The Power of Story to Teach, Enrich and Transform

I want to draw attention to the power of story in this post by discussing my work shared in two separate articles over 10 years ago. In 2013 I wrote an article for the 'International Journal of the Book'. In it I discussed the power of literature not just to offer engaging stories, but to actually "Teach, Enrich and Transform" us. The article was inspired by the work of D.W. Harding (1937, p. 257) who suggested “reading, like daydreaming and gossiping is a means to offer or be offered symbolic representations of life”. I quoted Harding NOT to relegate reading, and specifically literature, to the status of any representation of lived experience (quite the contrary). I'll come back to this.

In the second article that I wrote in 2010, I pointed to the "...folly of Deconstructive Post-modernism, whose most extreme advocates argue that all texts are equal, that the TV advertisement, graffiti, the bumper sticker, the poem, a Twitter ‘tweet’, blog posts, a play and the newspaper editorial are all texts that can have equal value."  

Of course, all 'texts' have meaning and we can learn from them, but they are not "equivalent" or "equal" (but let's not get side-tracked)! Story has a special place. I'm going to share my thoughts in two posts on this topic I will argue that:

 

• The storybook still has an undiminished role to play in early literacy development even in the age of digital literacy.

• Literature has a value well beyond its important utilitarian function as an excellent vehicle for the learning of literacy.

• Reading is acquired in the context of relationships with other significant people.

• Literature has the power to teach, enrich and transform.

I believe that any "civilized society which relegates literature to just one possible means to know and communicate is making a significant mistake" (T.H. Cairney, ’The International Journal of the Book Volume 8, 2010). Why is this a mistake?

Let me share my first two reasons in this post (and two more in the next).

Reason 1 - Literature offers opportunities to reflect on life and see it in new ways

Just as I am affected by human tragedy in my world, I can also be affected by the tragedy of characters in books. In a sense, as we read stories we can 'live through' the events, and experience emotions like joy, success, loneliness, pain,  disappointment and sadness. As a reader we can ‘enter into’ the lives of others through literature and deepen our understanding of life. It can help us to reflect on and understand our lives. And of course, we must never lose sight of the special place literature or story has as a vehicle for learning about written language and the shaping of human character.

I have been motivated to write this paper by a growing concern that in our excitement to consider the possibilities of digital literacy of all kinds, we might just forget about the importance of narrative as a vehicle for learning about written language and the shaping of human character. 

 

Stories "...allow us to reflect on these and other experiences and come to a greater understanding of our world and ourselves. As well, literature can act both as mortar to build rich personal and textual histories, and as a bridge between our lives and the lives of others" (Cairney, 2010).

 

Reason 2 - The undiminished role of Story

 

Children today experience stories in varied forms. They have opportunities to engage in stories by reading, but also through television, radio, online games and a myriad of pictures, images, signs, advertising etc. More than ever, today's readers, are confronted by stories in new forms and through multimedia of varied types. They also write in diverse forms and genres. Perhaps just a few words via emails, Facebook, Twitter, Blogs and so on with images and signs to support text. But equally they share stories through music, jokes, symbolic language, movement and so on.

We still enjoy stories, but we use many varied forms, as well as different platforms and devices to receive them like Air pods, headsets etc. Some still read a paper or digital book, while others only ever listen or watch using devices. But there is still a common element; all centre on story!

As parents and teachers we need to engage children in the sharing of stories, delivered via whatever platform. As well, we must encourage them to share stories with others.

In our contemporary literacy world, there is greater interaction between multiple sign systems, particularly print, sound, image, and physical context etc. As I listen to one of my grandsons playing games online like Minecraft, or watch another preparing to lead a game of Dungeons and Dragons with her friends, I'm always struck by how much interaction there is between players as they create live stories on computers while sitting in separate locations. This still is story making and reflects a primary need as humans.

 Having shared the above, I will expand the discussion in the next post by considering two other ways Story has the power to teach, enrich and transform:

• Reading is rarely a lone activity we read within communities.

• Literature teaches, enriches & transforms us.

Helping children to access and use stories to understand and represent their world

I was asked recently to send one of my followers a conference paper on literacy that I presented in 1986! While looking for that paper it led me to sort through many of my older publications from the 1980s and 1990s. I stumbled across one piece I’d written for an international journal in 1990 on “Intertextuality”. This was a buzz word in the 1980s and early 1990s. My interest in the topic arose as part of classroom-based research I had done with children aged 5-12 years. The work was published in a number of journals. As I read the old article, I was pleased that I still agreed with it!

 

One of the papers was from research titled ‘Intertextuality: Infectious echoes from the past’. It was published in ‘The Reading Teacher’ (March, 1990). I opened the article with a quote from J.R. Tolkien, who had claimed there are no new stories, only a “cauldron of stories” into which we dip as we write. Of course, Tolkien wasn’t the first person to observe that writing always occurs against a backdrop of our prior literary experiences. And there will always be a level of reciprocity between reading and writing. In fact, the reading of one text will always prime and connect with the memory of other stories. So too, writing can be inspired by books (or other media).

 

Margaret Mahy (1936-2012), the great New Zealand author of children’s books and a dear colleague to many of us writing about literacy, expressed this point well when reflecting on her childhood experiences that helped to shape her:

 

“I wrote because I was a reader, and wanted to relive certain experiences more intimately by bringing them back out of myself”. (Margaret Mahy)

 

She suggested that stories “infected her” and she engaged in dialogue with them in a type of “reciprocating discussion”. Books offered her (and us) a “cauldron of stories” from which to draw inspiration, and even ideas.

 

When I suggested this in conversation with a very well-known Australian author she was indignant, feeling that I was suggesting writers plagiarise from other writers. But of course, this was not what I meant. Our ideas are formed as original ideas against a backdrop of others stories. This in essence is what “intertextuality” means, it is the interconnection between texts written and read. Such connections might affirm ideas, offer us new insights, or help us to grasp the depth of meaning of something in those “aha” moments, when another text challenges, inspires, or perhaps even creates dissension.  

 

The details of my work and the many scholars who inspired my research on Intertextuality can be found in my original articles. The many scholars included colleagues like Professor Jerry Harste (Indiana University), Margaret Meek, Umberto Eco and many more. Those who are more interested should source my original article and others on the topic. But for parents and teachers there are a few basic points worth stressing here:

 

1.   From birth, fill your children’s lives with expository, descriptive (including poetry, journals/diaries, novels, & plays) and persuasive texts (e.g. letters, advertisements etc).

2.   Parents, read to your children from birth. And teachers, always make time to share literature in the elementary years of schooling.

3.   Preschool, primary and Secondary teachers, never lose your own passion for literature, so that you might ‘infect’ your students with this same passion.

4.   Help children to celebrate each other’s writing, and acknowledge the inspiration for their writing and ideas.

5.   Encourage experimentation with writing, in form, at the ideas level and in purpose.

6.   Classroom teachers and parents, try to create an environment where stories are shared, talked about and celebrated.

7.   Make sure you use the school, and local library if you have one nearby, to consider books and borrow them.

 

Never forget that one of the most significant things we can do for our children is to provide access to a “cauldron of stories” into which we they can ‘dip’ as they grow as writers and readers.