Stories

As we researched for this project, we aimed to uncover what practices were essential to provide transformational learning and have lasting impact on education reform. Storytelling came to the forefront of our research time after time.  We knew telling the stories of our demonstration sites was going to be a critical part of our work.  Our demonstration sites engaged in a Summer Institute focused on story telling. Award winning NPR journalist, Gabriel Spitizer from Washington’s KNKX worked with our demonstration sites on how to most effectively tell a story. Our team and the IPP demonstration sites teams learned how to put a story together, including ways to cut through the noise and emphasize the human part of the story. They learned  it is okay  to be human too – not just okay, but helpful.  Although our storytelling was intended to make an impact on our visiting schools, it also ended up having impact on our demonstration sites as well. These sites developed a deeper and more connected relationship to their story and school’s journey towards more inclusive education for all.  Below is a visual showing the components of effective storytelling.

Some of the essential questions IPP Demo Sites answered when developing stories about their school’s journeys to become more inclusive included:


1. Who’s the story about? Who is/are your main character(s)? 
2. Why should we care about this person? 
3. What’s the tension/problem to be solved?
4. What are/were the turning points?
5. What kind of story is this? Overcoming an obstacle? Solving a mystery? Seeing something/someone in a different or unexpected light? 
6. How did whatever the story is about affect you, personally? How did it make you feel? 

Stories: Audio Recordings

Kodiak Cubs Preschool