Storytelling in the Classroom as a Teaching Strategy

By: Jordan Catapano

President Obama spoke at my college once, the night before he was elected into congress. Upon reaching
the room containing the overflow crowd where I was standing, he had but a few minutes left to speak—so he told us
a story. Even though he had just spent the last 40 minutes speaking to another room full of supporters, it was
interesting that out of all the things he could’ve talked about, he chose to speak from the heart.
And it’s strange—I’ve noticed that many of my former students will come back and ask, “Do you still tell your class
that story about …?”
Of all the knowledge that I attempted to instill in their minds, those goofy stories I told from time to time seemed to
leave the longest-lasting impression.
There’s something about stories that stick with us. Something about an organized narrative teaching strategy that
serves as a unique kind of glue, lingering with us long after the facts and formulas fade away. It’s exactly this kind of
adhesive that I want to leverage for my own students, weaving the skills and information they need together with
the magic of storytelling. But despite how magnetic these teaching strategy narratives may be, it can be difficult to
pry time away from our busy day-to-day lesson plans. So how do we make it work?
Teaching Strategies to Include Stories
Should we schedule time for it, or should it be organic? Should we attach requirements to storytelling, or simply
allow it for fun? Honestly, there’s no right or wrong way to include them. Here are a few simple approaches you
might take to include storytelling in your classroom:
Share your own stories, just for fun: Tell them about when you were their age, about times you failed, succeeded,
or about memorable lessons you learned. This builds a strong connection between you and your classroom, letting
them know that you can relate to them, and vice versa.
Use stories as introductions: Just as we encourage students to use attention-getting devices for their essays
and speeches, we can use the same technique as educators. Begin class with an interesting story, but one that is
relevant to the lecture’s focus.
Use stories as illustrations: When you’re hammering through a relatively difficult concept with your class, one easy
way to explain it is to illustrate the concept with a story. When facts and figures won’t do, simple narratives
sometimes can.
Tie storytelling to learning goals: We want our students to develop listening skills, and we can incorporate
storytelling into the larger picture of achieving these outcomes.
Tell stories to engage reluctant learners: Some students experience difficulty connecting to drab textbooks or
abstract concepts. However, those same learners typically have little struggle connecting to stories. Through telling
stories, you make life and learning more relevant, giving reluctant learners a better angle of engagement.
Types of Stories
There are several different types of stories you could potentially tell in your classroom. Harbor knowledge of each
type, so if you’re lacking in one kind, you can replace it with another.
● A true story from your own life.

● A true story from the life of someone you know, like a friend, family member, or neighbor.

● A true story from the news or a current event.

● A story that took place sometime in history.

● A fictional story, with made up characters or events.

● An “Imagine if …” story that sets up a hypothetical situation.

Of course, there are various genres and styles of storytelling, but the above list represents the essential variety that
you might incorporate into the classroom.
Why Storytelling Works
In its simplest form, storytelling remains a powerful element of communication, with the narrative being equally as
compelling as essays and textbooks. They humanize learning. It offers us the opportunity to connect to like-minded
characters, or see the world literally from within someone else’s skin. Stories touch our emotions and make us laugh,
cry, fear, and get angry—a sharp contrast to a plain old presentation.
Plus, no matter how organized or detailed a textbook might be, there’s something about the shape of a narrative—
the exposition, the problem, the quest for a solution, the resolution—that resonates with our mental makeup.
Have Students Tell Their Stories
As you incorporate your own stories, recognize how they connect with students on a different level. But why keep
the power of storytelling to yourself? You can also actively help students become their own powerful storytellers,
too!
Allow students to write, illustrate, and tell their own tales. The way you incorporate this may vary depending on your
curricular goals, but it is essential that children understand how to tell a good story and how this relates to
effectively accomplishing an objective. Students can use stories in their essays and argumentation—they can help in
remembering processes or formulas, or connecting events with one another. The opportunities are endless, and easy
to employ.
How do YOU incorporate storytelling in the classroom? Share your ideas with us in the comments below!
Check out [Link]’s extensive library of back-to-school and first-day of schoolarticles, a list which grows
every day:
7 First Day of School Activities Students Love
Back to School: 6 Things to Do at the Start of the Year
Back to School: Starting the Year on the Right Foot
How Parents Can Prepare for Back to School Time
Back to School: Top 5 Grammar Tips
Back to School: 10 Ways Teachers Can Prepare
Jordan Catapano is a high school English teacher in a Chicago suburb. In addition to being National Board
Certificated, he also has worked with the Illinois Association of Teachers of English and currently serves as a school
board member for a private school. You can follow him on Twitter at @BuffEnglish, or visit his
website [Link].
[Link]

