Narrative learning: Teachers as storytellers
6/28/06
By Lauren Rouse
Storytelling has been a form of communication unique to every culture. Through a process called narrative learning, Dennie Smith, Malatesha Joshi and Emily Binks with the Department of Teaching, Learning and Culture at Texas A&M University, are finding a new way to apply this time-honored technique to prepare preservice teachers for careers in the classroom.
Through their study titled, "Teachers as Storytellers: A Reflection Process that Moves Beyond Stories Just for the Students," the three are exploring how preservice teachers can use storytelling to be reflective about their experiences in the classroom. They argue that this reflection is key for effective teaching.
"As the practice of reflecting is so critical to good teaching, it is particularly important that preservice teachers are taught and encouraged to employ useful reflection techniques," said doctoral student Binks.
The group presented their research at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association this April in San Francisco. In the study they found that the storytelling process was a reflective and collaborative process that not only generated knowledge processes and promoted reflective teaching, but also provided a substantive end of the teacher education program.
Through the process, preservice teachers were asked to tell stories that explained an incident or event, had a lesson or moral and included events that were important to them in their experience to becoming a teacher. The students were paired together and each was asked a series of questions after presenting their narrative to the other.
The preservice teachers analyzed their own stories like a narrative and identified elements such as heroes, villains, turning points, main characters, morals and lessons. Assigning roles to the characters and elements in their own personal narratives helped the preservice teachers find meaning and lessons in their own experiences.
"The purpose of the follow-up questions was to provide a focus for the story and its meaning for the preservice teachers," Binks said. "The intent was to assist the storytellers in being reflective about their practice so that they could benefit by or learn from the experiences related in their narratives."
Participants from the study reported several lessons learned including, "look for the positives in a bad situation," "you learn from those you teach," "be prepared for anything," "a new career is a big adjustment and you need to be patient with yourself and your students, and learn from your mistakes," "keep an open mind and be flexible," "give respect to students, use positive reinforcement, and don't ever give up on the students."
Binks adds that the lessons learned from such a simple form of communication can impact the way preservice teachers enter the teaching profession.
"Storytelling is one of the oldest and most basic ways for people to make meaning of their experiences," said Binks. "And, it might just be an effective mode for preservice teachers to comfortably and thoughtfully reflect upon their beginning teaching experiences."
