reach auditory learners (I always test my students on the first day of class for learning style, and there are many auditory learners in my classes).
What I have found is that, regardless of learning style, students do show attentive listening behaviors during stories (the stories I focus on tend to be gross...experiments on the human stomach, how the Yellow Fever vector was discovered, ways we have learned what different parts of the brain do...the grossness factor is definitely captivating). I get a lot more eyes facing forward, fewer sidebars, more clarifying and probing questions from the class, than during a "standard lecture.” So the quality of the listening is distinctive.
But, (and this is a big but for me), I don't see much difference in retention of information. Kids latch onto details that I might not be trying to emphasize from the science standpoint. If I am talking about the scientific method and using a story to illustrate how it works, the kids recall story details and not how they apply to the framework of "doing science.” I have found, repeatedly, that if I am trying to get across a point I need to use several scaffolding measures, including as many senses as possible (visual aids, note taking, labs, handouts, stories, the whole bag of tricks) in order to get the point into long-term memory. Actually, it takes 7-10 contacts with new information before it can go from short-term to long-term memory. If the information is somewhat familiar, or relates to something familiar, the number of contacts needed is reduced (thus the story mechanism proves valuable), but more than one contact is still essential. From my experience, familiar info still requires at least 5 contacts for most of my students before they feel a measure of confidence with it (i.e. they can use the info in their own conversations or refer to it in assignments).
I still think stories are very useful, and I love that golden 15 minutes of a captive audience, but it is not a silver bullet, at least not for me. I still have to work pretty hard with support measures in order to get the desired result.

One last thought.... I have been teaching for 7 years and I am in contact with several students from early classes...one of whom is a senior at UCLA in a biology program. She tells me that she remembers the stories, especially the microbiology ones (food poisoning, causes of death, pretty graphic stories). For some students the stories are great for reinforcing vocabulary...and there is a ton of vocab in the sciences and math. I guess I have a little anecdotal evidence that stories are very useful for learning vocabulary, but every elementary teacher knows that. Takes us awhile, but secondary teachers can catch on. ;-)
Angela, California

Fri, 30 Aug 2002 07:25:01 -0400
We've heard some powerful stories about the use of stories in our classrooms, I'm wondering if we make space for this vehicle in our groups... How can we use the story space productively as colleagues without giving way to the ramblings we dread in meetings? Is there a way to capture the value of the stories while staying focused? I'm thinking of the Metaphor activity as one way... We need to revisit our stories to feed our vision and community? Other ideas, activities?
Debbie, Pennsylvania

Friday, August 30, 2002 10:42 AM
Hello, Everyone....... Years ago (at least one hundred), it became increasingly apparent to me that the fears and insecurities that beleaguer high school kids were diminishing their willingness to speak their opinions in the classroom, feel safe in the halls and cafeteria and take risks in order to increase learning and improve relationships.

At that time, I began to develop what I called the plan for "creating a non-judgmental atmosphere" in my academic classes and in my theatre programs.

An interesting method developed from the plan, which I named The Significant Event Session. It was first used in my theatre program where I could "use" a large group of kids (35-50) for the experiment.
A non-school day was set aside for the Session. The expectations were that each adult and student involved brings a story about themselves that was in any way significant to their lives. They were asked to bring an object that could be passed around to each person in the group that would be indicative of their "event." Their "story" could be happy, sad, troubling or uplifting. Although we asked for complete confidentiality within the group to protect individuals and their shared stories, the kids were reminded that they should probably not share something that would be devastating to anyone inside or outside the group if someone broke this agreement.

Everyone involved in the theatre program was required to take part in the session. One was not allowed to pass. If some were willing to share, it became an expectation that all would share.
We set aside a four-hour Saturday rehearsal day for the session. We reserved the library where the kids had room to sit in a huge circle. The kids brought breakfast beverages and refreshments for themselves and some parents provided lunch, which was set up in another room to be available when we finished.
The stories that were courageously told in the library that first day ran the gamut from heartbreaking to raucous. There were tears and belly laughs. We learned about each other.
At the time, and years later, I get feedback about the sessions. The significant event sessions continue and kids continue to say things like:

"I learned that there were other people as frightened as I am about school."
"All of a sudden, 50 people started to say hello to me in the hall because I became a person to them."
"It was very hard, but very important to tell my peers something about my life. Now they look me in the eye."
"I thought no one was like me. I learned that there are a lot of people who are more than a face and a T-shirt."

