In our last installment of The Determined Storyteller, our daring heroine leapt from the cliff into an unknown chasm. Armed only with a towel given to her by a stalwart friend, R.B. who claims it was the original towel from Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the D.S. opened it as a parachute and glided easily to the chasm floor. Landing softly at the bottom, the D.S. found a place of astonishing roughness with little beauty to behold. Surrounded by steep cliff walls and barren growth that had tried to makes its way to the sun, the chasm stretched before her toward the mouth a darkened cave. A knot twisted in our heroine’s stomach as she realized that the leap of faith into the chasm was not the journey’s end but only its beginning. The cave, she knew, held the answers she sought, the truth she needed and feared at the same time, but it was dark and she did not wish to enter it alone.
The D.S. stood before the cave, tasting fear in her mouth and wondering if truth was worth the risk, when all at once a glimmer caught her eye. There among the rocks was a flash of something metallic, a shield. As the D.S. bent to pick it up she heard a voice within her head, "Your friends are behind you." Turning the D.S. saw a mighty throng of smiling faces, too many to count.
“You have no weapons?” she asked. Then she saw each friend carried a lit candle in one hand. She smiled, "Ah. You will help light the way."
And the Determined Storyteller set first one foot and then the other inside the cave. The journey had begun.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
An Epic Hero's Journey: The Determined Storyteller in the Battle against the Cave Monster: the Chasm
It was a dark and stormy night. The Determined Storyteller, slayer of dust bunnies and clutter eliminator, traveled alone at the edge of a forbidding chasm. Summoning her unfathomable courage, she peered into the gaping darkness below. Truth was there, someplace below, someplace unreachable. Was it worth pursuing? Or was it better to wait until truth found her? Or would the chasm follow her forever? Others stood there before her. She felt their presence, Deidre, Mary, Laura, Debra, Leanne and countless others whose names she did not know. Some sought the truth, some feared it, and some chose to walk away and not to know. The D.S. questioned her own courage, her own need to seek the truth at all cost, and knew that if she did not seek it all who perished or fought in this place would not rest and would haunt her for ignoring their sacrifices. The D.S. knew that she must make the leap into the darkness to honor their lives.
She wondered, "What is in there? Will I get the answer I hope for? Or is something sinister waiting to devour me?"
There was only one way to find out. She did the only thing that could answer her question, the D.S. leapt.
She wondered, "What is in there? Will I get the answer I hope for? Or is something sinister waiting to devour me?"
There was only one way to find out. She did the only thing that could answer her question, the D.S. leapt.
An Epic Hero's Journey: The beginning
I teach about the hero's journey as part of my healing story work. I use it in both my work and for personal support.
The hero is not necessarily an outwardly unique individual. He or she blends in with the crowd and at least when undertaking the first adventure, the hero is reluctant. He or she does not ask to be called to action and prefers to live a quiet peaceful existence with as little struggle as possible. Unlike an adventurer, the hero is not looking for personal gain and does not thrive on an adrenaline rush. Perhaps it is for this reason the hero will stand out once she accepts the call; her ego does not need to be served.
We might embark on a hero's journey many times in life, some will be small and some will be larger undertakings. These journeys may be easy or difficult. We may find the journey to be a straight path from start to finish or we may find we have many battles to fight before we even see the end of the journey. Most often, the road is twisting, a circle, or spiraled at the center before emerging at the other end.
My current hero's journey is more an epic that began in September 2009 with the passing of my eighteen-year-old dog after a long time of his struggling to walk. In early November, I brought my largest pond fish indoors for the winter and Big Fish, a koi I had raised for 15 years, jumped out of the tank to his doom. Funny as that may seem, it made me feel inept at caring for the life around me. Then, on December 12, 2009, my mother passed from a long-term illness. While I had said goodbye many times over, actually each time I left her, it was a tragedy because she was due to come home from rehab that same week. My dad was devastated.
