Telling tales in school

NEA Today, Sep 1996 by Dismuke, Diane

Maine teachers share stories to gain perspective on professional problems.

You've heard about telling tales out of school. How about telling tales in school? Not as gossip-as a professional development activity that helps educators solve classroom problems.

Storytelling is an old art, but it's been fine-tuned lately by educators in Maine and around the nation. They've found that providing time for teachers to "tell their stories" helps educators learn from one another.

The idea was suggested to Sue Walters, an eighth grade English teacher at Wells Junior High School in Maine, at a planning conference a few years ago.

"I thought, sit around and tell stories? What does that mean?" recalls Walters. But, after attending a storytelling session, Walters sang a different tune.

"It's an extremely powerful experience to be able to talk about some of the problems that you, as a teacher, are having, and then to hear what other folks' lives have been like," Walters says. "We all made connections. School settings and socioeconomic levels made no difference."

The experience, she says, "was so positive and so powerful" that the group decided to use the same technique with other educators in a series of regional, and then national, meetings.

Since then, the art of storytelling has evolved-and Walters has become a leader of the movement. When she leads sessions now, Walters tends to focus on just one topic or subject area-like working with troubled students or teaching reading.

Typically, the facilitator asks participants to tell a story, then draw from it lessons and "shining moments."

In the discussion that follows, the facilitator talks about events in the story, the setting, the plot, the characters, and the resolution.

Then participants break into small groups to tell their own stories. When all the stories in a group have been told, the group discusses them and identifies common themes.

It's this talking that leads to action. Stories contain insights about issues and problems-the discussion afterward leads to ways to improve teaching and learning.

"Storytelling is great for identifying issues and problems and finding solutions. And it works for everyone, from student interns to top administrators," says Walters, who often facilitates sessions at Association local and national conferences.

-Diane Dismuke

For more information, check out Journey to School Reform: Moving From Reflection to Action through Story Telling, David K. Wallace, editor. To order, contact the NEA Professional Library, PO. Box 509, West Haven, CT 06516, 800/229-4200. $14.95 plus s&h. To get the member price, $12.95 plus s&h, use stock #1871-0-10-F California and Washington, D.C. residents, add sales tax.