Storytelling Part Three
Welcome back! When last we met, we defined our “Hero’s Journey” term. Now let’s begin our “hero’s journey” using storytelling as a strategy in instruction and training.
Instructional storytelling is a method to teach objectives and skills. By pairing content with storytelling, we increase emotional buy-in which creates emotional output. When our audience connects to our content through our story, they engage at levels that can result in change, memory, and action.
Most recent writings about storytelling focus on how to express a personal story or convey a message that relates to an emotion. As an educator/trainer we use stories to teach our students about something. Making a story that communicates a message is not the same thing as delivering a story so the listener can use what they see or hear. As educators/trainers we strive to deliver stories through the right channel, at the right time, for just-in-time learning.
Presenting content in a narrative (story) format is a means of conveying information so it is exciting and unforgettable. Stories are a natural mode of thinking; we begin our discovery and learning from Aesop’s fables, fairy tales, or family history. Within the storytelling community some believe that all knowledge comes in the form of stories.
Stories serve many functions in education/training, including sparking interest, aiding the flow of content, making material memorable, overcoming resistance and/or anxiety, and building rapport between the instructor and the students, or among students themselves.
As an educator/trainer, we capitalize on the inherent narrative structure of stories as a powerful strategy for organizing and transmitting information.