Narrative Education 1

I'm pushing a little with some of this stuff (and losing readers), the price of public brainstorming.

Digging a little deeper into Chapter 19, Ms. Ford and Ms. Wong are focusing on Narrative in Christian Ed. They quote Michael Connelly and Jean Clandenin (I like this quote) "narrative is the study of how human beings make meaning of experience by endlessly telling and retelling stories about themselves that both refigure the past and create purpose in the future..." (CS p. 311) You know how your little ones love to hear the same story over and over? They're processing. As they grow, listening to stories is another way to process life, to look at cause and effect, to empathize with others, to think about choices.

They say, "Narrative education is different from other formal education because of the emphasis on voice, enbodied learning, and reason as educational tools." I think these things happen when children pretend, too. They're acting out stories and putting themselves in the story.

The simplified methodology of narrative education is this: the story is shared with the entire group, then "each person has opportunity to share his or her personal experiences, understandings, and interpretations of the story." Individuals, and the group, can be transformed by this process. Sharing personal experiences and insights causes listeners to focus on other people and how other people hear or see the same story. (CS p. 311) They spend 2-3 pages describing their methodology in greater detail if you're interested.

She says storytelling can bring together experience, intuition, imaginative knowing, and rational, analytic knowing in ways that engage the whole learner. Stories often reflect the culture in which they are taught. Stories can make the abstract more real. (CS p. 314) Sometimes this is done with role playing and creative dramatics. Sometimes story introduces cultural understanding. Sometimes it helps a child see their own personal experiences through someone else's eyes or perhaps it helps a child better understand the experiences of another.

Narrative isn't the only way people learn, but it seems to be one of those tools that can cross age and cultural differences. Jesus used narrative. He told stories. Yes, we believe that His Word is the Word of God and that it carries, in itself, the potential for transformation but He chose to teach and reveal truth through stories.

Commenting on the Good Samaritan, their observation is interesting. The people that the listeners were culturally best able to identify with were the ones who walked by and did nothing. The Samaritan, on the other hand, someone they would normally dismiss, was a caring neighbor. Their focus is on moral development, learning right from wrong, learning how to treat others. (CS p. 314-315)

Story is an effective tool for this kind of learning. Story shows itself in oral storytelling, in Sunday school, in books, TV, movies. Whether or not the teaching is intentional, I think learning is inevitable.