Sea-level… my first post

“…follow your bliss and don’t be afraid, and doors will open where you don’t know they were going to be.”

— Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth

I took this photo of my daughter just a few steps into an epic journey on foot along the Coast to Coast trail across Northern England. Like most epic journeys, we were under prepared for the challenge ahead; we lacked updated maps, and hadn’t quite realized that we weren’t actually following a trail as much as a series of interconnected public footpaths worn deep through the passage of time, but only vaguely described in the dated guide we owned. All the same, our spirits were high, the wind was to our backs, and we were enjoying “the best of British weather,” at least on day #1.

Like with our Coast to Coast trek, I feel under prepared as a “blogger,” but full of excitement in setting out on a new learning adventure. This one is a bit closer to home and involves using story as a powerful learning tool.

There is no shortage of stories to be heard inside schools today. Ask anyone about themselves and information often comes pouring out. Check in with any teacher and you are bound to hear stories about the highs and lows of classroom life. Stories told directly in words, or indirectly through behaviors and actions, abound inside school communities, but in today’s fast-pace reality of education many of these go unexplored.

It is a rare gift to be the privileged recipient of stories that bubble up from deep within a person’s journey towards self-discovery. These stories of courage, vulnerability and insight, relayed in trust, and capable of transforming both the teller and the recipient through the storytelling process, provide opportunities to share in the experience of being fully alive. Stories of self-discovery allow us to understand one another, in spite of our differences, and to strengthen our sense of belonging inside a more humanized community.  

In this blog, I plan to share stories from my own experiences as storyteller and story recipient to illustrate the complexities of today’s public schools. As I begin this learning journey, I hope to pursue the following two compelling questions:

• How might personal stories, skillfully integrated into classroom experiences, foster more student ownership and engagement?
• How might more emphasis on stories of learning and self-discovery increase a sense of belonging within our complex schools?

I hope you will join me in this inquiry, sharing your own stories and perspectives along the way.

Carolyn Derr, March 2020