Abstract
This paper traces the general history of storytelling in education and then examines closely the longest continuously running formal storytelling program in the United States. Comments of the program’s current and former students considered alongside the historical rationale for educational storytelling provide insight into a distinctive role for storytelling in education. Responses from former students and observations made by earlier teacher- and librarian-storytellers clearly indicate that listeners experienced what Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi would call “flow,” John Dewey would have called “an experience,” and Philip Jackson would term “transcendent education.” Such findings prompt calls for further study into unique benefits of storytelling in education and suggest implications for policies on curriculum and teacher training.
Recommended Citation
Ryan, Patrick and Schatt, Donna
(2014)
""Can You Describe the Experience?","
Storytelling, Self, Society: Vol. 10:
Iss.
2, Article 1.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/storytelling/vol10/iss2/1