The Endless Possibilities of Story & Literature

I presented a plenary address yesterday at the Love To Read conference in Sydney Australia. It was was the initiative of MindChamps. I was one of three speakers, the others being Brian Caswell and Libby Gleeson. The other two speakers wer well known Australian children's authors, with many award-winning books.

In my presentation, I suggested that story is a central part of life. Even in ancient cultures, story was integral to life. In the presentation, I argued that story helps to define and influence who we are, what we believe and how we live.

Above: My father Henry Cairney

I discussed the place of literature in my life. I shared how I had not lived in a family home where I had been read to, nor were there many books. But on reflection - in my middle age - I had realized that while being read to was not part of my childhood experiences, story did have a key place in my early life. My Father and Grandfather were in effect constant story 'tellers'. In particular, my early life at home was filled with music, yarns and anecdotes.  Contemporary music was a big part of my household, with parents who were both musicians, singers and entertainers. Often this music was in the form of ballads, especially Scottish, Irish and Italian ballads, and the popular songs of film, radio and the popular culture of the day.

As well, my father was a great storyteller. Most centred on his childhood living in Victorian tenement housing just outside Glasgow in Scotland prior to WWI, and then a 'bag hut' on the fringes of Newcastle after the war. His stories also featured the journey by sea to Australia, the battles with his 9 brothers and the tenth child, his sister Margaret, who died age 2. As well, he often spoke of how his mother cared for 10 children for two years in Scotland, while his father was in Australia establishing a house and working as a miner. He also spun yarns about his sporting achievements, the depression, WWII, and the union movement in which he was a leader of a militant movement. The famous Rothury Riot, where he was part of the band. This lead the miners as they marched towards the mine where the workers had been locked out.  

My Grandfather, who I stayed with every school holidays, also shared stories constantly with me about war, politics, literature and the Bible. My grandfather was of Scottish and English stock and would recite from memory the great poetry of Robbie Burns, Robert Louis Stevenson, the literature of Banjo Patterson and Henry Lawson, Sir Walter Scott, and verses from the biblical Psalms and Proverbs.

The spoken stories of my father, grandfather and others had a big impact on me. And while I had little literature shared at home, my world was rich with narrative. So narrative in whatever form can help to shape us as people, learners and language users.

Three Ways Reading and Story Changes Lives

• Telling stories expands our world and teaches us many things about language, and the world
• Literature enriches our lives intellectually and emotionally
• Literature transforms us as learners, language users & people

1. Telling stories expands our world and teachers us many things about language, life and the world
 

Story helps us to grasp the very nature of the human condition. It offers a means to see relationships portrayed and human qualities displayed in narrative. It helps us to understand and grasp the richness of what it is to be human. Through story we can be confronted by all the human emotions, including fear, hope, love, forgiveness, trust, failure, despair, loneliness, and joy.

Reading and being told stories also helps us to understand that language and story can have varied purposes and can be written and communicated in varied forms. By being told stories we can begin to grasp the difference between the poetic, narrative, fantasy, the satirical, ironic and so on.

Being immersed in story also helps us to see demonstrated:

• The varied genres of language;
• How language works beyond the literal;
• That language can be used symbolically; metaphorically, it has varied forms;
• That story can be truth and fiction;
• That narrative helps us to begin to know what to fear, love, avoid and so on. It offers lessons for life as well as language; and
• Finally, it is important remember that we can experience story in varied ways, including oral and written storytelling, anecdote, jokes, songs and more.

Stories teach, move, challenge, awaken, and confront. And as they do so, they also serve as a means to shape and change the trajectories of children’s lives.

2. Literature also enriches our lives

As well as expanding our knowledge of language and the world story can ‘enrich’ our lives? In effect they expand us, broaden our view of the world, and self. Deepen our sense of compassion, love, hope, help us to deal with fears?

In Charlotte’s Web, just before Charlotte dies she speaks to Wilbur as she knows her time is nearing an end and she says to him:

“You have been my friend," replied Charlotte. "That in itself is a tremendous thing...after all, what's a life anyway? We're born, we live a little while, we die...By helping you, perhaps I was trying to lift up my life a trifle. Heaven knows anyone's life can stand a little of that.” Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White)

These words in and of themselves, are the type of language in story that can enrich and change us. They help us to see life differently. Our lives are enriched as we ponder the words of a fictitious spider.

