W
|
hose face doesn’t light up at the mere mention of the word
story? Such is its magical power. Story telling evolved vis-a-vis human
civilization. Perhaps, story-telling is the mother of communication across
cultures. There could be a culture
which is not literate, but there couldn’t be any without a rich legacy of telling
stories.
Thus stories have been effective
form of communication since time immemorial.
As the stories’ characters unfold, a lovely and lively atmosphere is
created. Stories can enliven any dreary
occasion.
Hence it’s not surprising that
stories can be a powerful tool in classrooms for effective learning. Studies after studies have stressed the
fact. Stories have manifold impact on
children in classrooms.
Set the stage: Stories are the perfect ice
breakers to start with. An anecdote is enough to strike a bond between the
teacher and the taught. Any inhibition
and fear that holds back the student is done away with, bringing emotional
proximity.
Relaxed learning: Learning through stories is quite
entertaining and enjoyable. Learning in such stress-free environment does not
drain the students.
Alert mind: Students are all ears for
stories. Alertness is at peak while
listening to stories. Ideas can be easily
sown into alert minds.
Attention span:
Stories can develop listening skill among students. They hold the
attention of wandering minds for quite a long time, prolonging the attention
span.
Active participation: Pupils are active participators in
a set up where stories are used to impart knowledge. Teaching them with mere facts and figures
make them passive receptors of knowledge. Classes can be made more interactive
through stories.
Creativity: It aids the train of thinking and
imagination to chug off. With every
story, their imagination runs riot.
Generates interest: More than imparting information, a
teacher should be in a position to create interest in the subject taught. The interest
generated through stories takes them back to textbooks and also to other
sources for additional information.
Interests reluctant learners: Stories interest everyone irrespective of
academic inclination. This new found
interest may bring back the passive and reluctant learners to academics
gradually.
How can
stories be brought into picture?
A class can be begun with a story, which ultimately
should lead to the topic at hand.
Stories can be used to teach every topic be it
language or core subject. Difficult
concepts can be illustrated through stories. Any concept taught using a story
will remain for years.
Teaching language, a teacher should have some new words, idioms
and phrases and grammar concepts in mind. While explaining the text, those
words or concepts should be repeated as many times as possible driving home the
meaning and usage of such expressions. Students can be encouraged to come up
with different expressions.
Teaching abstract concepts is not an easy task. Build a story
around them, the concept is absorbed pronto!
Stories are nothing but humanizing the concepts. Even mathematics and science too can be taught
through stories. Logic behind every concept, theory and formula should be
explained through stories.
Addition of two negative numbers is a negative
number, the number being the sum of two numbers. Too confusing for beginners. My teacher explained it thus: When you lend 100
bucks, you are ‘minus’ of the amount. If you lend another 250 bucks, again you
are ‘minus’ of Rs. 250. So two minuses of Rs 100 and Rs 250 together make a ‘minus’
of Rs 350. The plus-minus puzzle can be easily solved in this method. This
simple logic taught before decades has still remained with me.
Histroy is a story itself sprinkled with names and
years. History repeats, hence the past
should be made relevant by drawing analogies with the present.
Every aspect in the text book should be related to
real life situations as much as possible. The teacher and the lesson taught
through stories will be remembered for years.
Those joyful learning experiences are relished forever.
- Sanoor Indira Acharya
No comments:
Post a Comment