Storytelling As a Teaching Approach

March 15, 2017 by Mizzentop Day School
The Storytelling Tradition: Storytelling is our oldest form of teaching. For more than 200,000 years, human beings
have used storytelling to teach about cultural history, pass down survival skills, and create a sense of place and
belonging through shared experience. Human beings wouldn’t have survived this long without the power of
storytelling to teach us how to be safe and how to care for each other.
Using storytelling as a teaching method makes teachers and students vulnerable, helping them to connect to each
other and with themselves. Because storytelling helps students and teachers at Mizzentop Day School remember
that vulnerability is a strength rather than a weakness, it helps us all remain open to new ideas, new ways to look at
the world, and new lessons. It makes teachers better at teaching. And it makes students better at learning.
Teachers are already storytellers
We believe in using storytelling as pedagogy. The practice of storytelling is integrated with everything we teach.
Students perceive the world around them through stories. From early childhood through adolescence, children
understand their families from the stories that are told around the dinner table. They learn social norms and skills
through the books we read to them at bedtime. And they connect to their peers through the stories they tell each
other. We’ve all seen a young child so excited about an experience that they just can’t wait to tell the story of what
happened to everyone they see. That is the power of storytelling in its most basic and beautiful form.
Storytelling in a classroom is interactive
Storytelling enables children to make sense of disjointed pieces of information and form a coherent picture. It
actually helps students form better questions. Studiescontinue to provide data on the power of storytelling to make
learning purposeful for children. It shifts the focus from learning for learning’s sake, to learning for understanding,
for comprehension, and for connection.
Storytelling is ingrained in every discipline
For our students, approaching scientific learning as a series of mysteries that need unraveling encourages the use of
metaphor to find meaning and helps students comprehend and retain complicated concepts.
We are wired to retell stories. The retelling of stories turns our students into teachers, emboldening them and giving
them a sense of pride in what they’ve learned and their ability to share it with others. How often has your child come
home and started a conversation with, “did you know”? That is the opening line to a story, likely a story about what
they enjoyed learning about in school that day. By actively engaging in your child’s story, you are also an integral part
of the power of storytelling in your child’s education.
The science of storytelling
 There is a reason that cultures develop strong oral traditions. Stories help us map the plot so we remember things
better. The story of photosynthesis or of the founding of our country become part of who we are through
storytelling.
Sometimes simply teaching facts, with little or no context, actually reduces children’s ability to learn new material.
Storytelling provides the critical missing component of context to cold hard facts.
There is significant evidence to support the power of storytelling for learning.
Storytelling in Teaching and Learning
● Storytelling in Teaching and Learning

● Best Practices: Active Learning

● Flipped Classes

● Video in Teaching and Learning

● Instructional Video and Web Conferencing

● Teach Talks
[Link]
[Link]

Once upon a time, in a land far, far, away, teachers told tantalizing, creative stories that piqued the interest of
the novice mind into applying and learning challenging concepts in various domains. These stories ignited a light that
formed lasting memories so that they could be applied to solve everyday problems, ensure survival, and pass on this
wisdom to other generations.
Stories are not just for literary narratives but can be used to illustrate even the most complex and abstract concepts
(e.g., math and science). According to Bruner (1986), "[Narrative] deals in human or human-like intention and action
and the vicissitudes and consequences that mark their course. It strives to put its timeless miracles into the
particulars of experience and to locate the experience in time and place." Stories engage our thinking, emotions, and
imagination all at once. As listeners we participate in the story with both mind and body as we enter the narrative
world and react to it. Storytelling is a human art form that teaches about the human experience. As such, subjects
even like math and science, are not outside the world of human experience or the art of storytelling. They are woven
into the fabric of our lives in ways of which we may not be aware. Stories help teachers reach novices in ways they
cannot with other dry, rote, deductive strategies. They bring disparate information to life in a meaningful and
connected way.

