IMPORTANCE OF STORYTELLING METHOD IN TEACHING AND

LEARNING~DR. LALIT KISHORE

Story as experiential input

Children love stories.A story is a series of connected

events. Situations and narratives have

the information in them.Actions by characters have

consequences.

Defining story telling

Defined as using one's voice and body to relate a story to one or more listeners.

Requires use of facial expressions, gestures, body language, and variety of tones of voice

Teacher’s decisions

One needs to decide about appropriate inclusion of details dramatic effects Sequence of events

Assumption

Children make more sense out of an experience and information (raw material of learning) when it is organised into a story.

Storying-learning process Organising information into sequences

that progress from a beginning, to a middle, to an end - and hold these elements together cohesively as a unit

Making sense out of information or experience through analysis

Codifying and practicing the generated knowledge

Outcomes

Visualising images,

Recognising patterns,

Developing a sense of story,

and

Finding meaning in

experience

A storyteller has an inner vision of story events, and communicates this vision to listeners.

Each listener in turn composes a unique set of pictures in his/her mind while hearing a story.

Then, effortlessly, each listener blends these pictures into a meaningful whole.

Storying as learning experience

• Storying helps children to recognise patterns of behaviours and actions.

• This familiarity helps them to recognise unfolding situations, and to predict upcoming developments.

• Children can be encouraged to think about "turning points" in stories.

• This may lead them to consider what characters do, and what they could have done.

Spin-overs

• Sensory experience is heightened as all senses may be referred to: taste, touch, smell, hearing, and seeing.

• The ability to articulate one's own and others' feelings, emotions, gets developed.

• Memory can be enhanced and attention spans can be expanded.

Learning advantages

Imagining skills development: visualisation, sense of self through characters, pattern recognition

Thinking skills development: ability to predict; decision-making; meaning-making; communication skills

Listeners encounter new language patterns like grammar and vocabulary

Life skills learning

Recognising acceptable behaviours and actions.

The analysis of "turning points” leads to value acquisition.

Habit of looking for alternatives with analysis of what characters did, and what they could have done.

Enhancing of possibility of applying the meaning of

stories by listens to their own lives.