Need for Story: Cultural Diversity in Classroom and Community, The

Journal of Engineering Education, Oct 1998

Edited by,Anne Haas Dyson S Celia Genishi National Council of Teachers of English, 1994, 259 pages.

The Need for Story enriches and extends the message of Stories Lives Tell by highlighting the role stories can play in creating a climate and giving reason to celebrate diversity. The cover description says it succinctly:

"We all have a basic need for story, for organizing our experiences into tales of important happenings. In this volume, nineteen contributors explore the nature of story - the basic functions it serves, its connections to the diverse sociocultural landscape of our society, and its power in the classroom. Emphasizing the complex relationships among story, ethnicity, and gender, the book includes within its scope stories both told and written, those authored by children and by teachers, stories professionally produced, and those created in the classroom. In addressing concerns about how to most effectively serve increasingly diverse student populations, the contributors - among them, Maxine Green, Rudine Sims Bishop, Geneva Smitherman, Vivian Paley, Pam Gilbert, Shirley Brice Heath, and Jerome Bruner-demonstrate through vivid example the need for and the power of story."

As our student and faculty populations become more and more diverse, we must expand and deepen our skills for listening to all students and faculty, and for making connections with their learning and work The stories in The Need for Story can help us create connections with all of our students and faculty.

If you think narrative has no role in the modem, technology enhanced classroom, the next book, Hamlet on the Holodeck The Future of Narrative in Cyberspace, may be of interest to you.