(Storytelling)
“The pass was blocked by a wall of snow. Ten days now in the harsh mountains of the Alps. Already many of his men have perished from the cold winds and snow in this land so alien from the warm sun of Carthage.”
The teacher stops, looks out over the faces of his 6th grade class, his posture erect like a general, his hands on his hips.
“Men, Hannibal said to the huddled troops, we could turn back now and go home to our wives and feel the warmth of the sun. But we would come back as losers, as those who turned away from hardship. And most likely we would see Roman galleys come into our bay and destroy our city. Or we could dig through this wall of ice and push on, hitting Rome from behind. Yes, many will die in this foreign land, but your names will live as men who died with giants.” The teacher lifts his arm as beckoning forward. “And with this the elephants trumpeted and the men cheered.”
The teacher lowers his arm in a quiet voice: “And tomorrow we’ll hear what happened.”
*******
“Children, today we will be studying about Hannibal of Carthage who in the Second Punic War fought Rome. Some of you have heard about Alexander the Great. Hannibal was a great commander like him but lived over 100 years later. In 218 B.C. Hannibal took a force of 50,000 men and 40 elephants and marched for 15 days over the Alps.
“Take out your text books and turn to page 85 and we’ll read more about him and what he did. Who will read first?
*******
The previous scenarios are two different pictures of teaching the history of Hannibal. The first is an example of what one would naturally find in a Waldorf school. The second is what one may experience in public education. With the first, you would see children riveted in their seat, staring at the teacher with apt attention. However, they are not seeing the teacher. They are seeing themselves freezing in the snow or encouraging their men to push forward. They have been transported back in time, out of their seats and with their own imaginative images they recreate the crossing of the Alps.
Whereas with the other picture they are listening to more facts of which they will be tested on. Many will open the books with sighs. Some will be keen to read while many will drift as they hear about Hannibal’s first victories at Ticinus and Trebia; because for these children Hannibal has nothing to do with them. He is only a dead factoid, perhaps a point on a test or in Trebia pursuit (pun intended).
The story is the pillar of the day at school in one of the 800 plus Waldorf schools around the world, in an educational system that teaches to the whole child for her physical, feeling, mental and spiritual needs. Whether it is in the Kindergarten or in the Elementary levels this multi-faceted learning pivots around storytelling. In Kindergarten the children will hear a story told for a whole week or two. The same story is told with the same words and nuances; for in the early ages the children thrive on repetition and rhythm. If the teacher strays with a word the children will correct the error. The children will be seen reenacting the story through their free play. The rich language of the tale has permeated to their deep unconscious knowing like rain helping to create a strong foundation for both the oral and written word. As one Waldorf teacher put it: “Stories in kindergarten are used to calm upset children, to tickle imaginations into healthy play, to help develop empathy and reverence for others, to nourish, guide, and advise in a non-direct manner, and to support the incarnation of the soul through fairy tales.”
In the grades the teacher teaches in blocks that may last for 2-6 weeks. These blocks are taught in a 2-hour morning session called Main Lesson, upon which a 15-minute story is usually given at the end. The story may be told over the week, breaking it up into chapters. After a period of intense focusing in the main lesson the story allows the child to breathe out and to be empty. Here lies the sacred responsibility of the teacher, for the images that the teacher calls up are imbibed by the inner nature of the child. The child then takes these images home, and because there is usually a contract between families and a Waldorf school that no media viewing will occur during the school week, the children will take the images into their sleep, allowing the unconscious to work with the story however it needs to. Then on the next day the children return and during Main Lesson will recapitulate the story for a short time. This is not done in an intellectual manner of questions and answers but in an artistic way. This may include describing a scene or character through drawing, pantomiming, writing, sculpting and more.
Rudolf Steiner, the founder of Waldorf education in 1919, suggested the theme of stories to be told in corresponding to the developmental needs of each grade. He did not want stories told for entertainment’s sake. The story time is a sacred time. Often the lights go down, a candle is lit, a poem recited or a song sung, and perhaps an instrument like a lyre or flute is played. And the children are fed not with facts but with characters and their world.
Stories can create a rich tapestry of language that the children hear daily, provide a healthy social structure in the classroom by character-building seeds and bring to life pictures to learn about the many subjects of the curriculum. Every poem, song, game, etc. teachers see as a gift, and wrap each in a short story with its introduction. Yet perhaps the biggest purpose of storytelling for a teacher is that the teacher is completely naked to the children. As a mentor I can watch a teacher tell a tale and see pretty much what is happening in the class. Steiner said: “It is not important what you teach the children but who you are standing in front of them.” Waldorf education is about growing up as a well-rounded, free human being. One does not learn to be human through the media of machines or books, but by being with people and watching them how they fail and succeed. He said that if a teacher was not “ok to be clumsy at first, if someone is afraid to look bad he most likely will not master the art.”
Ashley Ramsden, a master storyteller who has advised many a Waldorf teacher, said, “Stand in the presence of what you are saying.” Steiner saw Waldorf teaching as a spiritual path of discovering the wisdom of the human being, which is why he wanted teachers to accompany the students through the grades, learning with the children about the richness of humanity and the world around and within us. From the dreaminess of fairy tales to Rama rescuing Sita in India to exploring the Northwest with Lewis and Clark, each story is an initiation about learning the mysteries of life and a means to creating lifetime explorers.
Janaka Stagnaro 2005
www.janakastagnaro.com