A narrative examines the particular point of view or perspective from which a story is told. A story is the synthesis of many narratives and facts into one coherent tale. These concepts are intrinsically linked, and serve complementary pedagogical functions in the classroom. Learning to identify narratives helps to recognize and question dominant perspectives, generate questions, and strengthen connections between students’ personal experiences and course content. Story is a powerful tool through which to organize information, generate empathy, and make meaning from diverse content.
Classroom Applications
- role play
- encourages students to take on the perspective of one or more characters to tell (or re-tell) a story from a particular perspective in writing or verbally
- Debating the Past
- Letter to Bialystok Assignment
- what’s the story?
- invites students who have carefully observed one particular image or artifact to weave their observations or multiple viewpoints together into a coherent story about the source.
- Lenses – Multiple Perspectives on Historical Events,
- Your Story our Story Assignment
- Debating Interpretations: How Objects are Used
Further Reading
- Abrahamson, Craig Eilert, “Storytelling as a Pedagogical Tool in Higher Education.” Education 118, no. 3. (Spring 1998.)
- Bedford, Leslie, “Storytelling: The Real Work of Museums.” Curator 44, no. 1 (January 2001): 27–https://www.academia.edu/11058356/Storytelling_The_Real_Work_of_Museums.
- Combs, Martha and John D. Beach, “Stories and Storytelling: Personalizing the Social Studies.” The Reading Teacher 47, no. 6 (March 1994): 464-471.
- Lanser, Susan Sniader, The Narrative Act: Point of View in Prose Fiction. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1981.
