Using Story

Book excerpt: Story is everywhere in human lives and cultures and it features strongly in the processes of teaching and learning. Story can be called narrative, case study, critical incident, life history, anecdote, scenario, illustration or example, creative writing, storytelling; it is a unit of communication, it is in the products of the media industries, in therapy and in our daily acts of reflecting. Stories are 'told' in many ways - they are spoken, written, filmed, mimed or acted, presented as cartoons and in new media formats and through all these, they are associated with both teaching and learning processes but in different ways and at different levels. As a result of growing interest and simultaneous confusion about story, it is timely to untangle the various meanings of story so that we can draw out and extend its value and use. Using Story aims to clarify what we mean by story, to seek out where story occurs in education and life and to explore the processes by which we learn from story. In this way the book intends to ‘bring story into the open’ and improve its use. Building on her wealth of experience in the field, Jenny Moon explores the theory of story and demonstrates both its current uses and new ways in which to enrich and enliven teaching, learning and research processes. Ideal for anyone involved in education, personal or professional development or with a more general interest in story, the book begins by considering the range of what is meant by story, and then considers the theory behind the meanings. In the large final part of the book, Jenny provides a rich patchwork of different uses of story in education that cut across forms of story, story activities, disciplines and applications all of which will aid the use of story.