Recently, a teacher was sharing with me how he’d struggled to teach his students about important values; things like respect, empathy, trust, love, mateship.
After attempting to try and unpack these values from various angles, he just couldn’t find a way to instil this message within these young guys. It was actually a frustration for him. He was witnessing first hand the way that these young men desperately needed this kind of education and input. For reasons that he couldn’t quite explain though, these students couldn’t get their heads around the content.
The teacher then shared with me the significant shift that he had noted amongst the young men in his school as they had engaged with our seminar.
“I saw you share that story. As you shared the story, every single one of them leaned in and within a few minutes, they just got it. They understood the values that I have been trying so hard to get these guys to learn.”
It never ceases to amaze me. The way that young people are so impacted by story. In our seminars we weave it throughout everything that we do. There’s just something about the power of storytelling that captures the human imagination. Through story, we connect with empathy and compassion.
For these students, the values that they previously hadn’t been able to grasp were now coming to life through the power of story.
As I shared with these young men, there was a moment where you could’ve heard a pin drop. There was something about this story that connected with the hearts of every single person in the room.
I asked the students, “What was it you noticed in this story? What stood out to you?”
Their answer? “The values.”
Not once had I specifically mentioned the values I was trying to communicate and yet, they immediately began listing them one by one; courage, selflessness, sacrifice, mateship, perseverance.
Stories deserve a place within the classroom. Beyond the curriculum, beyond the facts, beyond the statistics; stories can connect with students in a way that speaks louder and more powerfully than any other content.
It’s the stories that they remember.
It’s the stories that communicate values.
It’s the stories that we believe have the power to truly inspire young people to incorporate these important values into their every day.
. . .
“A single conversation across the table with a wise man is worth a month’s study of books.” ~ Chinese Proverb
