Storytelling
Some are alert, others passive. We know from previous patterns that some will absorb what we teach, others will struggle. But when we step aside from being the ‘teller’ of our subject and offer a story, the room lights up. When we share about ourselves, what we care about, even our foibles, student’s listening intensifies. And inviting students to tell theirs stories, enriches the moments all the more.
Have you ever noticed after being with a new group of people that no one asked you about your life? Where you grew up. How you came to live here. Things you like to do. And can you recall what questions you asked others about their lives?
Joan Didion’s, “We tell ourselves stories in order to live,” packs meaning. Your life is a series of stories. When you tell them, you want to be heard. When you listen to another, you are forming a relationship. Asking a person, as a teacher asks her students, to tell stories about themselves is a precious gift.