Commentary: 6 Simple Ways to Use Sorytelling as a Teaching Tool for Your Children

Stories are spectacularly successful learning tools. Children whose parents tell and/or read stories to them from an
early age turn out to be better readers and students later on.
Furthermore, you are more than 20 times more likely to remember information if you learn it in a story than if you
simply memorize it as data. In part, the more stories we encounter, the more effectively our brains learn to work
within the structure that most stories follow. We not only absorb the stories’ contents; at the same time, our brains
get used to organizing what we learn into a usable form. We learn how to learn through stories.
As a professional author and storyteller, a father, and the husband of an award-winning schoolteacher and
counselor, I can attest firsthand that one of the most effective and engaging ways to teach and to learn is through
stories. Here are a few tips to help integrate storytelling into your child’s daily routine:
1 Start with picture books when your child is very young. Reading to children not only offers the value of the book’s
contents but also demonstrates that you value books, which reinforces your child’s interest in reading. Read aloud to
your child, or try telling a story you already know in your own words as you turn the pages. This allows you to keep
eye contact with your child, while offering you the security of having the book to refer to if you feel you’ve lost your
way.
2 Introduce stories about historical or fictional people who do what they love. There are endless resources: books
and websites that tell stories of famous artists, composers, engineers, athletes, scientists, etc. You never know which
one will resonate with your child and open up a lifetime passion, so offer a variety. I’ve had many people tell me,
“I’m a scientist/artist/author now because I listened to your recording about scientists, etc.”
3 In addition to telling stories to your child, try to tell with her or [Link], tell an old favorite together. It gives the
child a sense of mastery, particularly if every so often you ask, “What did she do then?” Next, try creating a new
version by asking, “What if Cinderella hadn’t dropped the glass slipper? Can we think of another way she and the
prince might have found one another?” If you reach a dead end, go back to an earlier moment of decision in the
story, have the character make a different choice, and go on from there.
4 Another form of storytelling is family stories. Sharing incidents from your life, or those of your ancestors, gives the
message to your child that s/he is important enough to share in this family history, and imbues your child with a
sense of his or her own roots and identity.
5 Always consider to whom you are telling the story, and think of yourself as “translating” the intent of the story
onto a level this person can understand. You can tell a story differently at different developmental stages. Think
about what you most want the child to remember. Start simply with what you know, and tell it in your own words. If
you make a mistake, say, “I forgot to tell you that…” and go on; kids find that endearing. Another way to handle
having left out a part is to say, “Now, what Aunt Joan didn’t know yet was that Uncle Bill had already bought the
tickets.” This presents the information you forgot as a dramatic element of the tale.
6 One powerfully positive element of storytelling is that it fosters a strong bond between parent and
child. Through our stories, and the manner in which we tell them, families and entire societies pass on what matters
most to them. Children come to recognize that you are sharing your true self, not through a lecture but through a
story. Kids may not retain into adulthood every single detail, but they always will remember that mom or dad loved
them enough to share what they thought really mattered the most.
If you are fortunate, there will come a day when you see your own child, now grown up, carry on this story tradition
with his or her child. It all starts and ends with love — and a good story.
Jim Weiss is an award-winning author and storyteller with more than 58 recordings now available
at [Link].
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Leading the way
Ideas and insights from Harvard Business Publishing Corporate Learning
What Makes Storytelling So Effective For Learning?

