Storytelling in education has been well researched as a powerful pedagogy. Storytelling also plays a significant role in building society. Educational theorist, Jerome Bruner (2007) believes that life is autobiographical and that every culture in the world tells stories. Bruner (2007, 5) expands on the cultural significance of storytelling and the power of using storytelling to teach by stating that:
"we schematize our experience principally through story-telling, through narrative⦠Indeed, our guiding paradigms are narrative in nature, familiar little local tales, like (even now!) what to expect at a first meeting of a seminar. And when, more reflectively, we try to make sense of "the larger picture" we do so by creating familiar "continued stories" about life more generally. And in doing so, we rely upon the customary genres on offer in our culture -- ones that serve the culture's need to make the strange familiar, but, as well, to make ourselves distinctive and "private." "
Thus Bruner (2007) highlights how story-telling relies on cultural context as well as enables us to organize our individual experience of the world around us.
Oral tradition is powerful aspect of African education, yet Bruner (2007) emphasizes how story-telling is universal.
Secondly Bruner (2007, 6) reasons that story-telling is a powerful means of organizing experience because stories have an astonishing range of uses -- as confessions, excuses, justifications, or just to tell "what happened." We'd be virtually mute without them. The second thing is that (as we know both intuitively and from some classic psychological research) everybody is troubled by incomplete stories.
Bruner (2007) highlights how using stories to teach curriculum content is culturally sensitive as every culture in the world tells stories. Bruner (2007) also highlights how narrative education promotes organization of concepts and sustains students interest as we all want to know the end of a story. Bruner (2007) proposes narrative pedagogy explores and cultivates human possibility.
References: Bruner, J. (2007, March 13). Cultivating the Possible. [Speech]. Oxford Dedication of Jerome Bruner Building, Oxford University. Retrieved from http://www.education.ox.ac.uk/about-us/video-archive/
Transcript retrieved from: http://www.education.ox.ac.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Transcript-Cultivating-the-Possible.pdf
Google Slides can be embedded in Google Sites. The new Google Sites is a simple way to create online curriculum.
"Lit Trips are downloadable files that mark the journeys of characters from famous literature on the surface of Google Earth. Along the way, placemarks with pop-up windows contain "just in time" resources including relevant media, thought-provoking discussion starters, and links to supplementary information about "real world" references in that portion of the story. Our focus is on creating engaging and relevant literary experiences for students. " To learn more about Google Lit Trips visit http://www.googlelittrips.org/