This is not a method that can be taken lightly. I believe the structure has to be used carefully, and with intense preparation. The groups in which I use the method are trained in non-judgment, group norms, risk-taking, and trust issues. I do not use it until these lessons have had a chance to take seed and until I feel confident that the serious expectations will be respected and followed without question. On the day of the event, I spend a significant amount of time on the process and the expectations that have been agreed upon by the participants. They understand very clearly that the storytelling cannot be a "showcase," or for calling attention to themselves in a light that may be mere "grandstanding." They agree to tell truths without embellishments for effect.

I talk it over with the administration, and the school psychologist. I send an explanatory letter home to parents. On the day of the event, the school psychologist is available to us. I take these precautions very seriously although no emotional emergency has ever occurred. Some people are safe telling only a funny story from their childhood. On the other extreme, some kids talk about parental abuse or a deep-rooted fear.

I have been using this protocol for over twenty years. One year, I found it difficult to find a whole day where everyone could come together—the session is very long. The kids came to me and entreated me to include the event into our time together no matter what they had to give up to do it.
This kind of story telling has been a valuable tool for me, which has become an integral part of the important process of creating a safe environment, modeling risk taking and establishing a community in a classroom.
Thanks for listening.....
Jan, Rhode Island

Friday, August 30, 2002 12:39:39 PM
Hello Eric and all-
I hope everyone's year is off to an auspicious start! I loved Eric’s sharing of his experience with the colors and making it a story. I had a very similar experience just yesterday. One of the middle schools I work with had a flagpole dedication ceremony. Among all the politicians spouting their God Bless America message, was a small, elderly man who had fought in Guadalcanal. He told his story; he talked about why the flag was so important to him. As Eric has described that "channel" opened up and all 500 squirmy, bored middle school kids sat rapt, hanging on his every word. Stories are POWERFUL! It does disturb me that the research community is so willing to discount their power as "evidence"
JoAnne, Maine

Friday, August 30, 2002 3:05 PM
Hello everyone!
I hope this isn't too abrupt for a first time posting, but I've been following this discussion with interest. There is a growing body of research by Jean Clandinin and Michael Connelly, Cheryl Craig, Margaret Olson, and others, that supports the power that stories hold. And since they hold such power, they can be most valuable sources of evidence. I know we have found this to be true in our school portfolio work. "Hard" quantitative data can describe a school, but it has its limits. At some point, teacher, student and school stories need to be brought in to illuminate what really is going on in a school.
Paul, Texas

Friday, August 30, 2002 4:13 PM
Dear Debbie,
Some years ago, funded by CES and AISR, Joe Check and I brought together teachers who wanted to write their "stories" for publication. In so doing, they shared personal narratives and at the same time, because of the process, raised broader issues of teaching and learning. They learned to stand back from their own stories to understand both critical distance and political impact of sharing those stories with an audience.
All of us brought what we learned into the classroom. From those experiences with our own writing, we gained new skills and a new level of understanding for the struggles of our students and of our communication with them about their work.

While Joe and I did understand the power of teacher voices at the time, we did not know that the greatest value of sharing stories was the reflection engendered first by the oral articulation of the story, then by the writing and "public" critiquing of the work. Teachers became their own peer reviewers. They saw their own incidents as someone else might see them. And they revisited incidents in response to questions by others engaged in the same process.

Some of you may remember that one year (I think it was l995-96) we did create an experience particularly for math/science teachers. What fun it was to write our "critter" stories and to see them leap from our pads to become metaphors for our own teaching.

So powerful were those experiences for all of us that some -- JoAnne Dowd, Jan Grant, Simon Hole, Peggy Silva, and Jon Appleby (now known as Educators Writing for Change) -- still meet four times a year for a weekend at a time to share our own writing and to clarify our thinking.
From this work together, we have written a book -- Reflection: The Heart of Changing Practice -- to be published in February 2003 by Teachers College Press. Mike Rose is writing the Preface. Joe and I wrote the Intro. Each chapter is a personal narrative along with a protocol. Each approaches reflective practice from a different vantage point.

