Storytelling in Schools

As a Model for Personal Development

By Rutger Tamminga

Neohumanist Education, aims at the nurturing of rationality and a strong connection with universal ideals. Neohumanism sees this as a way to overcome the debilitating effects of prejudices based on geo- and socio-sentiments and thus grow a socially just and harmonious society.

All around the world there are different approaches to implement this Neohumanist vision. Here I wanted to share an approach that focuses on storytelling as a means of shaping the minds of our students. This storytelling approach can be enhanced by relating stories to the layers of the mind, and related propensities.

When I started with storytelling, I did so out of sheer desperation. I did not know how to get the children to pay attention. I had tried movement-based learning, flashcards and singing, but I found that the only way to get my students’ attention was with the lure of a cookie, candy or sticker. I felt a personal failure, a cookie teacher. My children learned because there was a reward, not because they wanted to learn or enjoyed the idea of discovery. That all changed when I started to tell stories. Children did not need rewards to listen, and when the story was finished, they used the story contents in their conversation! They had absorbed the story and made it their own. Storytelling was how I decided to guide my children.

That was thirty years ago, and a lot has happened with my storytelling journey. Exploring all sorts of story types, my children grew up on a daily diet of stories, sometimes 4-5 stories in one class. For the little ones this would be short stories, for the six and seven-year old’s I could tell stories and keep their attention for twenty minutes and they would ask for more stories and more stories. And that in a foreign language! Storytelling became such a big thing in my school that I got invited to lecture on it and share my experiences.

I began to do research on why storytelling works (Story Proof, Kendall Haven is a good resource), and I found there is a whole science behind it. One professor (yes, you can do a Master’s Degree in storytelling!) even spoke about transcendental consciousness as a result of listening to stories. But what I did not see was a model that links storytelling and personal development. Stories were often described as offering archetypal imagery that connect with the unconscious and thus affect how we think. That has been mostly the explanation offered for the connection we feel with stories.

In yoga philosophy the mind is divided into five layers, with more details on the layers of the unconscious mind. In addition, the mind is driven by propensities, innate releasing mechanisms that create the patterns for our minds to operate. For a person to grow, the propensities have to be recognized, redirected and absorbed in a higher ideal.

While the yoga tradition offers several practices for this, storytelling is so captivating because the emotive element of the story arouses a corresponding emotive response in the audience. While we ‘see’ the emotion expressed in the story, we feel it within ourselves. The physiological and neurological process includes mirror neurons, synergy, empathy, endorphins, dopamine and cortisol, but on the psychological level, stories make us see our own propensities’ thoughts.

When this is understood, we can help children talk about these propensities and discuss ways and means we handle these. Storytelling can become a process for self-realization!

To clarify this approach, I have made a simple framework for the mind, some propensities related to these aspects of the mind and the values (translated from Yama and Niyama) along with some story examples that could be used to help children reflect on their own propensities.

We see that many stories little children relate to very well have to do with existential issues. The fairytales such as Little Red Riding Hood and the Three Little Pigs, deal with threats to their very existence. Hansel and Gretel relate to this as well, but show the relative security of social bonds. The Gingerbread Man is a story of a cookie who wanted to be independent, thinking he could outsmart everyone, but finds that pride comes before the fall. Hubris is an element that afflicts the people fixated on the third layer of the mind.

And then there are stories that deal with ideals – the heart’s forces that transcend intellect. The simpleton who conquers the worldly arrogance that surrounds them as in the Brothers’ Grimm’s The Three Feathers is a fine example. Other stories where compassion wins over the cleverness or force of others also come in this category.

The stories that deal with universal laws such as we see in mythology would fit the highest layer of the mind, where self-reflection is intuitive and touches on the deepest identity. Stories for the Pure Self would include stories about the origins of life, as we see in stories of the Sun Mother (Indigenous Australian) and other origin myths.

The beauty of stories is that they reflect the variety and depth of the whole of human experience. Guided by the story framework and the layers of the mind, we also can help children reflect on their different qualities. Especially during Story Talk, when we evaluate stories, we can guide self-discovery and perception of the sentiments that are reflected in the story and use this to reflect on and manage our own emotive forces. A storytelling-based curriculum in that sense can make our students aware of the physical, mental and spiritual aspects of our lives.

With this complete perspective of oneself, one is bound to develop a complete perspective of others. It is obvious that this asks a lot from the teacher, but the ability to interpret stories and focus on the personal development of the child, instead of just the academic skills, may make teaching for a storytelling teacher more interesting.

As we use stories as the basis of our curriculum, this does not mean we do not touch on the other academic subjects, but that we center all learning on the literary journey. There is sufficient research that shows that children who have internalized a story have better writing output than when children are asked to write based on standard test exercises. The work of Pie Corbet in the UK is inspiring in this regard. There also is sufficient research that shows that storytelling is beneficial for mathematical and memory skills.

Helping our students discover their own full potential should be the greatest gift an education can give. Storytelling-based curricula have this potential, especially when done within the developmental framework of the layers of the mind complemented by the Yama and Niyama character values. And such curriculum can be applied anywhere in the world, whether in affluent neighborhoods or in a poor rural area. Embracing the idea that a story-based curriculum can awaken the depth of the child is all that is required! Storytelling in schools is a universally applicable model for Neohumanist Educators.

Storytelling in China – February 2024

Rutger Tamminga

After three years of not visiting the PRC, I had the chance to give three workshops over a six-day period in Changzhou and Nanjing. The program was well attended with over 60 teachers, many of who came for the first time. The courses touched on the basic techniques of storytelling and prop making, and stories for environmental education (The Story Tree program). Storytelling in China is growing and I also visited a Storytelling Center to see their approach. We are promoting the Storytelling School model as a way to nurture compassion, self-respect and universal love.