Increasingly, adult educators are using narrative and stories for many reasons, including their deep appeal, satisfaction, and cultural transcendence. As a fundamental structure of human meaning making narrative is a valuable classroom tool in that it can enable students to understand life events, personal actions, and solidify identity formation. Story-based techniques such as storytelling, case studies, critical incidents, role playing, and simulations are often used in the adult education classroom. Autobiographical writing or the life story is a major strand of narrative. It can be useful to a variety of adult students, including those in higher education classrooms, small peer group settings, teacher professional continuing education workshops, and older students. The narrative orientation to education is a metaphor for the developing self and closely related to transformational learning, a hallmark of adult education. (Contains 32 references.) (AJ)