Stories and questions

Stories work. The relevance of stories is compounded by questions.

That is the basic premise for why to use stories and questions in the classroom. We were charged with demonstrating two different interpersonal communication concepts through narrative and questions.  I had a hard time coming up with stories to fit my topics at first and I think my classmates' stories were a lot more relevant. The reason I think I struggled though was because the topics for stories were given to me; if I decided to implement a story in my classroom it would be because a specific story stood out for me regarding a concept. I understood the nature of the assignment though so made an effort to come up with some good stories for them :)

I thought Lacey did a fantastic job with her narrative on emotional contagion. She told us the story about her grandfather's funeral and how the emotion of the occasion transfered to everyone around. But, not only did her story tell us about the idea of emotional contagion, it demonstrated it to us as well. As she told us the story, her eyes filled with tears and her voice betrayed the intense sorrow she felt at the event. When she finished her story, not one of us listening had dry eyes, showing us how her emotion became contagious for us.

Then of course, to bring the narrative back to us in the classroom setting and the context, she asked questions to demonstrate and have us connect the story with the concept of emotional contagion.

Looking back at this semester I find that I have used stories and questions without realizing it in my classroom, usually in a more impromptu way as I remember stories that relate to information I'm lecturing about so I can further demonstrate the concepts. As I plan my class for next semester I will look to see where I can incorporate provocative stories to generate discussion and solidify learning concepts.