A spider talks, and weaves webs rich in language as a pig is rescued, love grows, people are moved and touched to wonder as death comes and life goes on for others.

My Place (Nadia Wheatley & Donna Rawlins) In 1988 Nadia Wheatley wrote a book that was intended to disrupted the one-dimensional nature of the planned Bi-centenary celebration of Australia’s foundation. We were to remembers 200 years of human history, only to forget a nation and people who for 50,000 years nurtured the land, built a rich culture, developed multiple languages, cultivated the land, developed stories, song, rituals, family, kinship and more.

The Legend of Moondyne Joe (Mark Greenwood, Frane Lessac) – The story of a beloved scoundrel and expert bushman of early Australian convict history. There wasn’t a cell built that could contain him, and Joe often led the troopers on wild chases through the Moondyne Hills. This is the story of a colourful Australian bushranger that children to understand just part of Australia’s European colonial history.

Storm Boy (Colin Thiele) – Thiele takes us to a magical place – The Coorong - to enrich our understanding of nature’s balance and help us to imagine the wonder of it all before it’s lost due to human intervention.

Thunderwith (Libby Hathorn) – Hathorn takes us on a journey with Lara who after the death of her mother moves in with her Dad who for 11 years has been building another family. But this new blended family make her feel like an intruder, and a bully at school doesn’t help either. One night a mysterious dog appears in a storm which gives the story a metaphysical dimension.

‘Wilfrid, Gordon, McDonald Partridge’ (Mem Fox & Julie Vivas) - Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge lives next door to a nursing home. When he finds out that his special friend, Nancy Alison Delacourt Cooper is losing her memory he sets out to find what a memory is. In an age when many families are touched by Alzheimer disease this is a book that opens up the beauty of age, not just the pain of death, as well as the power of relationships.

‘Where the Forest Meets the Sea’ – Jeannie Baker’s timeless book raises one of the great ethical issues of our time. What price the loss of rainforests? What is the true cost of environmental degradation as human intervention ‘eats away’ at some of our most wondrous natural resources.

‘A Canadian Year’ – Tania McCartney’s wonderfully simple books from varied countries, tell of life from the child’s perspective. How do Canadian children play? What is school like? Sport? Holidays? We visit this distant place and peer into their lives. These books enrich our understanding of children from around the world.

‘Wonder’ by Raquel J. Palacio – The story of August Pullman, born with a facial difference that kept him from school until the 5^th grade. This is a challenging story about ignorance, resilience, bravery, understanding, hope, acceptance and kindness. Auggie’s story cannot be read without a box of tissues (just like the Movie of the same name).

‘Lemony Snicket: The Composer is dead’ - In this perplexing murder mystery, everyone seems to have a motive, everyone has an alibi, and nearly everyone is a musical instrument. But the composer is still dead. Lemony Snicket is a wonderful entrée to the world of satire and humour. And if your children like this they’ll also love ‘A series of unfortunate events’.

‘George and the Ghost’ (Catriona Hoy & Cassia Thomas)

Are ghosts real? George has a ghost as a friend, but he isn't sure he believes in Ghost any more. He asks Ghost to prove he is real by weighing himself, having his photo taken and showing he takes up space. Can Ghost be real if he can't be seen, weighed, he doesn’t take up space…What does it mean to be real and imaginary? What is it ‘to be’!

‘Niko Draws a Feeling’ (Bob Raczka & Simone Shin) Niko draws to understand himself. But no-one understands his drawing for they see it just as scribble. Until one day, a girl moves in across the road and cracks the seal on Niko’s lonely life and sees beyond the symbols to the boy within. One of my favourite books of 2017.

3. Literature also transforms us as learners, language users & people

As stories expand our world and teach us many things, and as they enrich us as humans, they also begin to transform us as people.  Literature also has a special role in enhancing our humanity; of opening our eyes to the world. Books can sharpen our eyes to see beauty in surprising places as well as to identify injustice and human folly. They introduce us to social and ethical issues that really matter and deeply challenge us.

I believe that a life rich in story and literature can help us to grow into better people, more responsive to and responsible for our world and our fellow human beings.

Above: 'The Day War Came'

One perfect example of a book that does this is an illustrated poem written by Nicola Davies. Nicola wrote the poem in response to the UK government’s decision not to allow lone refugee children a safe haven in the UK. The poem was published in the Guardian and later a children’s book was born.

