When I decided that it was time to begin my blog, I chose a writing format that was a bit relaxed, a bit ‘informal’.  That was purposeful.  I wanted to let people know who I was as a person, my professional passions, my vision for leadership and education — all in a format that was easy to read and conversational.  Throw in a bit of humour and TADA — my blog!

I was recently at a meeting where the importance of story telling was being emphasized — especially as it relates to our schools and our district.   As I reflected on it, it reinforced in me how critical it is for us to get our stories out to the community —  stories from our classrooms, schools and district.  We need to tell them in a way that not only informs, but inspires and hopefully ignites an excitement or intrigue.  Storytelling can be such a powerful medium to express what’s working well in our schools.

WSANEC First Nation story telling

Indigenous Peoples have a rich oral tradition.  A tradition that retains cultural information from one generation to the next.  They have created stories, historical accounts, teachings of their land, stories of struggle and survival, as well as stories that have kept their language alive for thousands of years.

Indigenous stories have been passed from generation to generation to generation often without ever being transcribed.  That’s a stunning amount of information that has been retained and shared over centuries.

Storytelling captures the imagination of those who are listening.  We are happily caught in all kinds of story-telling webs:

• storytime in class;
• audio-books for the long road trip in the summer;
• family reunions and the stories about relatives; or
• sitting with grandpa as he recounts the memories from long ago.

We all love a good story

In this fast-paced digital world that we find ourselves in today let’s never lose the desire nor ability to tell our history — share our stories.  Take time for the auditory and visual beauty of storytelling which can help make our world a more more human and meaningful place.

What is your story that you can tell about your family, classroom or school?