The Narrative Imperative: Creating a Storytelling Culture in the Classroom

Abstract

One who studies the history of learning recognizes that story is the one of the oldest and most elemental forms of knowing. Story and storytelling precede the art of writing, with the earliest forms of story consisting of the combination oral speech, gestures, and facial expressions. For thousands of years, storying has ``…evolutionarily rewired the human brain to be predisposed to think in terms of story and to use story structure to create meaning and to make sense of events and other's actions'' (Haven K (2007) Story proof: The science behind the startling power of story. Greenwood Publishing, Westport, p.27). Unfortunately, the use of story as a knowledge acquisition tool has declined significantly in many Western cultures during what had become known as the ``modern period'' and has given rise to a shifting away from story and replacing it with a focus on scientific inquiry Boa-Ventura et al. (2012). Many attribute this transformation to Gutenberg's printing press when story (especially oral story) as a way of becoming ``learned'' was perceived to be inferior or backward and a primitive form of entertainment fit only for children, the illiterate, and the uneducated (Bradt KM (1997) Story as a way of knowing. Sheed & Ward, Kansas City; Ong W (1982) Orality and literacy: the technologizing of the word. Methuen, London).