I remember that as a kid in middle school, we all loved our math teacher. A big reason behind this was the stories he would share with us in class. He had lots of great stories to share, and he was a great, dramatic storyteller. His energetic delivery brought these stories to life for us. Kids love stories. I remember a student once asking me for a story at the end our tutoring session. I had told her a story at the end of the previous session, and I guess she enjoyed it enough that she was hoping for another story from me.
In fact, when I begin tutoring a new student, to illustrate one of my ground rules, I share a story that my old math teacher shared with us. When he was beginning his career as a new teacher, he had to attend orientation for all the new teachers. There was a line in the briefing materials that read something like “In case of molesting, notify the student’s parents right away.” But, he misread it, he thought it said “in case of mole sting” so he piped up and asked “well why don’t we just spray the buggers out? I mean, if there are moles in the building, let’s just hire an exterminator and spray them out.” I share this story with students to emphasize my rule of “if you have questions, please ask – don’t be shy or embarrassed”, and to illustrate that whatever math question they want to ask me, there is no way it can be any more embarrassing than this “mole” question.
As teachers and parents, telling our students stories can be a great way to not only entertain and bond with them, but also to teach and inspire them. And if we teach by story-telling, then we are certainly in good historical company. Aesop taught using stories (fables) – I recall one of my favorite books as a kid was Aesop’s Fables, a gift from my older sister. Jesus taught by using stories (parables). So we can see historical and religious precedent for the value of stories and story-telling in regards to teaching students. People remember a good story, and students are more likely to remember a lesson taught by sharing a good story.
Often when I tutor, I share stories from my life, often from my time as a working professional (I am a former engineer, among other things), and end with a theme of “this is what you may face in the real world, that’s why I teach you to do things this way.” Telling a story about how a vacuum tube can fail for details such as a small hole in the envelope, or how airplanes might not get built properly due to engineers not communicating the units used in measurements; is more effective than simply telling a student “pay attention to detail.” Sharing a story about a special forces soldier’s realization that the selection and training course was designed to discover a candidate’s character and integrity is more effective than simply telling a student to be honest, without any support or context.
We all love a good story. You like to read novels? You like to watch movies for entertainment? We all love stories that excite the imagination and inspire us, at least I certainly hope so. These stories often extol and celebrate virtues that bring life and value to humanity, themes such as honor, courage, sacrificing for a higher purpose, true love, loyalty, humility, unyielding friendship, believing in your dreams and never quitting, and so on. We can talk about principles and values, but telling stories that illustrate these will do much more to install righteous values in our students. And the students will have fun along the way (I hope).
But what if you don’t know any stories? You are an adult, you have decades of life already lived. Think carefully, and I am confident you can come up with some stories from your past. Want more stories? Read more books. Watch more movies. Read books and watch movies that extol the kind of virtues that you want your students to develop in themselves, and this will give you a ready supply of stories to share. We all have stories, so don’t be shy about sharing yours. Your students will appreciate you more as a human being once they know your story.