by Vanessa Boris | December 20, 2017

Vanessa Boris
This is the second of two posts co-written by Vanessa and Lani Peterson, Psy.D., a psychologist, professional
storyteller and executive coach.
Telling stories is one of the most powerful means that leaders have to influence, teach, and inspire. What makes
storytelling so effective for learning? For starters, storytelling forges connections among people, and between
people and ideas. Stories convey the culture, history, and values that unite people. When it comes to our countries,
our communities, and our families, we understand intuitively that the stories we hold in common are an important
part of the ties that bind.
This understanding also holds true in the business world, where an organization’s stories, and the stories its leaders
tell, help solidify relationships in a way that factual statements encapsulated in bullet points or numbers don’t.
Connecting learners
Good stories do more than create a sense of connection. They build familiarity and trust, and allow the listener to
enter the story where they are, making them more open to learning. Good stories can contain multiple meanings so
they’re surprisingly economical in conveying complex ideas in graspable ways. And stories are more engaging than a
dry recitation of data points or a discussion of abstract ideas. Take the example of a company meeting.
At Company A, the leader presents the financial results for the quarter. At Company B, the leader tells a rich story
about what went into the “win” that put the quarter over the top. Company A employees come away from the
meeting knowing that they made their numbers. Company B employees learned about an effective strategy in which
sales, marketing, and product development came together to secure a major deal. Employees now have new
knowledge, new thinking, to draw on. They’ve been influenced. They’ve learned.
Something for everyone
Another storytelling aspect that makes it so effective is that it works for all types of learners. Paul Smith, in “Leader
as Storyteller: 10 Reasons It Makes a Better Business Connection”, wrote:
In any group, roughly 40 percent will be predominantly visual learners who learn best from videos, diagrams, or
illustrations. Another 40 percent will be auditory, learning best through lectures and discussions. The remaining 20
percent are kinesthetic learners, who learn best by doing, experiencing, or feeling. Storytelling has aspects that work
for all three types. Visual learners appreciate the mental pictures storytelling evokes. Auditory learners focus on the
words and the storyteller’s voice. Kinesthetic learners remember the emotional connections and feelings from the
story.
Stories stick
Storytelling also helps with learning because stories are easy to remember. Organizational psychologist Peg
Neuhauser found that learning which stems from a well-told story is remembered more accurately, and for far
longer, than learning derived from facts and figures. Similarly, psychologist Jerome Bruner’s research suggest that
facts are 20 times more likely to be remembered if they’re part of a story.
Kendall Haven, author of Story Proof and Story Smart, considers storytelling serious business for business. He has
written:
Your goal in every communication is to influence your target audience (change their current attitudes, belief,
knowledge, and behavior). Information alone rarely changes any of these. Research confirms that well-designed
stories are the most effective vehicle for exerting influence.
Stories about professional mistakes and what leaders learned from them are another great avenue for learning.
Because people identify so closely with stories, imagining how they would have acted in similar circumstances,
they’re able to work through situations in a way that’s risk free. The extra benefit for leaders: with a simple personal
story they’ve conveyed underlying values, offered insight into the evolution of their own experience and knowledge,
presented themselves as more approachable, AND most likely inspired others to want to know more.
Connection. Engagement. Appealing to all sorts of learners. Risk-free learning. Inspiring motivation. Conveying
learning that sticks. It’s no wonder that more and more organizations are embracing storytelling as an effective way
for their leaders to influence, inspire, and teach.
Read more about the power of storytelling in our brief, “Telling Stories: How Leaders Can Influence, Teach, and
Inspire”
Vanessa Boris is Senior Manager, Video Solutions at Harvard Business Publishing Corporate Learning. Email her
at [Link]@[Link]
The Science Behind The Art Of Storytelling

