Children have an innate love of stories. Stories create magic and a sense of wonder at the world. Stories teach us about life, about ourselves and about others. Storytelling is a unique way for students to develop an understanding, respect and appreciation for other cultures, and can promote a positive attitude to people from different lands, races and religions.
Storytelling is the oldest form of education. People around the world have always told tales as a way of passing down their cultural beliefs, traditions and history to future generations. We all have a story to tell and a drive to tell it. Coles, (1989) describe story as “everyone’s rock-bottom capacity” while Pale’s, (1990) confirms that the need and the ability to tell stories are innate.
Research shows that stories are the way of storing information in the brain. If teachers fill their students’ brain with miscellaneous facts and data without any connection, the brain becomes like a catchall closet into which items are tossed and hopelessly lost. However, stories help to organize and remember information and tie content together.
Stories go straight to the heart. The head does not hear anything until the heart has listened. The heart knows today what the head will understand tomorrow. Because class members and teachers are emotionally involved with and usually enjoy storytelling, it can help students develop a positive attitude toward the learning process. It also produces a sense of joy in language and words that is so often missing in the classroom setting. Even students with low motivation and weak academic skills are more likely to listen, read, write and work hard in the context of storytelling. Any point made in a telling or any teaching that done afterward is likely to be much more effective.
Storytelling is part of the lesson that makes the actual lesson much more powerful because storytelling is the process of constructing stories in mind, one of the most fundamental ways of making meaning and thus pervades all aspects of learning, regardless of age. Wells, (1986) notes that young children find it easier to assimilate new ideas when they are presented in the form of a story and that even older looks to anecdotes to help them understand new concepts and link them to their lives.
Above all else, stories are perhaps the best presents teachers can give their students, for stories are beyond the power of money to buy or the world to take away while storytelling’s greatest value for a teacher is its effectiveness in fostering a relaxed and intimate atmosphere in the classroom. Stories belong to the students forever – from the first listening and by sharing it in the classroom; students may benefits from it and made education even better.
By: Angelica R. Magno | T-III | Luakan Elementary School