The confronts us with the realization that at times government will make decisions pragmatically that can fail consider the consequences of their policies. This is a powerful story about a little girl has her home bombed from around her. As she runs from the carnage around her, to her school to seek safety, finds just a hole in the ground. In her words: “War took everything. War took everyone.”

She flees alone on a lonely journey that involves walking across fields, over mountains and fields, on trucks and in buses, in a leaky boat and then a lonely camp where she finds an empty hut, with a blanket and ‘crawled inside’. When she finds her way to a school there is no room for her and others like her as the teacher says: “There is no room for you, you see. There is no chair for you to sit on. You have to go away… [for] war had got here too.”

But help comes from an unexpected place as children from the school find chairs so she “could come to school”.

Books can indeed transform us through the power of story.

Summing up

As Barbara Hardy said:

“We dream in narrative, day-dream in narrative, remember, anticipate, hope, despair, believe, doubt, plan, revise, criticize, construct, gossip, learn, hate, and love by narrative”

Children begin life with an innate potential to imagine, create, seek meaning, express themselves, and ask why? And story is a key vehicle that teaches, enriches and indeed can transform us.

Story helps us to grasp what it is to be human, and literature is one of its most powerful vehicles to touch and change our lives. From birth, we should flood our children’s worlds with stories and interaction. We have an obligation to help to shape in character, to be people who understand their world, feel at home in it, develop identities that contribute to it, and who as a consequence, lead fulfilled lives.

Using imaginative storytelling with young children

From a very early age, children begin in varied play situations to experiment with story using the springboard of literature, song, film or even real-life accounts. My youngest granddaughter Lydia has been fascinated by story since her first year of life. At dinner this evening she wrapped a piece of lettuce around her fork and the newly created 'butterfly' was having a long conversation with her knife. She was oblivious to others at the table as she was lost in her storytelling. It seems that they were in fact two butterflies sharing just one set of wings. She has just turned three and imaginative story creation is now a big part of her everyday play. She uses dolls, plastic animals, Thomas trains, toys and objects of all kinds (like her knife & fork!) to tell stories. Not all of her stories are retellings of known stories, in fact many are original innovative stories that she crafts using stimuli in her environment. Story for Lydia can also be stimulated by television (e.g. 'Everything's Rosie', 'Charlie and Lola', 'In the Night Garden'), books and all of life's everyday experiences.

Imaginative play and storytelling are essential parts of learning. In previous posts I've called this re-creation (i.e. the reconstruction, presentation or retelling of a story in new ways), but it takes many forms.

Story in its own right is critical to learning, communication and well-being. This is something that I've written about many times (for example HERE & HERE). For children, the re-creation or reliving of a story is a critical part of their growing knowledge of narrative as well as a way to gain knowledge.

Young children often quite naturally use imaginative storytelling to support and play with known stories or varied life situations and experiences:

• Changing rhymes and songs, e.g. 'Baa Baa Black Sheep' to 'Baa Baa White Sheep' as Lydia does often.
  Acting out 'Little Red Riding Hood' with the resources of the dress-up box and some friends.
• Dramatizing a well-known children's song from television or CD or a children's picture book.
• Using art or drawing to imagine a story character, mythical creature or story setting. 
• Using Lego (or other toys, props and objects) to re-imagine story alone or with others.
• Creating something new that grows out of an experience of story.

Storytelling and imaginative re-creation are powerful learning strategies for children that stretches them as language users and learners. Below are a few examples of how this can be encouraged ate varied ages.

Examples of Imaginative Re-creation by Age Group

a) Toddlers (1-3 years)

• Being encouraged to be a wild thing as the story 'Where the Wild Things Are' reaches the critical moment when Max declares 'Let the wild rumpus start'.
• Finger Plays and rhymes ('This Little Piggy', 'Incy Wincy', 'Round and Round the Garden')
• Retelling Thomas the Tank Engine stories using the various engines that feature in the story.
• Using dolls or soft toys to act out domestic scenarios.
  Using dress-up clothes in association with well-known stories.
• Creating a story using toy soldiers, Polly Pocket toys, magnetic boards with characters, fuzzy felt and so on.
• Joining in the television dramatization of a well-known story on a program like 'Playschool'.

b) Early years (4-6 years)

• Many of the better story apps for iPad or android devices are an innovative way for multiple re-created experiences of stories (see my recent post on this HERE).
• Drawing maps, key characters (dragons, people) or scenes.
• Acting out stories with a group of children or with adult family members.
• Creating an adapted text to re-create part of a story (e.g. poetry, a character interview, telling the story from a different point of view).
• Using puppets to re-create a story.
• Using modelling clay or craft materials to create characters to re-create and retell a story.

