![]() With the advent of audiobooks and podcasts, many of us listen to stories as we jog or walk or ride in a car or airplane. For many of us, there is no better form of escape than to stick our noses in a book and vanish into the story. ![]() ![]() When we find ourselves sitting in an airport or waiting to see the dentist, reading a magazine or book engages our attention and helps to make time pass more easily. What will be the outcome of the story with this new twist? What might I learn from their suggestion or solution? We can often work through a problem or situation by writing about it or creating a story. When someone is creating a story with us, he or she might suggest a different action than we would suggest. This is especially true if another person is helping to co-create the story. Stories also help us to solve problems by providing opportunities to try out different actions that might lead to different outcomes. Stories help us solve problems and try on solutions. For example, think of the different real-life devices that reflect the long-ago creations of Jules Verne in his stories, such as Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea or From the Earth to the Moon. Using our imaginations to modify an existing story or create a fictional world allows us to create solutions to existing problems or imagine places where other challenges exist. Many of these stories guide whole populations in learning how to live their lives (e.g., religious and spiritual texts, the Constitution). When we preserve stories in some static form like a book or a recording or a movie, people from different times and places can share that story. They become part of who we are, what we believe, and how we see our future. Stories told within a family or in a culture become even more powerful as they are shared year after year. Many people may not agree that this is storytelling, but it is where many of us begin to learn the power our own memory and imagination. We tell ourselves stories about how people treat us and how we treat them. We tell ourselves stories about the amazing places we will see and exciting things we will do as we plan our vacations. We make up stories in our heads about how our day will go before we head for the office. ( Opening Up by Writing It Down, Pennebaker, J.W. Research actually shows that using expressive writing can help us deal with stressful and traumatic events and can even positively impact our health. So, when we face challenges in our own lives we may have a certain belief that everything will be alright eventually if we take action. This can be true of many stories we read or hear.Įven stories that might frighten us a bit, help us to cope because the outcome for the protagonist or hero ultimately turns out well. But the power of that story may help to calm him and take action to meet his own needs. He is just building a story based on his experience of what happens when he cries out at night. Will it hurt me? If I cry out loud Dad or Mom will come save me.”Īt the time the child tells himself the story he doesn’t know if it is fiction or nonfiction. Imagine a story the young child might create and revisit. We make sense of our life experiences in part by the stories we learn or tell ourselves. The form or the medium are not as important as the story itself or the creation of the story. ![]() Audio and braille are other mediums that may be used to share a story with others. Another child with low vision may enjoy simple picture books with limited print. Stories become static when we write them down or record them in some way so we can revisit them over-and-over again.Ĭhildren who are visually impaired or Deafblind, may experience a story by tactually exploring items collected on a walk or playing with the materials used to take a bath if these are placed in an experience box or bag. Some stories are dynamic, we hear them or experience them and then they are gone. The creators of the stories use various mediums such as braille, sign language, movies, and dance to share the stories with others. Stories come in a variety of forms: poetry, song, movement, pictures, plays and even Dad Jokes. Stories come in different forms and mediums. Helping them to tell their stories is very important to their social, emotional and cognitive development, especially communication and literacy. Children who are blind and visually impaired or deafblind also have stories inside them. The reality is we are all storytellers from the very earliest days of our lives. Many people think that the gift of storytelling belongs only to writers, shamans, and the very old. Perhaps the thing that makes us human is the stories (real and imagined) that each of us has inside. This entry is part 3 of 6 in the series Why is it important? for Playing with Words Series Navigation >
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