Israeli researchers collected stories from secondary teachers in their staff room, examining form and function of storytelling. The stories described situations where the teachers had terrible classes or students but succeeded in improving things. The teachers' stories created images of the ideal teacher and socialized teachers to those images.…

Defines digital storytelling, the application of multimedia techniques to the telling of stories. Describes how digital-storytelling assignments, designed to use an online conferencing facility, were developed for a college class. Provides examples of students' approaches to the personal narrative assignment. Discusses how to evaluate the…

''Stories do not simply contain knowledge, they are themselves the knowledge'' (Jackson (In: K. Eagan, H. McEwan (Eds.), Narrative in Teaching, Learning and Research, Teacher College Press, New York, 1995, p. 5)). How can we teach well? Perhaps we can find answers through our stories from the classroom. It is through our stories that we make sense…

Stories are seductive, persuasive, permeable. They pull one toward them and they may even take over. From the tapes and transcripts of interviews, from the pages of journals and student writing, certain stories called out to this author and his colleagues. The narratives they include in their work are not innocently or objectively chosen stories;…

This study explores how high school students learn from their experiences in an extracurricular adventure program and illustrates how students' narrative inquiries relate to experiential learning. Twelve canoe trips were studied by participant observation methods. Data were collected from recorded interviews with students and staff, field notes,…

This paper provides information concerning preschool narrative development in typically developing North American children, stressing previously documented links between early narrative skills and literacy development. Methods are provided for assessing narrative skills of language-impaired children. The methods involve eliciting from the children…

A curriculum project is described that consists of a unit developed for a writing class in a secondary English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) classroom. Although the unit is intended to present an idea of what can be accomplished in the ESL classroom with developing writers, it does not give any specific "recipes" for writing development. The setting…

Written by history students at Gary High School, Gary, Texas, this volume presents several diverse pictures of life in East Texas. The first article, "Jim Driver, Panola County Oil and Gas Boom," (Bobby Kelly and Billy Anderson) talks about drilling for oil and gas and the concerns of an employee of the drilling company. "When I Was…

This paper discusses the role of imagination, experience, and narrative recounting of practical events in the education of novice teachers. The narrative study of experience connects autobiography to action and intentional future; it connects these to social history and direction; and it links the pluralistic extremes of formalism to the…

Reports a study that examined the use of story in an adolescent development course, reviewing the methodology employed, the problematics of storytelling in teaching, and the three patterns of storytelling that emerged. The discussion highlights the role of storytelling as a way of expanding experience and the analysis of experience for beginning…

Explores aboriginal discourse styles in a public context, their presentation of knowledge and experience through stories, and the mismatch between discourse styles of aboriginal people and what is expected in classrooms. (MM)

Sharing personal life stories can be a powerful tool to confront stereotypes and educate about social justice issues. Effective use includes having a clear educational goal, choosing a story that conveys an experience that is understandable and relates to the educational goal, and providing a safe environment for voluntary sharing of personal…

Stories about teaching practice, as used in professional teacher education, are a valuable source of information about teaching and a worthwhile reflective exercise. As experienced teachers and preservice students shared and collaborated on writing stories in courses at a university in Australia, students gained a better understanding of…

Narratives instruct people in their relationship with the law, as illustrated in the classical story, "Antigone," and in the modern novel, "The Cider House Rules." Legal stories are the "sacred narratives" passed on to law students so they can become initiated into the legal system and discover their places in it.…

Discusses how teachers' and students' personal stories are central to teacher education and to the improvement of schools. The article illustrates how the telling and writing, retelling and rewriting of teachers' and students' stories leads to awakenings and transformations resulting in changes in teaching practices. (SM)