Storytelling as a teaching device

The NEU ran a very useful webinar on the 19th January looking at ways that teachers can use storytelling to aid teaching. In this post I will summarise some of the ideas that were discussed and offer links to some of the resources that you can use.

Creating a story with 5 core elements

Tim Taylor uses storytelling with children to engage them and draw them into any topic that they are exploring. He works as freelance teacher-trainer for Mantle of the Expert (https://www.mantleoftheexpert.com/), and shared how he uses the 5 core elements of story to build a story in collaboration with children. These 5 elements are; characters, locations, events, time, and tension.

He described the process of building a story in collaboration with the children. To build a story from scratch with no starting point can be both time consuming and difficult in terms of managing a topic, and the input from children. Stories that we already know are good starting points, and can give us a framework to build around.

Mantle of the Expert has some story resources here you can use (https://www.mantleoftheexpert.com/stories/)

By starting with a given for example starting with a given character, that grounds students in a starting point. They can explore this starting point, what do they look like, what are they doing and so on.

You can follow this with a narrative event, and explore that too. Then the next given is offered and explored in the same way. Throughout the process you are adding details and flavour to the story, and linking it to the subject or curriculum topic that you are looking at.

Another tool he recommended was the three forms of representation proposed by Jerome Bruner. The idea with this is that young learners can learn any material as long as the instruction is organised in the appropriate way. An effective way of learning is to progress through new material from Enactive Representation (action-based), through Iconic Representation (image-based), to Symbolic Representation (language-based)

The Power of Story in Role Play

 

Debra Kidd took us through an example of using storytelling to look at and investigate water reserves.


She demonstrated how developing one story with the children could tie in a number of different parts of the curriculum.


In this example the children role played the researchers for a water charity and the teacher took the role of the CEO of the charity wanting to work in this area. This story was able to draw together all these strands of the curriculum into the one story.


·       The geography of Bangladesh

·       Flood plains, rivers and mountains

·       Climate change

·       Poverty and land use

·       Forces (water and resistance)

·       Design Technology

·       Plants and growth

·       Weather patterns and the water cycle

·       Human resilience and achievements

·       Reading for information

·       Writing to inform, to persuade, to entertain

·       Data handling, measuring


At each stage of the story she used powerful photographs to set the scene of the problem. Here is an example of how she builds a story with the children.


“How do we get these boys off the roof? What do you notice?”


The freeze time! And ask… “Where are we taking them? What right do we have to take them?”


The next photograph may be of a rescue centre. Throughout the process of building the story ask questions, the image will help to draw out observations and thus good questions.

“How do we keep things safe here? How do families meet and connect with each other?”


Offer questions too. “How do we prove we are trustworthy?” How are logo’s and branding used in these situations. What are symbols and how are they used by people. “How does that change the way people behave when they are wearing these symbols?”


When we have solved one situation, offer a new dilemma. “What else do the boys need?”

Actually, they really want to meet their father. BUT the father doesn’t want to meet them

So we ask WHY?He explains that his farm keeps flooding, his wife has died, he has nothing to feed the boys with, they are hungry, he feels he can’t look after them anymore, and he wants you as a charity to take them and give them a better life.


Freeze time and discuss this with the children again. Is he bad? Why is he doing this? Is there anything else we can do to help them, without them being dependant on outside help.

Surely there is something we can do? Shift children away from just feeling sorry for people, but to develop hope and find a solution. The children are then powered by questions. Why does the place keep flooding, explore the geography, how is climate change altering this?


Working together online the children can contribute images, sound files, ideas, videos, for what could be made to help these people. They could use Minecraft, for example, to build a model of what could be made.


A great online resource for sharing different kinds of media is called Padlet. (https://padlet.com/ ) she uses it for the children to gather their ideas and the things they have found.


If you want to take the story to the next level, you could ask - “That was too much water, what about too little water. How can we save water and look after our own resources?”


