Storytelling

I find storytelling really powerful when teaching. For example when I am teaching customer service I always share experiences I had when working in industry and as a customer myself as well as inviting students to share stories of good and bad experiences they have had. I also use this opportunity to also talk about ethical issues such as confidentiality so through sharing stories we are indirectly learning valuable lessons and engaging with each other.

Stories are an excellent way to help students understand a concept. When I am teaching about Fractions I try to tell stories to help students make the connection. For example, I talk about baking and discuss how much of an ingredient to use. Fractions are used in telling time; each minute is a fraction of the hour. Fractions are used to determine discounts when there’s a sale going on. I also get the class to brainstorm and share other stories where fractions may be used. This really engages the students but also helps them understand the concept of fractions and… Read more »

Story telling is a great way to connect with your learners of any age. I am a Literacy teacher and work mainly with adults and young people. Students love to hear how you learnt and often this opens up a discussion of how they learnt things in their own country (for adult learners) or how the teenagers learn things using technology. It gives us a point of commonality.

Story-telling can captivate learners at any age and in any situation. I teach ESOL to adult migrants as well as MBA programs to online learners in the areas of HR Management. I like to be able to really paint a picture for my students to bring the subject matter to life. It also breaks down barriers and creates empathy and trust in the teacher-student paradigm. I am happy to share my life with my students and know that they value this from an empathetic perspective.

I teach information technology to a generation that comfortable with the tools even though they may not fully understand how the technology has come about. I find that telling stories about my first computer or the types of computers I have dealt with helps them put todays technology into perspective.
It is more powerful when you get them to research the equipment you have described and they see that your talking about actual devices and events.

I teach adult migrants and I always relate my own stories or other people I know to keep the students interested and I find that they are more engaged.

Tell a story helps underpin the learning and perhaps give it some context. I teach students studying Patisserie but they don’t necessarily work in industry, so sharing industry stories good and bad helps bring these to life. Using some stories from family also helps show your being real as well.

I use stories wherever possible in my teaching especially when it comes to the practical components. These are generally my personal experiences or experiences of friends that they have shared with me. Students really do engage, I remember one story, which isn’t appropriate for this site but the students reacted with shock, and surprise and some were cringing in their seats, but this also became a discussion of what is right and wrong in this situation in the workplace and then they relate d it back to what they are doing. it also gives them a clear understanding of scope… Read more »

Story telling linked to learning can be a great tool to demonstrate a point or retell a concept. I have been in learning situations where there were too many personal stories (over sharing) and the benefits were lost – i think it important to stay relevant, honest and gauge the impact – a good story can be invaluable, break down barriers and support learning

Storytelling is an art form. Some teachers do it naturally but for others, it’s a matter of practise and then practise a whole lot more. What we offer them doesn’t have to be perfect, just honest. This applies to students of all ages.

First AidTtraining is mandatory every 3 years so I have been on the receiving end of many presentations. The one I remember best was because she used personal experiences of good outcomes AND mistakes. She had props (rubber snakes and vomit) to add to the story and then asked what could happen? What could be done next? Everyone was engaged and learning

When I have taught younger children I would use stories of my pets in the classroom and I found the children always entertained and having an ongoing interest in their antics. Teenagers can relate to stories about my own kids and some of the personal issues they have faced. Adults relate to current affairs and international events as well as personal stories. I think across all ages storytelling encourages students to share their stories. This can be vital to building relationships, and opening our hearts and minds to where our students are coming from.

Sharing my experiences, both positive and negative, is a great way to engage with the students. Real life situations that reflect the learning contributes to their understanding and puts into context the subject matter.

I often use my stories from when I was living in a non English speaking country and my grasp of the native language was poor to say the least. I have many hilarious stories that relate well to the communication units of competency. Students love it

I usually share my stories about being an apprentice in the 70’s with my students so they can also relate to some of the same situations whether good or bad.

