Purpose: This presentation prepares participants to use storytelling (ST) as a pedagogy that integrates students’ knowledge, skills, personal, and professional identity. Building on narrative theory, empowerment, and strengths perspectives, we discuss the transformation students experience using ST as it demonstrates professional competence.
Description: ST is sharing one’s significant experiences with a community. ST is sense-making and provides a narrative of knowing. Social work practice builds on the capacity to empower all, particularly those who are marginalized, by sharing stories of truth.
ST is a learning tool that supports our students who are traditionally underrepresented in higher education, such as Latinos, African Americans, and Native Americans with economic, political challenges, language barriers, and separation from family. Students cross and transcend borders in many ways. ST honors students’ strengths and “thumbprint” that identifies their success as emerging social work professionals who share challenges that many of their clients face reflecting students’ unique cultures and learning styles, and become an enlightening dialogue for storyteller and listener. We support students through the ST process by sharing their narrative in a story circle; Students use higher-order thinking in creating and telling their stories, increased literacy skills, improved listening, recall, and sequencing