Effective Teaching through Storytelling Effective Teaching through Introduce yourself and tell some stories: The Cell Phone Relevant Goals How Mom Snowballed Her Debt Away

Why Storytelling? Facts are boring, unless immediately relevant. Stories put you in the moment, creating relevancy. Human beings are hardwired to listen to stories; every culture teaches with storytelling. The best teachers are great storytellers!

Getting Started Stories should be relevant to: Choosing a topic: You – stories are best if they are true and about you! The audience The topic Choosing a topic: Best: find a way to connect a good story to a topic Workable: pick a topic and create a story about it Make sure you find a way to connect the story to you! Relevant to you means it happened to you (best), a family member (good), a friend (okay), or a “friend” (better than a stranger) Cell phone: relevant to me personally; had the story and connected it to a topic Relevant goals: relevant to me personally; had the topic and searched my past for a story Mom’s debt: relevant to my family; had the story and connected it to a topic

The Hook AKA Expect the Unexpected The first step to creating a great story is finding a great starting point. Two approaches: Find the hook: a question, idea, or statement that instantly captures the listener’s attention. Find the twist: the unexpected event that makes the story interesting. The Hook: think of the first line or two of instantly engaging novels Hook: I want to tell you about this cell phone I’ve always, always, always wanted to learn a foreign language My mom always said she’d die in debt The Twist: Jonah’s story about schoolkids telling about their day at school What happened in school? “Nothing” really means “nothing unusual” Twist: Flip phone cost $70/month Studied three languages and speak not a word of any Mom did not die in debt (but did give up before paying off the house, instead retiring early)

Story Structure Introduction Rising Action and Climax Falling Action Bridge between education/counseling and the beginning of the story Rising Action and Climax Tell the story Falling Action Teach the topic, with reference to story Denouement Repeat key topics and review the ultimate lesson to be learned from the story Valuable to know the steps, but the truth is that stories naturally follow this progression. Most important is to ensure that you take time to hammer home the lesson of the story (which means you have to have a clear lesson ideally just one concept/idea per story)

Pacing DO sweat the details! KISS – Keep It Short and Sweet KEEP: details related to the teaching topic KEEP: 1-2 details to provide color DUMP: any extraneous details KISS – Keep It Short and Sweet The most effective stories teach one topic 1-3 minutes is best

Practice makes perfect Watch Other speakers Your best storytelling friend How stories are told in media Analyze What do you find compelling? When do you get bored? Practice, practice, practice Friends are okay when first starting out Need to present in front of an audience for best feedback

Delivery Use your body! Vary your tone of voice Silence is golden Body language is 90% of communication If your body is engaged with the story, so is the audience Vary your tone of voice Get comfortable being loud Softness has the greatest impact – save for the most important parts Silence is golden Better to pause than to “um” Intentional pauses can be very effective

A note on humor… The Dinner Table Rule The Fair Housing Rule No discussion of politics or religion The Fair Housing Rule No jokes based on a protected class: race, color, religion (again), sex, national origin, disability, family status The Golden Rule The only person you can make fun of is you

Create your own story! Step 1: determine your hook or twist Step 2: write down the key points of the story Step 3: pair up and practice with a neighbor Get feedback! Use constructive criticism: What worked? What could be made stronger? Step 4: change partners and repeat step 3