Timelines

  • "Telling our story does not merely document who we are, it helps to make us who we are."     
    ​~ Rita Charon, ​​Guggenheim Fellow & Physician ~

    If we are to fully understand, embrace, nurture, and educate our students, we must first learn their stories.  Storytelling and listening to stories date back to ancient times when the passing of information from one person to another often took the form of an oral story.  But the power of story goes beyond the art of telling a story; the power lies in how the story can join human lives together.  Sharing  life experiences with another human being most often brings you closer together.

    Telling our story and listening to others' stories supports our learning to share, take risks, empathize, become vulnerable, and grow to respect one another.  Kindness, civility, and relationships grow when we take time to learn about one another.  Classroom learning is enhanced when the teacher and the learners have strong, respectful relationships on which to build a learning community.  Stories of who we are, including our personal, local, regional, and national histories begin this relationship building adventure.