The Power of Storytelling in the Classroom

Do you know what is the oldest form of education?
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The answer to this is STORYTELLING. People around the world have always told stories as a way of passing down of their cultural beliefs, traditions and history to future generation.
Why? It’s because stories are at the core of all that makes us human. They are an ancient tool with enduring power.

What is the secret of storytelling and the stories?

Stories are the way we easily store information in the brain. In other words stories make our brains more active and  create connection in more memorable way than facts. If teachers fill their students brain with facts and data without any connection, the brain becomes like a catchall closet into which items are tosses and hopelessly lost. Information simply leaves us feeling incompetent and lost. We don’t need more information, what we need is to know what the information means. Simply put we need a story that explains what it means and makes us feel like we fit in there somewhere.

Stories also go straight to the heart. As the Irish poet and philosopher J. Stephens wrote: “The head does not know anything until the heart has listened. The heart knows today what the head will know tomorrow”. Because class members and teachers are emotionally involved with a usually enjoy storytelling, it can help students to develop a positive attitude toward the learning process.

There is really a huge potential and power of the storytelling for students also in nowadays world:

• students learn how to improvise,
• they are more motivated for learning,
• they learn how to listen,
• students build better self-esteem; they lose the feeling that there might be something wrong,
• they are learning to have focus,
• they are creative,
• students can learn how to solve problems.

Storytelling enable us, educators, to build the community and connect students with each other. This is why stories are also great tool for building trust and enable us to give the voice of our students.  With using of storytelling we can encourage curiosity, imagination and visualisation.

Remember this: there is no greater power on this word than a story!
Would you like to experience and learn more about how to use the power of storytelling in your everyday school practice? You still have one-week time to join us on the training Learner voice: engage students in participative and collaborative learning.Some of the methods that will also be presented at the course are World Cafe, Open Space, Circle and Appreciative Inquiry.
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Here are some of the testimonies from or participants that have already attended the course. Published on the SchoolEducationGateway page:

Author: Petra Založnik, BSc in Teacher Education and Sociology of Culture, is educator, evaluator and designer of innovative approaches to learning and teaching in the field of education, also our trainer in the course Learner voice: engage students in participative and collaborative learning