Early
in my teaching career, I had a conversation with a student that will
always haunt me. I was sitting at my desk at lunchtime, reading William
Goldman’s The Princess Bride and
laughing to myself when I realized that one of my twelfth-graders was
perched at the edge of my desk. He pointed to the book. “Is that good?”
It
was a question I wasn’t expecting, since this particular student was
hard-pressed to read anything I put in his hands. “It’s one of my
favorites,” I said. “It’s hilarious in this really silly way. Have you
seen the movie?”
My student looked down at the book. “I’ve always been jealous of people who could do that, you know? Just open a book and get lost in the story. I wish I could do that. Enjoy, Ms. P.” He grabbed his backpack and left the room before I could formulate a response.
One
of my biggest regrets is not circling back to that conversation. At the
time, I was still in those first stages of teaching where the primary
goal is survival, and I didn’t know what to say that would change his
mind. I resolved in the following years to help students find their
identity as learners through the power of stories. In addition to strategies like these that enumerate the benefits of storytelling in class, here are three more reasons to value a narrative approach to instruction.
1) Incorporating stories into class increases language production.
While
literacy skills for all students can be maximized with the
instructional lens of storytelling, the benefits for English Language
Learners (ELLs) result in higher language output. Manuel Hernandez
shares the multiple benefits of encouraging ELLs to “write, publish, and
own their stories” in this Teaching Channel blog.
I vividly remember a language learner in my creative writing class
sharing a story she wrote about a scandal in her family. As she read
her story to the class, the gasps and squeals from her classmates gave
her confidence in what she had written. When I collected the story, I
saw that she had written over ten pages; in her English class, this same
student struggled to write even one full page. Framing instruction in stories
increases language production, both spoken and written. When students
produce more language, they get closer to reaching proficiency with literacy
skills. Couching learning in the narrative isn’t just engaging; it
speeds up language acquisition because the more kids are pulled in by a
story, the easier it is to write and speak.
2) Stories build stronger relationships.
Recently
I had a conversation with a ninth-grader about her Algebra class. “The
teacher’s really fun,” she said. “She makes up these crazy word problems
about celebrities or world events, and it helps because I know she
cares whether or not I’m paying attention.” When I ask students what
they enjoy about class, they often talk about their teachers and how
much they admire them. What stood out about what this student shared is
that her math teacher incorporated narrative structures into her content
area. The benefit of doing this is twofold in that not only do students connect more with the material,
but they also understand that the element of storytelling reflects a
level of personal connection that the teacher wants to establish and
maintain. When students know that their teachers care about them, they
work that much harder to succeed.
3) Stories increase teacher development of equitable and responsive practice.
Last
year, I taught a student in my English class who was honest with me
right off the bat. “I don’t like English class,” she said. “Nothing
personal. It’s just that I’m a visual artist.” I decided to help this
student by responding to her needs, not mine. “Well, you will have to do
English class things in here,” I said, “but you can also tell stories
with your art.” Sure enough, whenever it was possible to accompany an
assignment with an art piece, this student would labor for hours to make
something impressive. Her work focused on the narrative aspect of what
we were reading: feminist themes in The Awakening, or reflections on corruption of power in Macbeth.
It wasn’t just this one student who was approaching the content on her
terms; once other students saw that assignments responded to their
needs, they started sharing their own narratives of success. We still
fulfilled English course requirements, but we allowed time and space for
flexibility. As a result, the story of our class was a joyful one.
When teachers create room for storytelling in class,
students engage more authentically with instruction because of the
organic human interest in the narrative process. Making the time and
space for stories that bring in multiple perspectives and chances for
learning can open up a student’s world. When the time comes to plan lessons,
think about how to incorporate the narrative, in all its gloriously
responsive power, by increasing student language output, listening to
what kids have to say, and truly responding to their needs with caring.
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