Creating knights for storytelling

c) Later childhood (7-12 years)

• More elaborate dramatization, with involvement in making props and costumes.
• Simple animations using one of the programs readily available (see my previous post on animation HERE).
• Using materials like Lego to re-imagine a well-known story.
• Creating a board game that recreates the plot or a specific part of a story (as Sam did).
• Creating a complex map or plot summary as a device for others to use.
• Create a script to be acted for a specific part of a story.
• Write a newspaper report based on an event within a story.
• Use a variety of written genres to create a new text ('The Jolly Postman' and 'The Jolly Pocket Postman' are published examples of this).

These are just some of the ways that storytelling and imaginative re-creation can stimulate learning and language.

LEGO Education StoryStarter: Creative New Language & Literacy Tool

Readers of this blog will know that I've written often about the benefits of play (HERE) and the role that story has in learning and life (HERE).

Play stimulates creativity and learning, language use, integration of many forms of learning, development of interpersonal skills, problem solving, collaboration with others, interest, engagement and challenge.

So I was more than a little bit interested when I heard that LEGO had developed a new product designed to use their materials as a tool for language and literacy. The new product is called StoryStarter (see materials below) and uses LEGO play as a basis and foundation for speaking, listening, reading and writing and it is linked to school curricula.

Above: My Duck!

In many ways the concept that underpins the program is demonstrated in an excellent marketing tool that they have used to promote the product. Six pieces of LEGO and the challenge to make a duck, show it to others, talk about it, take a photo of it, share it and so on. The new program offers 24 project-based activities that require its use to create, share, discuss, write about, photograph and share. Even the 6 pieces I used to make my duck could be used in countless ways to create a duck. I had great fun with my staff making ducks! This alone demonstrates the creative potential that LEGO has.

StoryStarter is designed for grades 2 – 6 and provides a fun and innovative way of teaching literacy, communication and collaboration skills to students. It is specifically designed to align with key curriculum documents in the countries where it has been released. LEGO has conducted its own internal research and has also commissioned Dr David Whitebread from Cambridge University to do further research (see more below). The product was released in Australia just this week (24th March). It was first introduced in the USA and Russia in 2012 and will be adapted for release in 10 other countries in the near future.  StoryStarter consists of 1,144 LEGO bricks and a number of LEGO plates with which students can work together, to build their own story in several sequences – the beginning, middle and ending (perhaps more than one). Once built these story sequences are input into the StoryVisualiser software, which uses images and words to tell and publish the story.

How it works

Step 1 - The children use project-based activities (24 topics in all) that relate to Australian Curriculum Achievement Standards. They work together to plan a sequence of story events manipulating Lego pieces as part of the story making.

Step 2 - They create scenes and images.

Step 3 - They use the Lego StoryVisualiser software by uploading their images and photos into the program to create a unique text by dragging and dropping.

Step 4 - Share the stories with others.

The StoryStarter kit costs $234.95 AUD (depending on what you include) and will be well received by children and teachers. A great feature of the kit appears to be the StoryVisualiser software that can be used on computers or via a special app for iPads. The software or app makes it easy for children to combine words and images. The app can be downloaded free from iTunes but you need a unique password provided when you purchase the product to use it. StoryVisualiser has a variety of layout templates that are applicable with varied written genres (narrative form, comic format, factual or fictional texts and so on). I can see some schools wanting more than one of these so that classes don't have to wait too long between topics.

StoryStarter has a positive impact on the way students interact and collaborate. As students work in teams to create their story sequences, they have to navigate team work to complete their task in an open, non-judgemental environment. LEGO's internal research suggests that StoryStarter helps the students learn about teamwork. I haven't seen the full research yet, but I hope to do a more detailed assessment in a future post. The developers and teachers who have trialled the product suggest that because there is no one judging them, StoryStarter helps students who are shy or struggle with reading and writing to take an active part.