It was an uphill battle to validate the use of stories as both a research tool and as a tool for professional growth. The Critical Incidents Protocol grew out of my own need to find a way to work in a more formal way with stories. I believe NSRF has the latest version of that protocol, but if you'd like me to send it along, I will.
I appreciate the current conversation about the use of stories. They provide a lens through which we can see cultural norms and idiosyncrasies. And through their telling, retelling and refinement, they are a valuable tool for our own learning.
Grace, Rhode Island

Fri, 30 Aug 2002 4:45:35 PM -0400
I have been following this conversation the past couple of days and thinking about how we, as whole school change coaches, here at CCE were encouraged to tell the "stories" of our work in schools to our research team as they began to gather "data" for the first coaches' study they did. It was such an absolute pleasure for me to have someone turn on a tape recorder, ask me some guiding questions and..... I was on my way talking about my work in schools, the successes and challenges of helping teachers, administrators, parents and students begin to understand and implement the Ten Common Principles of CES through collaborative practice.

I wasn't writing, but the telling helped me sort through the ways in which I portrayed my work, how I described resistance, what I did to respond to it, what worked, what didn't. All or our coaches participated in this study with their own stories and it was published as the first round paper and presented at Fall Forum and AERA last year. The second round has just been completed with the school communities with whom we work telling their stories of how they perceive our work in their schools. Of course, the research team has other quantitative data they collected from us (logs we keep of our time and specific activities in schools) but the quotes from our stories are powerful reflections on what keeps us going, what keeps us up at night and what moves us to tears and to laughter! So, yes, there is a place in the research for stories and for change in practice as an outcome of that storytelling.

Thanks to all for sharing. Can't wait to see the new book, Grace!
Mary, Massachusetts

Tue, 3 Sep 2002 10:09:07 AM EDT
Critical Incidents Protocol
(for shared reflection)
1. Getting Started. The group assigns roles: facilitator, timekeeper, etc.
2. Write Stories. Each member of the group writes briefly in response to the question: What happened? (10 minutes)
3. Choose a Story. The group decides which story to use.
4. What Happened? Presenter reads the written account of what happened and sets it within the context of professional goals or outcomes on which he or she is working. (10 minutes)
5. Why Did It Happen? Colleagues ask clarifying questions about what happened or about why the incident occurred. (5 minutes)
6. What Might It Mean? The group raises questions about what the incident might mean in the context of the presenter’s work. They discuss as professional, caring colleagues. Presenter listens. (15 minutes)
7. What are the Implications for Practice? Presenter responds, and then the group engages in general conversation about what the implications might be for the presenter’s practice and for their own. A useful question at this stage might be, “What new insights occurred?” (15 minutes)
8. Debrief the Process. The group talks about what just happened. How did the process work? (10 minutes)
(Derived from Critical Incidents in Teaching: Developing Professional
Judgment, Chapter 2, by David Tripp, 1993).
Grace, Rhode Island

Tue, 3 Sep 2002 10:32:40 AM -0400
Although I am a regular reader of this list, I have rarely contributed. This discussion about the role of stories in teaching and in reflecting on teaching really interests me -- enough that I thought I'd share some of how I have used this Critical Incidents Protocol in my own work with new and experienced teachers.
For the past two summers I have taught a graduate course at the University of New Hampshire (where I teach) called Writing About Teaching. The purpose of the course is to give teachers a chance to explore their work through writing. Participants have included very new teachers who are just completing their student teaching internships as well as more experienced teachers (who have been teaching anywhere from 1 to 25 years).

I have used the Critical Incidents Protocol very successfully in this class as a prompt for helping participants find stories that they want to tell and for exploring the meaning(s) and implications of the incidents they describe with others. I usually ask people to read the article from Educational Leadership by Simon Hole and Grace McEntee (Reflection is at the Heart of Practice May, 1999) before we get started. I find the discussions about teaching that result are always rich and insightful. Participants frequently expand upon their initial stories and continue to explore the issues raised as a result of the protocol in subsequent writing. In addition, these discussions have helped members of the class come to respect and trust one another deeply.
Based on these experiences, I am planning to use this protocol with the interns in my yearlong student teaching seminar.
Liza, Maine