by Lani Peterson | November 14, 2017

Lani Peterson
This is the first of two posts co-written by Lani and Vanessa Boris, Senior Manager, Video Solutions at Harvard
Business Publishing Corporate Learning.
Storytelling has the power to engage, influence, teach and inspire listeners. That’s why we argue for organizations to
build a storytelling culture and place storytelling at the heart of their learning programs. There’s an art to telling a
good story, and we all know a good story when we hear one. But there’s also a science behind the art of storytelling.
Here’s how it works, starting with the science of the non-story:
We’ve all listened to (and suffered through) long PowerPoint presentations made up of bullet points – bullet points
that may be meaningful to the presenter, but lack the same punch for the audience. Even if the presenter is
animated, when we hear information being ticked off like this, the language processing parts in our brain, known as
Broca’s area and Wernicke’s area, get to work, translating those bullet points into story form where we can find our
own meaning. The problem with this, however, is that the story we come up with in our mind may not be the same
one the speaker is intending to convey through data.
When a speaker delivers those same facts within a story, however, something else happens in the brain. In his essay
“The Science of Storytelling: What Listening to a Story Does to Our Brains”, entrepreneur and storyteller Leo Widrich
noted that there’s research to suggest that when we hear a story, “not only are the language processing parts in our
brain activated, but any other area in our brain that we would use when experiencing the events of the story are,
too.” For example, sensory details like the client was as excited as if he had won the lottery engage a listener’s
sensory cortex. Action words like drive this project home engage the motor cortex, all leading to a more connected
and richer experiencing of the message. In short, the more a speaker conveys information in story form, the closer
the listener’s experience and understanding will be to what the speaker actually intended.
Neuroscientists are still debating these findings, but we know from experience that when we’re listening to a good
story — rich in detail, full of metaphor, expressive of character — we tend to imagine ourselves in the same
situation. Just think about all those scary stories told around the campfire. Your heart rate increases, you get
goosebumps, the hair on the back of your neck stands on end. The stories told in a business setting might not be
quite as dramatic (or hair-raising), but nevertheless can be more impactful than data alone.
Lisa Cron, in Wired for Story, speaks to additional benefits of sharing stories in business settings, “Stories allow us to
simulate intense experience without having to actually live through them. Stories allow us to experience the world
before we actually have to experience it.” Leo Widrich, citing Princeton neuroscientist Uri Hasson, writes that “a
story is the only way to activate parts in the brain so that a listener turns the story into their own idea and
experience.” The potential value here for managers to use story to mentor and coach is clear. Through stories, we
can utilize vicarious experience, mentally rehearsing how we might handle a situation before we have to face it.
Internal data banks, so full of what if’s and how to’s, are refreshed with new options, without our having to live
through an experience and all the risk that might entail.
There are additional scientific elements at play. Scientists are discovering that chemicals like cortisol, dopamine and
oxytocin are released in the brain when we’re told a story. Why does that matter? If we are trying to make a point
stick, cortisol assists with our formulating memories. Dopamine, which helps regulate our emotional responses,
keeps us engaged. When it comes to creating deeper connections with others, oxytocin is associated with empathy,
an important element in building, deepening or maintaining good relationships.
Perhaps most importantly, storytelling is central to meaning-making and sense-making. It is through story that our
minds form and examine our own truths and beliefs, as well as discern how they correlate with the truths and beliefs
of others. Through story listening, we gain new perspectives and a better understanding of the world around us. We
challenge and expand our own understanding by exploring how others see and understand the world through their
lens.
By sharing and listening to each other’s stories, we all get a little bit closer to what’s true.
Ultimately, storytelling is about the exchange of ideas, about growth – and that’s learning. That’s why we believe
that it’s important that we embed storytelling in our organizational cultures and in our learning programs.
Storytelling is essential. If you’re trying to engage, influence, teach, or inspire others, you should be telling or
listening to a story, and encouraging others to tell a story with you. You’ll have plenty of science to back you up.
Lani Peterson, Psy.D. is a psychologist, professional storyteller and executive coach who specializes in the use of story
as a powerful medium for personal growth, connection and change. Drawing on her broad experience with
individuals, teams and organizations in the profit and nonprofit worlds, Lani brings a unique combination of personal
stories, knowledge of the theory behind stories, and deep experience helping people use stories to transform their
understanding of themselves and others. Lani’s professional training includes a doctorate in psychology from William
James University, a master’s in counseling psychology from Lesley University, and bachelor’s degree in literature from
Smith College. She is a member of the National Speakers Association, the National Storytelling Network, and serves
on the Executive Committee of the Healing Story Alliance, which she recently chaired for five years.