As part of the release a number of teachers have been using the product. Cheryl Bellamy, Year 3 teacher at Hercules Road State School in Queensland, started using the innovative new LEGO Education StoryStarter learning tool at the beginning of the 2014 school year. She commented on the impact it has had on her students:

"What’s really interesting is how StoryStarter brings out the student interactions with one another. Walking around during the lesson you can certainly tell who the leaders are, making sure their group stays on task, as well as the ones who are more likely to sit back and let the others do the work"

As well, she found that:

"StoryStarter has really helped the students with their storytelling and verbalising narratives. When we started the students would describe their scenes with only two to three words, but in just a few months this has expanded to three to four sentences. It’s helping them to get used to writing more complex sentences."

Some Early Research Findings

David Whitebread, Senior Lecturer in Psychology & Education at University of Cambridge Faculty of Education has been doing his own research on the materials. He describes 5 clear areas in which StoryStarter offers unique educational support for children’s storytelling and related learning skills:

1. Identifying the main ideas in a text. A basic skill in developing narrative or story-telling skills is the ability to identify the main points or ideas in a text. StoryStarter supports early development of these skills, as it requires children to identify a number of key moments in a story and to represent them concretely in the medium of LEGO bricks.

2. Providing a concrete narrative structure. In order to tell or write a story well you need to keep a lot of information in your head, about what has previously been said, what will happen later, and so on, while you are saying or writing each part. As StoryStarter involves the construction of a concrete 3-D representation of the story, this provides an external memory aid which supports children’s ability to plan the structure of their story, to reflect upon it and to modify it until it is well structured and provides a clear narrative, with a beginning, a problem and a resolution.

3. Expressing ideas in different media. As using StoryStarter to construct narratives involves children in representing their ideas in various different media (i.e. in oral narrative or discussion, in 2-D drawings, in 3-D LEGO bricks, in 2-D photographs, through speech bubbles, in writing, and in a story book format combining pictures and text) it supports children’s developing expressive abilities, their metacognitive understandings of the roles of different modes of expression, their ability to think through ideas in their heads, and to make effective use of a repertoire of representational tools when tackling challenging tasks.

4. Language and thinking. Children’s metacognitive and self-regulatory abilities are key determinants of success at school and as learners. These abilities involve being aware of their own abilities, developing a repertoire of mental strategies for problem solving, and effectively using these mental resources when faced with novel tasks. Learning to use language to think and to reason is supported by these abilities. StoryStarter encourages children to talk about and justify their ideas, to listen to others’ ideas, and to work towards agreed solutions.

5. Play and learning. A playful approach has been shown to lead to more creative problem solving in a variety of areas of learning, including storytelling and writing. Learning to write stories using StoryStarter has several playful aspects to which children are very positively disposed, including the use of LEGO bricks and computer-based technologies. It enables a degree of hands-on, flexible and playful enactment of parts of the story, which is known to support the development of imagination and creativity, alongside social learning about human motivations, relationships and so on.

Note: I have received no incentives or benefits to write this post. The research referred to above is yet to be fully assessed as is the product but early indications are that this will be a very useful aid to learning. I hope to do a further post in the future once I have had a chance to assess the product more fully. I was able to interview Lisbeth Hattens, Educational Manager of LEGO based in Denmark, who offered some additional insights and information on the product and its development.

The Role of Imaginative Re-creation in Literacy & Learning

 A well-received present. The 'Lord of the Rings' Lego

Imaginative recreation is an essential part of learning, probably even life. It sits alongside 'story' as an essential way to relive or enrich narrative experiences. Story in its own right is critical to learning, communication and well-being. Imaginative recreation is one of its essential foundations. For many children, the re-creation of story is a critical part of their growing knowledge of narrative. In the photo (left) Jacob receives a Lego set for 'The Lord of the Rings' based on some of his favourite books. His joy comes from knowing he will have hours of fun re-creating his experience of Tolkien's wonderful books.

The re-creation of literature is a part of the enjoyment of the story, but it is also a means to deepen our understanding and appreciation of it, as we respond to it in new and varied ways.

Narrative is central to how our minds order experience, whether real or virtual. Our minds order experience in the mode of story.  As Jerome Bruner and others have taught us, narrative is 'a fundamental mode of thought through which we construct our world or worlds.'

From a very early age, children begin in various play situations to experiment with story in the form of literature, song, film or even real-life accounts. Young children use re-creation to support and play with story. It finds its way into their experience of story in varied ways:

a) Playing 'Incy Wincy Spider' as a toddler.
b) Acting out 'Little Red Riding Hood' with the resources of the dress-up box and some friends.
c) Dramatizing a well-known children's song from television or CD or a children's picture book.
d) Using art or drawing to imagine a story character, mythical creature or story setting.
e) Using Lego (or other toys, props and objects) to re-imagine story alone or with others.

