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Some stories are timeless. They express the universal so clearly that
successive peoples adapt, modify, and transmit them down through the ages to
become the birthright of new civilizations. One may even suggest that a society
is born when it first constructs its myth ? first and foremost, its myth of
self. Myth is unique in that each generation tailors it to accommodate its own
values and reason for being. In this way, the stream of its telling swells and
is enriched.
For this reason, stories have always held a special place among teachers.
The power of stories to communicate values, ideas, and cultural imperatives has
made them a perennial instructional tool. Teachers are even credited with
inventing new modes of myth-making; one thinks easily of Socrates and of Jesus
Christ. Whether fairy tale, fable, or parable, teachers have always made use of
the unique ability of stories to show rather than simply tell. Teachers draw on
stories for a mode of communication the subtleties of which are not easily
reduced to a lesson plan.
When one watches a Korean pansori opera, or listens to a Hopi storyteller,
the consciousness of learning and the relation between speaker and listener is
transformed. The cadence of voice and plot are more like the beat of a drum than
the pedantry of classroom lecture. When Jesus began, "there was a certain man
who lived in a certain city?" we knew that what followed must answer for raising
the ancient rhythm. It must pay off in a lasting way.
Various authors from John Ruskin to Georges Polti (The Thirty-Six Dramatic
Situations) have alleged that there are only a certain number of plots*, and
that all stories simply pursue those in different ways. Whether or not that is
so, this research suggests that we have been telling each other very similar
stories all along.
A teacher wants to demonstrate differences in personality types. She
begins:
A child is sent home with a note pinned to his shirt. "It seems as though
Peter would rather have fun with his friends than concentrate on his studies?"
Is he failing school, or is the school failing him?
The question is: why do we feel as if we've known Peter, even though he's a
fictional character? We have known him. Nearly all of us have encountered Peter,
by one name or another. Stories are like that, and yet we never cease telling
and pursuing them in theatres, books, or at the local pub. How many modern
stories begin with "one man stands alone?" or "some mysteries were never meant
to be solved?" ? these are conjuring up the heroism and fear that lies in the
basic human struggle to exist.
It is this power, in the hands of learning facilitators, that makes stories
an irresistible tool to create learning. It isn't necessary that the story be
original. In fact, there is immense power in unoriginality. What breathes unique
life into the experience of storytelling for learning is, in fact, repetition of
the familiar.
Comedian Jerry Seinfeld has made an entire career out of simply observing
what we see every day. Speaking to the common experience, he looks closely at
what we, in seeing, often miss. The beauty of using stories for learning is that
such a rich tradition of tales already exists in the patterns of our own lives.
That's the open secret of making myth. When stories are honestly personal, they
succeed in being universal. Myth is the reflection of our common experience, the
evocation of our fundamental relation to each other. It is in the telling that
our familiar tales become new.
In the autumn season of the wine, word went forth . . .
I met her outside a coffee shop, looking at a fountain . . .
One day you are walking down the street . . .
That the house was haunted, he ruled out immediately . .
.
Looking at these lines, each of which is a beginning, is there not a sense
that we could finish the story, arriving in a somewhat different place than the
author, but a place just as meaningful?
Arguably, the art of storytelling is most appropriate when we know what it is
we are really doing. Rather than reducing it to merely classroom technique or
only pedagogical method, shall we not step up as cantors of the human epic?
Perhaps there is good cause in conscientiously beating the drum.
* See "The Basic Plots in Literature" [http://www.ipl.org/div/farq/plotFARQ.html] for
examples.
Copyright 2005, Daniel DiGriz. All Rights Reserved.
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