When I have had students wanting to give up, I always seem to have some crazy story to tell as I have many. I look after the beauty therapy section and often have students tell me that waxing is too hard. I proceed to tell them about one experience I had with waxing. I had a gig waxing the Gladiators for the 90s tv show and as you could imagine I would have many stories to go with this mix of people. I always mention how on one male gladiator – ex footy star, the wax did get on the… Read more »

One class I had we were going through health and safety and first aid etc. This is quite a perspective subject as there are steps , sequences etc This can hamper the engagement. I had a sense I was ‘losing’ them so I told them the time we had a child have their first ever febrile convulsion, went blue, the staff had to give CPR etc. The child survived [and thrived thank goodness] . You could have heard a pin drop. Rather than the ‘dry’ step by step – telling the steps the staff did made it very real. I… Read more »

I teach in Child STudies so I use my own children and parenting stories quite regularly. I can draw on what happens in the service my children attended, their development, foods they ate and when, illnesses, etc

I often tell my students a story about my children when delivering a topic on giving and receiving feedback. I tell them about how my children were coming home cranky everyday from school and I couldn’t understand what was making them so upset and irritable. I was making their school lunches for a long time with certain things in it and they would return home with it empty lunchbox. Eventually, fed up with what I considered unreasonable behaviour, I confronted them about their afterschool antics and they said they were starving hungry. They had been throwing out most of the… Read more »

Working with young adults mainly older teenagers, I have found storytelling has been an effective way to engage them in a topic and sustain interest. Even though at times my stories seem nondescript, the class lap them up and many ongoing discussions follow. Having worked in a campaigning space, I know how effective personal stories are to engage people and share information that may lead them to develop a different view on a subject.

I haven’t typically seen myself as very good at telling stories, although I have told short snippets of stories that relate to topics that i might be teaching. Hence I don’t have any examples to give of when I have told stories that have effectively engaged the class, however it is really interesting to consider that stories can be so powerful with this group of learners and so that might be something that I do need to practice!

Working in Business and Leadership education means it is critical to have held roles in the workplace that allow you to relate learned experience. The students engage more with this real world success or stuff-ups than they do with theory only sessions. Some jobs like Teaching or Police would benefit from the individuals having a mature age entry approach so they bring the real world understanding to the role.

I find having worked in the field that I am teaching for such a long time, I have instinctively used stories to illustrate work practices, issues with clients, god, bad and ugly at times. I have also used the ugly and bad to say how should I have done it different, what has changed today etc. I has allowed students I think to have a understanding of what the industry is like, what clients are like and that sometimes things change.

Many students face the challenge of balancing life events and meeting course deadlines. A common integrated ‘barrier’ is procrastination which may result in leaving tasks to the last minute followed by receiving lower results than expected or desired.Having experienced a range of on-line and face to face courses I have first-hand experience of procrastination and just getting started on something. I share the feelings I have about expecting my first draft or first response ‘should be’ at a certain level (level created in my mind). I’m not sure if I’m really over it – but I can recognise it’s happening

I have used my experiences as a musician in the music industry to tell students stories of various pitfalls in the industry. These include
1. The times I did not get paid because I did not have a signed contract.
2. Forgetting equipment due to not being organised
3. not setting up a formal business agreement and then losing money as a result

The students are much more engaged during these stories and are keen to ask questions. using lived experience is definitely a great learning tool in educating the current generation as it has traction

As at train trainers and assessors and I am a trainer and assessors is is very easy to use my story, share my experience to engage. But not only my stories but their stories too. Individuals coming to training and assessment have been both trained and assessed at some time so there is always lots to share 🙂

I believe that a good teacher should not only be an expert in the area of study and be proficient in imparting knowledge and developing the skills of the students, but should also be able to motivate and inspire them. I found that my students, especially those who are looking for work have been eager to hear practical examples that teach them important things about life. They appreciate the recounting of rea-llife experiences and personal stories especially about jobsearch and workplace practices. In fact, they enjoy the stories highlighting setbacks and strategies to work around them, better than the success… Read more »

Storytelling in VET courses where the content of the course is very prescribed and sometimes technical is a real challenge. Industry based qualifications with very mature students who are formalising a lifetime of experience and work are particularly difficult because it often sounds like you are talking down to them. This is particularly true if you are less experienced and have fewer skills. One area that comes to mind where storytelling was most effective was the cautionary tales used in WHS/OHS classes where photographs of some really nasty images were used along the story of how the injuries were received… Read more »

I love to tell stories about my past jobs and business successes. I know they have listened when they repeat the story months later

I find Storytelling a valuable way of engaging learners and the stories need to be personally meaningful and have some significance to the student. Students should have opportunities to reflect on and discuss their learning experience.

Stories make the learning real life and others can learn from our experiences whether good or bad. Personally, I find stories invaluable in my own learning.