As a child I would spend hours alone in the yard using the resources of my Grandad's back yard to invent stories of far away planets, alien peoples, and terrifying battles. Discarded pipes became rocket ships, a steel anvil the foundation of a vast city, wire and tools parts of hideous weapons. Pieces of wood were hammered together as strange vehicles, and weird imaginary creatures were made from anything I could lay my hands on in Grandad's shed. Some of these stories were new creations, while others were the re-creation of known or adapted stories.

For Jacob, imaginative recreation has been an essential part of his life and development. As a one year old he would attempt to dramatize parts of stories (e.g. 'Where the Wild Things Are' was a favourite), as a four year old he would act out 'The Wind in the Willows' with family members. As an eight year old he would draw maps and images of characters. And now, as a ten year old, he re-creates complex story settings, plot elements and story episodes using resources like Lego, drawing, modelling and writing.

But why is this important? Is it 'just' play?

If it were 'just play' it would still have an important role to play in any child's intellectual development. But, imaginative recreation does many things to support language and literacy. It helps children to:

• Play with and understand the complexities of plot development.
• Comprehend any story at much greater depth.
• Understand character development in new ways.
• Enter 'into' a setting as they create an imagined version of the setting and events of a story.
• Understand story in three dimensions.
• Appreciate the way the language of story is shaped by, and in turn shapes, characters, settings and plots.

In short, imaginative re-creation is a powerful learning strategy for children that stretches them as language users and learners.

Examples of Imaginative Re-creation by Age

a) Toddlers (1-3 years)

• Being encouraged to be a wild thing as the story 'Where the Wild Things Are' reaches the critical moment when Max declares 'Let the wild rumpus start'.
• Finger Plays and rhymes ('This Little Piggy', 'Incy Wincy', 'Round and Round the Garden')
• Retelling Thomas the Tank Engine stories using the various engines that feature in the story.
• Using dolls or soft toys to act out domestic scenarios.
  Using dress-up clothes in association with well-known stories.
• Creating a story using toy soldiers, Polly Pocket toys, magnetic boards with characters, fuzzy felt and so on.
• Joining in the television dramatization of a well-known story on a program like 'Playschool'.

b) Early years (4-6 years)

• Many of the better story apps for iPad or android devices are an innovative way for multiple re-created experiences of stories (see my recent post on this HERE).
• Drawing maps, key characters (dragons, people) or scenes.
• Acting out stories with a group of children or with adult family members.
• Creating an adapted text to re-create part of a story (e.g. poetry, a character interview, telling the story from a different point of view).
• Use the strategy I call 'Never-ending Story' to encourage a group of children to invent narrative re-creations together. One starts a re-creation with a single paragraph, folds the paper over and hands it to the next person to do likewise. Continue for a set time.
• Using puppets to re-create a story.
• Using modelling clay or craft materials to create characters to re-create and retell a story.

c) Later childhood (7-12 years)

Photo courtesy of 'The Eighth Day'

• More elaborate dramatization, with involvement in making props and costumes.
• Simple animations using one of the programs readily available (see my previous post on animation HERE).
• Using materials like Lego to re-imagine a well-known story.
• Creating a board game that recreates the plot or a specific part of a story.
• Creating a complex map or plot summary as a device for others to use.
• Create a script to be acted for a specific part of a story.
• Write a newspaper report based on an event within a story.
• Use a variety of written genres to create a new text ('The Jolly Postman' and 'The Jolly Pocket Postman' are published examples of this).

These are just some of the ways that imaginative re-creation can be stimulated. I may do a future post on some worked examples of imaginative re-creation for classroom use.

The Power of Story: Address to ALEA 2011

I spoke today at the 2011 Australian Literacy Educators' Association in Melbourne. My talk was centred on the importance of words, story and literature. In an age where images, film, gaming and digital forms of meaning are more important, I wanted to remind people of the foundational importance of words and language. While I value visual literacy (see HERE), I've been worried at the loss of emphasis that literature and story receives.

I started a little controversially by suggesting that the statement “…a picture is worth a thousand words” is simply not accurate. While a picture can be more effective than a 1,000 poorly written words, the words of literature are economical and powerful. They offend us (‘old baldy’), amuse us ('Frobscottle'), rebuke us (‘get out’!), malign and vilify us (‘liar’), frighten us (‘an evil act’), inform us (‘Danger!’), sadden us (‘She’s dead’), disempower us (‘bloody wog’), hurt us (‘I hate you’), persuade us (‘it’s a bargain’), give us hope (‘she’s conscious’) and so on.

