The Remarkable Abigail: Story-Telling for Character Education

Abstract

As character education continues to be an objective of the social studies, the more effective educators have taken up the challenge by first understanding the principles of their discipline and opportunities for examining the values of character to be encountered. Strategy then comes to the forefront. Social studies is rediscovering the focus on the actual men and women of history as a major cog in teaching character, a method that John Dewey asserted was once widely used in American schools and is currently utilized successfully in foreign schools (Brooks and Goble, 1997). But this focus cannot be a matter of simply relating irrelevant facts. Rather, it requires the art of story-telling. History abounds with stories of the human struggle. When approached from that perspective as opposed to coldly looking at events only, a myriad of opportunities available. Lockwood and Harris (1985) noted that true historical stories involving dramatic moments of moral conflict especially useful in engaging students to reflect upon values. These stories relate individuals making personal decisions involving truth, integrity, honesty, and loyalty, among many others, and encourage students to analyze the issues and choices made. At the very least, such stories help students realize that others before faced the same dilemmas that they do, by making the right choices, persevered. More importantly, they also prove that the values of good character not restricted to people of a particular place or time (Sanchez, 1998). Egan's (1988) study of the way students successfully conceptualize and understand information about one's culture further supports the idea that applying the story metaphor may serve to bring in-depth, overall meaning to history instruction. Specifically, Egan noted that information such as historical/cultural/political values does not make sense to the contemporary student unless presented in a way which connects information with a larger sense-making picture, a picture which reveals the basic dynamics of why and how things happen; in other words, a story that relates an individual's values. He went on to point out that the story has all of the properties necessary to organize and connect bits of information into an overall understandable image. story works so well because of the way it encodes and makes sense of its contents. Our concern in teaching, also, is not simply to have students store knowledge.., but rather to have students remember because it makes vivid sense to them (p.79). This dynamic is easy to see if one looks closely at the elements of a story itself. A story is essentially driven by characters and their actions. These characters often in conflict with forces inside themselves (as in many Greek and Roman myths), with each other, and/or with some physical force or forces. Conflict in a social setting is further heightened by the basic circumstances of human existence noted by economists: humans have unlimited desires for things but resources limited. Conflict within characters or between characters then shapes and generates the story's plot. Consequently, the basic theme of the story is usually about 1) conflict and resolution of the conflict to one degree or another; and 2) psychological/personal changes that may occur with the characters by the time of resolution. Note further that such resolution need not necessarily be an unqualified victory. The changes that may occur in a character's personal because of decisions the character makes regarding the conflict often carry relevant personal/psychological truths for the listener/reader (Henderson, 1964). Campbell (1988) noted the sheer power of historical/cultural stories to impart important ideas and values to ensuing generations, stating that such stories are about the wisdom of life (p.4). He also lamented that present education lacks such emphasis. Because of educators' apparent reluctance or perceived inability to not only utilize the story-telling strategy but more importantly to relate social values, what student learning in school is not the wisdom of but merely information and technology. …