I share both my own stories and the stories of others through articles, reviews and narratives for students to deconstruct and understand the underlying issues/ causes or different ways/ choices that could have been made. I often like to select stories with some humor in it to engage the group eg. for team building we’ll watch a clip from Madagascar with the penguins and decide what elements the penguins illustrated and what makes them such a strong team. I will share my own stories at the beginning of a semester so the students get to know my background, become comfortable… Read more »

Teachers’ stories are very important in VET education. Adults join a course because it is relevant. It could be due to PD requirements, obtaining the licence, keeping up with the changes to avoid fines and loosing clients, picking up new skills, but it is their choice. Thus, incorporating real lived-through examples really demonstrates how this training is going to help achieve the set goal or help solve a specific problem at work. In my classroom I tell stories about how I handled common problems when I worked in the industry (successfully or not). Over the years, I also collected stories… Read more »

Good stories make an impact. They are memorable and fun. How would you share your stories in class.

I use storytelling to link difficult learning concepts to “life examples”. It is so positive when you read answers to assessment questions that draw on the story you have provided to explain the concept.

I share my story of the difficulties of being an apprentice with my apprentice classes. I tell of the self-doubt and anxiety I felt. I share with them what I call the turn-around moment. Do I stop and turn around (quit) or do I push on and see what happens. I finish the story by telling them if you do turn around and go back there is every possibility that the outcome/position/result i wanted will be lost. And if i do turn around what will i do next time i am challenged by life. I leave a message on the… Read more »

Where possible I relate to events that I have engaged in and share positive and negative experiences . First-hand experiences, whether they are good or bad, let students see that its alright to discuss and interact about. Honesty and trust builds scaffolding relationship.

Vocational education is all about the story – working or life experience will help explain a point, My students love to hear my stories however long ago they may be! – they are still relevant and engage the students – then they can share their stories.

One thing I always try and do with my teaching is to relate my actual experiences to the content I’m delivering. As an Event Teacher, I always refer to events that I have produced and share both positive and negative experiences from them. My objective is to provide my students with my first-hand experiences, whether they are good or bad, I want to be honest with them to ensure we build a trusting relationship.

I use storytelling my my Community Services class to try and assist students to realise that its OK to make mistakes and that they need to practise skills until they become second nature

I am loving this reminder of the importance of storytelling in learning as sometimes I’ve forgotten just how powerful it is. I have used a book I had on teaching metaphors that you can use in class to showcase a number of learnings as well as personal stories and experiences. In the future I would like to incorporate more student stories.

As an online facilitator, I find that engaging online learners is particularly challenging. You don’t get the opportunity to develop that personal relationship with students, so good quality learning design becomes paramount. One strategy I use is to weave narrative into scenario-based, real-life examples, using branching technologies. By placing the learner at the centre of the story and as the lead character of the narrative, they get to choose which journey to take so it becomes personal to them. This combination of responsibility, vulnerability, excitement, anticipation, risk and fun encourage the same type of connection learners have when hearing stories.

I always use my own experience to explain difference topics to my students. I think it makes them realise how the learning material applies to the day to day activities at work. I also encourage the students to tell the class about their own experience.

I often use storytelling to illustrate or contextalise a feature or skill I am trying to teach. Feedback from my learners across many years tells me that it helps them to ‘pin’ a topic or method or strategy to have a real life application to illustrate the point.Linking theory to practice helps them to understand the point and how it relates to their role.

I tell stories whenever I can and obviously it must be relevant to the topic. I think to be a good storyteller you need to keep current with what is going on in the world and back up what you say with examples and facts. This is very important in this age of fake news, students love it when you can present real stories.

I love telling stories to my students and encouraging them to tell their own stories. Stories teach the students about life, about themselves and about others. It is a good way for student to develop an understanding and respect for other cultures as well. Story telling can often help students to understand a concept that they are not grasping eg size, space, colour etc. With adult learners, stories are a key learning strategy. For example, I have often shared my stories from the office where I work – my learners can often relate to this especially if we are talking… Read more »

I think that the best way for teachers to instil confidence in their pupils is to introduce safe ways to learn how to speak in front of others. For so many of us adults, to have had this opportunity at school, would possibly have changed the course of our lives. Teach young learners the steps, but allow them to develop at their own pace. Soon you will have them competing to tell their own stories in front of the class.