Narrative and Education 1: Only About Navel Gazing?

 At the beginning and the end of the day, I’ll always believe that narrative has a solid and central place in our lives.

Eminent psychologist and educator, Jerome Bruner, has had a lot to say over the years about narrative.

In Acts of Meaning, Bruner states that “humans have a readiness or predisposition to organize experience into a narrative form, into plot structures.”

Galen Strawson, a British philosophy professor at University of Reading, reviews Jerome Bruner’s Acts of Meaning, along with Making Stories, in "Tales of the Unexpected." He criticizes Bruner for turning everything in our lives into the narrating of ourselves. Strawson suggests that Bruner believes that all "great fiction proceeds by making the familiar and ordinary strange again.” He suggests Bruner is saying that in every thought and act humans are constantly engaged in making tales out of ourselves and our lives.

I disagree with Strawson’s interpretation of Bruner’s idea of narrative. As mentioned above, I do see narrative as central to human living.

It’s not just because everyone loves a good story. Rather, narrative is front and central to humans because narrative is all about making sense of things—everyday.

Unlike Bruner, I’m not sure that we are constantly creating ourselves by way of narrative. I believe narrative is central because it gives a structure to our lives. And narrative also ferries us beyond our own small lives to connect us with wider worlds.

Because I’m convinced that narrative plays a central role in education—in how we learn—I see our readiness for narrative as a good way of becoming educable. Maybe even the best way—for we never outgrow this desire for a good story. 

I started this research into the place of narrative in our lives and in education about fifteen years ago. “Story” hasn’t let go of me since. I hope to engage here in a conversation with others interested in the reach of narrative into ways in which we learn.

Student Report: "Connect" Leads to Learning

At a recent NBC student panel airing on "Voices of a Nation," students made clear what matters most in how we learn.  See "Twenty Things Students Want the Nation to Know About Education." Seven of the twenty items students wanted the nation to know have something to do with: "connect with us."

For example:

# 3: "I can't learn from you if you are not willing to connect with me."

Or

#12: "Tell me something good that I'm doing so I can keep growing in that."

Learning somehow always connects with narrative--both the students and the teachers' narrative. Maybe even the community's narrative, too?

See some of the other twenty items the students suggested--such as #s 6, 14, 15, 18, 19.

Mind/Shift on Writing

I recently came across an interesting article, “How Technology Fuels Learning,” at KQED’s Mind/Shift.

Instead of the solo approach of teacher-directed lessons on writing, this teacher uses collaboration and peer-editing to “Jump into the 21st Century." This teacher is willing to do the work to see her students achieve deep discussions and deeper understanding in writing.

How?

She keeps quiet. First session. Second session. She lets the students struggle with surface reading, lame questions and tepid responses. Third and fourth session, as she demands students critique and help one another, each session digs in a little deeper. She perseveres.

This teacher’s approach is similar to a breaking science achievement in the news. A new study came out recently announcing excellent results dealing with stroke victims with aphasia (inability to remember words). The key: patience. This group of researchers found that waiting for the stroke victim to search and find the right word creates new neural paths, establishing faster progress toward regaining speech than those treated through a coach-and-reteach language lesson .

Waiting for the student and expecting results sounds simple, yet effective, in learning how to learn.