In her blog Soulbride’s Kitchen, Kamalla Rose Kaur tells of what sounds like a wonderful storytelling class at Western Washington University (where the class is a General Education Requirement) taught by Rosemary Vohs. Commenters to Kaur’s blog affirm Vohs’s exceptional teaching ability and credit her with significant influence on their lives (“She taught me virtually everything I know about storytelling, public speak[ing], and performing,” writes Jacqueline Bartha of Jacksonville, FL.)

Kaur’s main point in her posting is how she was derided when she told people she was taking the storytelling class. People assumed it was an easy and lightweight topic. In reality, storytelling was Kaur’s hardest class. She wonders if storytelling is looked down upon “because anyone can tell a story…?”

Is it because professors are often horrible storytellers, while humble working class folk often excel at it? Is it a women’s discipline? Is it a childish subject? Or are other races better at storytelling than people of European descent?

Kaur peppers her posting with some great quotes about storytelling, which I’ve now posted in my Story Wisdom section.

She concludes, “The capacity to tell our tales is neither easy nor is it trivial.” Referring to the tendency of the revilers to compare the class to basket-weaving, Kaur declares: “I dare you! Weave a basket that holds water and lasts longer than your puny little lifetime.”

In a sad postscript to her blog posting, Kaur notes that because of budget cuts, Western Washington U. has cut Vohs’ classes down to one and told her to vacate her office.

At The Learning Times Green Room, a podcast for Renewal, Retooling and Conversations about Learning, co-hosts Susan Manning and Dan Balzer offer a podcast on using storytelling for instructional purposes.

The Learning Times Green Room blog also offers notes to go along with the podcast. Susan’s and Dan’s discussion of “getting students engaged in solving a problem, making a recommendation, or breaking up problem down into simpler components are methods of using story” resonates with me. Susan and Dan also encourage listeners to check out Learning Scenarios Online based at Valencia College, which is near me. You can log onto a demo Learning Scenario course, Teaching for Learning, a story-based course described, in part, like this: “By engaging with the storyline, characters, and resources, and interacting with other participants, you will leave with the skills, attitudes and knowledge to assist you in creating a learning-centered classroom environment.”

The Learning Times Green Room’s show topics are often drawn from members of LearningTimes.org, a free online community of education and training professionals from across the globe. The LT Green Room gives listeners (and ourselves) an opportunity to reflect on what they’re doing behind the scene that results in an effective learning experience.