When words form stories they have power to do extraordinary things. Here are examples of just some of my favourite lead sentences from children's and adult books:

‘Late one night, for no particular reason, something stirred in the black mud at the bottom of Berkley’s Creek, (Jenny Wagner, illustrations Ron Brooks,' ‘The Bunyip of Berkeley’s Creek’)

'All happy families resemble each other, each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.' (Leo Tolstoy, 'Anna Karenina').

'Marley was dead: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that.' (Charles Dickens ‘A Christmas Carol’)

'Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.' (J.K. Rowling, ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone’)

‘It was the night before the Fund-raising Effort that the devils came.’ (Robert Westall, ‘The Scarecrows’).

'It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife' (Jane Austen, 'Pride and Prejudice').

‘Jackson was thin, small and ugly, and stank like a drain.’ (Leon Garfield, ‘Fair’s Fair’)

‘Deep in the still cold shadows the last Theefyspray looked out from her lonely lair’ (Paul Jennings, illustrated by Jane Tanner, ‘The Fisherman and the Theefyspray’).

Each of the authors who wrote these words agonised over the choice and order of every word. The agony was due to their desire to engage their readers, to transport us in time and space, to enrich us through their stories.


The importance of story (narrative)

Harold Rosen once suggested that 'Narratives in all their diversity and multiplicity make up the fabric of our lives; they are constitutive moments in the formation of our identities and our sense of community affiliation'.

Narrative is central to how our minds order experience, whether real or virtual, human minds order experience in the mode of story. Jerome Bruner and others have taught us that narrative is 'a fundamental mode of thought through which we construct our world or worlds.'


Literature is important in the classroom

Literature is an important part of any school curriculum. Language and story are foundational to what it is to be human, and literature is the pinnacle of narrative development. Literature is where story demonstrates its richness and complexity. It is here that we see the best possible words in the best possible order, used to the best possible effect. It is where the craft of representing ideas, giving information, challenging ideologies and views of the world, sharing history, sustaining and reinventing culture is at its peak.

In short, words and story matter and so we need to create classrooms that value literature and enable it to impact on children as readers. The use of literature in such classrooms has six key elements:

a) Independent reading – you need books and you need time (15-20 mins a day).

b) Shared literature is important – we need to read books out loud and share them in groups. Being able to read the same books as other class members is important, so some should be shared.

c) Talk about books – Talk about books is important and can take many forms, including individual conferences, literature circles and roving conferences. But the best talk is often that initiated by members of the class, born from the excitement of story.

d) Some deep study of meaning – Reading of literature needs to be 'deep' at times. Readers should tackle longer texts, read many books by same author, read harder material, engage in sustained reading, develop reading stamina, do word study & explore languages, and learn new things through reading

e) Literature is connected to other ways of meanings – Story always has a relationship to other modes of learning and meaning making – drawing, video, film, sound, drama, firsthand experiences.

f) Reader Response – response is important to the reading of literature, and can involve planned activities, spontaneous talk or even silence, writing, drama, craft and so on.

My colleague Professor Claire Woods said many years ago:

“Children’s response to literature is often unpredictable. We as teachers should learn to expect the unexpected.” 

We need to avoid preconceived notions of how children should respond.

All 6 elements above are related to one another. In classrooms where the teacher shares books, children will want to read books. When children are given a chance to talk about books, they will encourage one another to read, they’ll share books, stories will find their way into conversations, playground games for younger children and so on. Our aim as teachers should be to create learning communities in our classrooms in which literature has an important place.

Such communities develop ‘underground’ communication systems, notes are passes, messages sent, ideas are shared about things that matter (e.g. jokes, images, bits they like). As well, ‘literary grapevines’ emerge as kids pass around a book with unusual features (e.g. ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’, a funny or ‘rude’ bit), and ‘secret codes’ are invented known only to people who have read the book.

Summing up

If literature is to be effective, and have an enriching and transforming effect on readers, it must be embedded within authentic communities of readers and writers. It is in the interactions, relationships and shared knowledge that are connected with literature that learning and change occurs. The key to a successful literature classroom is one in which story is important and is part of the glue that binds the classroom community together.