How ReTelling the Story Saved My Class

once upon a time

not so long ago and not so far away i

lived through what might be

every professor’s worst nightmare at

least pre-covet 19.

the semester started off great with

students eager to learn

prepared for class but about at midterms

five weeks into the semester about where

we are now

students started looking a little like

this

but what it feels like from the front of

the classroom is that it looks a little

more like this

as if the undead have all decided to

come to class

on the same day and i was

faced with a fork in the road how do i

engage

students in ignite learning how do i

invite

students into an experience that helps

them remember

that learning is a full contact sport

i learned that retelling the story was

one way that i could bring students into

a shared experience

my favorite illustration of this concept

occurred one day when i was telling the

story of king david a beloved king

in israel king david

from his palace saw a woman bathing on

her rooftop the woman’s name was

bathsheba

david summons bathsheba and sleeps with

bathsheba

and the first thing that bathsheba

utters in the narrative is

i am pregnant and so david summons uriah

bathsheba’s husband

expecting him to provide a cover-up for

what has happened in this situation

however uriah does not cross the

threshold of his home out of solidarity

with his comrades

who are expanding the territory of

david’s kingdom

and when that doesn’t work david sends

uriah to the front lines

the story was going along as normal

except today at this point in the story

one of my students responds oh

am i allowed to say that ted

anyway that was what the student said

and the student i think

got right what was happening in this

moment

and was invested in the moment and it

inspired me

to rethink how i engage my classes

when i tell these stories as if they’re

entertaining even if somewhat

problematic

and they are and when i teach them as if

there’s something

valuable to be gained from them

regardless of our faith or

ethical traditions and there is

i notice a palpable change in my

classroom

the energy goes up students respond they

react they smile they laugh and

sometimes

even swear and sometimes they tell

stories of their own

in response these stories are not just

long ago

and far away they beg retelling

just like any good story

education at its core is an act of

storytelling

as professors we tell stories that help

invite our students into different

experiences we tell stories that explain

the intricacies of the universe

rather through words or through formulas

or through numbers

we tell stories that wrap our students

as students

in different times different languages

different places

we tell stories of long ago and far away

of here and now hoping that this will

form our students into holistic

well-rounded individuals

this impulse is affirmed by the ancients

teachers of rhetoric who would prepare

students for public careers

would advocate for storytelling as a

vehicle for learning

it was able to ward off boredom and

useful

informing moral citizens

pseudo cicero who wrote his rhetorical

handbook adhering

in the first century bce

describes exactly what to do if your

hearers become

bored he says if your hearers have been

fatigued by listening

we shall open with something that may

provoke laughter

a fable a plausible story

an ironical inversion on based on the

meaning of a word an ambiguity an

innuendo

a banter a naivete you get the idea

i can’t help but think that pseudo

cicero must have seen something akin to

what i see in my classes

as as midterms approach no matter

how enticing i try to make the stories i

think no matter if i did

backflips off the desk at the front of

the room

i’ve not tried that yet students don’t

seem compelled by the story

and to be fair they’re living off of

barely any sleep

caffeine and god knows what else

and at some point they quit reading for

class

i prefer not know how early that

actually happens i’m happy in my naivete

here

but at some point i faced a fork in the

road

what was i to do should i

should i double down and rage quiz my

students into submission

to read their assignments or should i

find a different way to entice

and invite and reform the way i think of

story

and of class i clearly

chose the latter retelling the story

saved my class one of the unintended

benefits of this was

i realized that it invited students into

a shared

learning experience even if students had

read

the assignment on their own they had not

yet been

invited into a communal community around

these texts

which is what story is and it’s what

story

does it brings us into a shared

learning experience which facilitates

communal learning

it wards off boredom and is useful

in forming our students into whole

people part of the power of the oh

story as i affectionately remember it

is it reminded me to reform my classes

because these stories are not just long

ago and far away

they transcend time a story about a king

living in the 9th century in israel

could affect a student

in such a way that they would verbally

respond in class these stories help us

to remember that we are not alone for

example if i asked you to tell your own

story of a time that you could not see a

way forward

perhaps you would share the who the what

the when and the where

but the why and the how i would argue

involve an act of curiosity and of

and of vulnerability it invites

us to find ways to make meaning where

there seem to be no ways forward

it helps us to remember that even though

it feels like the oh no moment is the

end of the story

it’s not that’s not true

because the story continues but then

and if we can learn from others but then

moments

how they found ways forward how they

owned their mistakes

perhaps we can do the same if we can

learn

from stories where humanity is shared

and kindness bestowed

perhaps we can do the same if stories

that delight and appall us can teach us

about the world

and teach us how to respond to it with

creativity

innovation and generosity then maybe

retelling the story will not only save

us from boredom

and invite us into a shared learning

experience

maybe retelling the story will help us

re

narrate our experiences to create a

kinder

more curious more generous and less

boring world

thank you

you