Thinking Deeply, Creating Richly: Learner Transformation Through Narrative

Narrative methods support transformative teaching and learning by accessing human cognitive strengths, including memory, reflection, and self-awareness. This paper explores the enduring and mindful use of narrative in education – as a method for transformative teaching and learning. A narrative is the intentional conversion of a group of events, participants, and details into a constructed reality that illustrates causes, characters, and results. Narrative development is a native human process by which we teach, learn, and remember. Narrative educational methods incorporate two key characteristics: integrative sense making, and shared connection building. Diverse disciplines – including biology, psychology, economics, literature, medicine, history, and education – have explored narrative as a foundational component of our human capacities, relationships, and achievements. Exploring the uses and misuses of narrative offers insight for teachers and learners of all ages. The paper closes with a discussion of the role this investigation is having in my personal and professional development