NEU remote learning hub

 

Alex Kenny, explained that it was really important to Share knowledge on this and offered some links to help with this. Urging teachers to use these links to please talk to each other to help and see what others are doing that works.


https://nationaleducationunion.foleon.com/neu-remote-learning-portal/neu-remote-education-hub/home/


https://nationaleducationunion.foleon.com/neu-remote-learning-portal/neu-remote-education-hub/home/


https://guild.co/app/joining-guild?accessCode=DKw9m2ysE


The power of Story in Early Years


Lucy Coleman suggested that we use what is already out there, there are lots of resources available. (the Steve Sinnott Foundation has a great resource pack where we have pulled together many different resources into one place for this https://www.stevesinnottfoundation.org.uk/resources)


In early years the partnership with parents is really important, and now through remote learning we can empower them so that they can help even more. Create a dialogue with them because they won’t know what to do otherwise).


A simple example of what parents can do is as children play ask, “Tell me a story, about what you are doing.” Their parent can write it down and then can role play it back with the child.


Make sure the resources are diverse, and show equality, here are some useful ones.


https://www.scholastic.co.uk/


https://www.bristolearlyyears.org.uk/early-learning/home-learning/


https://speechandlanguage.info/parents/activities


Reclaiming Education


Daniel Kebede ended with a call “Let’s reclaim education for our children sakes, we can make changes, this era has shown that there are other ways to do things.”


Thank you for reading. If you use storytelling as a teaching tool, tell us about it in the comments below. 

The Steve Sinnott Foundation • January 29, 2021

An Education Revolution

By Ann Beatty • April 6, 2025
This week while out and about in Hertfordshire and we visited the British Schools Museum. We discovered the first school opened by Joseph Lancaster, was known as the ‘Poor Childs Friend”, was in 1810. It was his lifelong mission that all children regardless of their circumstances, should benefit from an education. Apparently, Joseph heard a small girl say, “Oh that I could read!” and this inspired him to create a simple education system that eventually would benefit children across the world. Joseph was the tenth son of a poor man himself from South London. His aim was to offer free education for everyone. However, it would be 93 years before the U.K. government finally made education free for all. There are still many countries today where education is still not free to access and it is certainly not compulsory for primary and secondary age pupils. Joseph’s mission really resonates with that of the Foundation, to support access to education for all. We enjoyed our visit and appreciated the tour given by two of the Museum’s volunteers, Angela and Clare. They described some of the challenges faced in the early years of formal education and shared some of the rules that teachers and students had to abide by with us. 

Sparks Bristol

By Ann Beatty • April 4, 2025
Sparks Bristol is a collaborative community project initially envisioned by The Global Goals Centre, (GGC) more of which below. A few years ago, GGC took over an empty Marks and Spencer store and that’s how Sparks was born. Sparks is a department store with a difference, co-created by Global Goals Centre and Artspace Lifespace. On the ground floor is a huge range of shops, installations, events and more. Upstairs is a hub for local artists, it offers affordable studios as well as rehearsal and performance space. The Global Goals Centre is a Bristol-based educational charity inspired by the Sustainable Development Goals. (SDGs). GGC believe the SDG’s or Global Goals as they are sometimes known, can be reached, with imaginative solutions and widespread education and engagement. They work with partners to promote creative solutions and deliver ground breaking projects that work towards these ambitious goals. The Steve Sinnott Foundation supported the Global Goals Centre with seed funding when it first started over 5 years ago. This month we went to visit them to see how they are getting on and we were taken aback by the volume of work they have achieved since they started. It is amazing to see how though working together with other local community groups it has grown into the vibrant centre it is today. All of the creative projects they host are linked to the SDGs. They cover topics that tackle poverty, education, climate change, fashion recycling and upcycling, to name a few.

Spring is Here! Looking Ahead!

By Ann Beatty • March 28, 2025
Spring is definitely here, daffodils, blossom and crocuses are all basking in the bright sunshine. There is still a chill in the air in the shade but it's happening and all the seeds that were sown over the last few months are coming to fruition. At the Foundation, we have been planning the year ahead and our Positive Periods and Prevention of Gender Based Violence programmes got underway this weekend in Haiti and Ghana. These projects will have a long-lasting effect on the lives of the women and girls who take part: tackling the root causes of gender-based violence and enabling girls to attend school every day when they have their period, to feel safe at school and know how to take action when they are faced with violence. These are the first of many projects planned for the year ahead as we continue to work towards Education for All children everywhere.