It's all about the glue

One of the nice things about a conference, such as ITiCSE, is that when presenting you get to rethink you ideas on a given topic. While discussing my ideas about storytelling in the college classroom, I was able to fine-tune my ideas a bit more.

I always refer to my studies as focussing on the stories we tell, but what I'm really speaking to is the use of narrative. Narrative is defined, no surprise, as either fictional or non-fictional stories. I know, it sounds a tad like circular definitions, but perhaps I can expand on the idea and clear up these muddy waters.

Narrative is the more appropriate term, the one that researchers in say communication or educational theory would use to define the way that facts can be woven into cohesive wholes when we talk with each other (or at each other). But storytelling carries a bit more of the cultural qualities I've been looking for. Narrative, or narration, is a technique, a method of communication, while storytelling, in my view, is more. Storytelling adds to this method, I believe, intent, both for the teller and for the listener. This intent might be construed as something as simple as getting/giving directions. However, when I refer to intent, I'm looking at the interpersonal, social aspects of narrative, the way that we use narration to share not only information, but also cultural cues.

For example, consider the manner in which as parent teaches a child how to tie a pair of shoes. There is, of course, the technical aspects of the communication. The parent takes the process and weaves it into a "story" of how this lace goes one way, the second another, and so on. But, listen closely and there's so much more to the exchange.

The parent also is re-affirming the teacher/student role of the parent/child pair. The parent is also using the lesson to show the child what it means to be a part of their cultural unit. Finally, the parent is showing how being able to tie one's shoes is a right of passage into adulthood, to perhaps one day be a parent.

These sort of transactions as rich in content, which I posit is a direct reflection of the intent of the partricipants. The parent wants the child to be able to tie it's own shoes, wants to "act" as a aparent, and have the child grow appropriately into an adult. The child may or may not want to tie shoes, but may wish to gain a certain amount of independence, fofr which tieing one's shoes is another step.

It would, therefore, that storytelling is a subset of narration, and the task is to determine what attributes exist in stories that separate them from other narratives.

Welcome

Through this blog, I will attempt to discuss the various ways that we can use storytelling in the college classroom. But this will work only if you, the reader, participate, and post responses to my ramblings.

Eventually, these writings, as well as your feedback, will become the basis of a monograph.

TTFN!