Deciding on a structure for your lessons is not as easy as it might first appear. There are many strategies that compete for your attention and whole packages that you can buy into. However, we believe it is possible to outline a few points that a basic exam lesson should have.

 

We believe in this approach[i] and know that it works in a range of subjects. It is not too different from other models that you might see out there, except maybe in one respect: the big question. We have always this approach for many years and believe it to be an essential part of learning. It also means that learning flows and from it you can bring in AfL with greater ease and have a basis for quality review.

 

Good questions take time to create (see ‘Our Journey into Crime’ in Chapter One), but it is worth the effort. Each learning episode deserves a question, and it will spark instant curiosity in your students. They help deliver meaning more than anything else, by setting up a challenge that students can overcome. The sense of achievement can be high when students come up with the answer and present it to you or the class. Having the answer and wanting to share it is the essence of creating meaning.

 

 

Beyond lesson planning and structure, having a good story to hang the learning on is vital for creating meaning. Think of stories as a clothes hanger…

 

[In Box]

The wire coat hanger that we know and love was inspired by a clothes hook patented in 1869, by O. A. North of Connecticut. Albert J. Parkhouse, an employee of Timberlake Wire and Novelty Company in Michigan, created a coat hanger in 1903, in response to co-workers’ complaints of too few coat hooks. He bent a piece of wire into two ovals with the ends twisted together to form a hook. Although an incredibly simple invention, it is incredibly well thought out. Not only does it complete a function of hanging clothes, but it also helps garments keep their shape.

 

Take this a metaphor: your subject content is an item of clothing, stories are clothes hangers. 

 

Let us explain…

 

E.M. Forster was stated“A fact is ‘the queen died and the king died.’  A story is ‘the queen died and the king died of a broken heart.’” Which one is the most memorable do you think – fact or story? Stories are a part of life for us humans from the day we retold fairy-tales by parents or other loved ones, or when playground buddies sharing their latest feats, through to wedding speeches explaining how the bride and groom fell in love, to granddad sharing his fishing-tales. Think back to your own schooling, what do you remember the most, the pH value of blood’, the fundamentals of trigonometry, how to deconstruct text or when a teacher told you that in 1943 a British bomber navigated to the wrong country and only realised that he was in fact flying over Stockholm after he had dropped his first cluster (no one was injured, a church wall and statue did regrettably not make it however). Maybe you would be more inclined to remember all the above, if you start believing in the principle that… there is a story there somewhere.

 

The more cynical of us would probably say that stories are just narratives that provide nothing more than fleeting memories, however lovely, but not essential facts. Yet, facts will become more powerful and more memorable if they are placed in context and delivered with emotional impact[ii]. Using stories encourages memory because, in a way, we remember through stories. D. Norman’s brilliant book Things that Make us Smart (1994) points out that:

 

 

The following story was emailed to us recently. At first it may seem just like a funny story, but if you read between the lines, it raises several interesting questions. Can you spot them?

 

An old Maori man lived alone at his family home out in Ruatoria.
He wanted to dig his kumara garden, but it was very hard work.
His only son, Hone, who used to help him, was in Paremoremo prison.
The man wrote a letter to his son and described his predicament.

 

A few days later he received a letter from his son.
E Pa,
For God's sake! Don't dig up that garden, that's where I buried the BODIES.
Love
Hone

At 4am the next morning, Gisborne C.I.B and the local police showed up
with a search warrant and dug up the entire area without finding any
bodies. They apologized to the old man and left. That same day the man
received another letter from his son.

 

When we received this story we were thrilled and used it immediately. It has so much potential for the classroom; you could use it to investigate the power of language and its uses, to look at motive, to understand character, or reactions (human or chemical). Think about how powerful this story would be as a starter in a lesson.

 

Beyond this, stories can illustrate something facts cannot and help us to create meaning by way of connection:

 

“Narative imagining – story – is the fundamental instrument of thought. Rational capacities depend on it. It is our chief means of looking into the future, of predicting, of planning, and of explaining… Most of our experience, our knowledge and our thinking is organised as stories”[iv]

 

For our students, story is a vital part of their cultural lives. Television, music and video games are all structured around story. Using stories in teaching provides us with the potential to explore not only conceptual understanding, but also focus students on skills such as analysis, evaluation and synthesis.[v]

 

Writing a story can give them this opportunity, but sometimes it is better to write less to achieve more – what about a complete story in 50 words… These are called mini-Sagas. Invented by science-fiction writer Brain Aldiss, these are very, very brief stories which still have the same construct as a standard story, that is, a beginning, middle and an end. There is a catch: each min-Saga must have exactly 50 words, excluding the title which can have fifteen. Here is an example:
 
Beginning, Middle and End.

It was lonely at the very beginning but suddenly, in one large blast, everything appeared. Things moved around, linked up, slid into place. That was when they met, migrated north and made new friends. They learned new languages. In the end, they couldn’t cope living together so they fought. Forever.
 
Any idea which story it is?
 
The following story was written by one of our A-Level students after the end of a unit on Russian history:
 
The Georgian

Once upon a time there was a boy named Djugashvili. A quiet little chap who dreamt of heroic tales. Became religious, revolutionary, killed lots of soldiers. Then became rather famous. Killed lots of farmers, produced lots of tractors, maybe won WII, built large wall, built many statues, killed lots. Died.
 
As you can imagine it requires great skill to be able to evaluate what needs to be included to make the min-Saga come alive: you have to analyse the relationships within and between individuals and events, as well as sequence of events, dialogues or other matters needed, to finally synthesise a whole topic area, and then fit it within the framework of the mini-Saga.

 

Mini-sagas are most successful if you stick to two basic ideas:

Keep them obvious

Keep them cryptic

 

Students can then read each others mini-Sagas or perhaps a selection which has been chosen by the teacher. We ask students to:
 

Guess who is involved

What the story might refer to e.g. a particular event, topic or theme etc.

Evaluate what else could be included; perhaps something has been left out?