Around January 20, during my annual physical, my doctor felt a lump in my breast. I had a core biopsy on January 29th and later that same day received a call that my dad, who had just driven to the Catskills to visit his brother and home again, was rushed to the hospital with breathing difficulties. He spent the next eight days in ICU. In that span of time, my biopsy returned as malignant. I was diagnosed with breast cancer. (You will note I did not say “I have” cancer. The wording of healing is very important. Cancer became a character in my story, the villain, not a part of myself.)
As I write this, Dad has gone from the ICU to his own room for three more days to rehab for one day during which he was rushed to the hospital twice and there to stay, finally moved back to ICU and not in good condition. I have had two biopsies, with ultra sounds and MRIs and still know nothing except the first biopsy result. It is February 16, 2010.
As with the hero, I was reluctant. “Why me?” I asked. “How can I manage all of this? It must be a bad dream.” And it has been the hardest thing I have ever done and I am not sure I can do it or for how long I can maintain composure and a stiff upper lip. I do not know if I have the courage to do what must be done and I do not know how I will fair. But one thing I do know, if my story honors the lives of those who have gone before me and helps just one person to face their journey, I must tell the story.
The Determined Storyteller is my archetypal heroine who allows me to step back from my own overwhelming emotions and see the facts more clearly. She was developed to help me clean house and straighten out my schedule and meet small crisis in my daily work. This character also helps me story this experience larger than life so I can write into it whatever I want the story to be and those who are reading may also be able to stand at a safe distance and take the journey with me.
The hero is not necessarily an outwardly unique individual. He or she blends in with the crowd and at least when undertaking the first adventure, the hero is reluctant. He or she does not ask to be called to action and prefers to live a quiet peaceful existence with as little struggle as possible. Unlike an adventurer, the hero is not looking for personal gain and does not thrive on an adrenaline rush. Perhaps it is for this reason the hero will stand out once she accepts the call; her ego does not need to be served.
We might embark on a hero's journey many times in life, some will be small and some will be larger undertakings. These journeys may be easy or difficult. We may find the journey to be a straight path from start to finish or we may find we have many battles to fight before we even see the end of the journey. Most often, the road is twisting, a circle, or spiraled at the center before emerging at the other end.
My current hero's journey is more an epic that began in September 2009 with the passing of my eighteen-year-old dog after a long time of his struggling to walk. In early November, I brought my largest pond fish indoors for the winter and Big Fish, a koi I had raised for 15 years, jumped out of the tank to his doom. Funny as that may seem, it made me feel inept at caring for the life around me. Then, on December 12, 2009, my mother passed from a long-term illness. While I had said goodbye many times over, actually each time I left her, it was a tragedy because she was due to come home from rehab that same week. My dad was devastated.
Around January 20, during my annual physical, my doctor felt a lump in my breast. I had a core biopsy on January 29th and later that same day received a call that my dad, who had just driven to the Catskills to visit his brother and home again, was rushed to the hospital with breathing difficulties. He spent the next eight days in ICU. In that span of time, my biopsy returned as malignant. I was diagnosed with breast cancer. (You will note I did not say “I have” cancer. The wording of healing is very important. Cancer became a character in my story, the villain, not a part of myself.)
As I write this, Dad has gone from the ICU to his own room for three more days to rehab for one day during which he was rushed to the hospital twice and there to stay, finally moved back to ICU and not in good condition. I have had two biopsies, with ultra sounds and MRIs and still know nothing except the first biopsy result. It is February 16, 2010.
As with the hero, I was reluctant. “Why me?” I asked. “How can I manage all of this? It must be a bad dream.” And it has been the hardest thing I have ever done and I am not sure I can do it or for how long I can maintain composure and a stiff upper lip. I do not know if I have the courage to do what must be done and I do not know how I will fair. But one thing I do know, if my story honors the lives of those who have gone before me and helps just one person to face their journey, I must tell the story.
The Determined Storyteller is my archetypal heroine who allows me to step back from my own overwhelming emotions and see the facts more clearly. She was developed to help me clean house and straighten out my schedule and meet small crisis in my daily work. This character also helps me story this experience larger than life so I can write into it whatever I want the story to be and those who are reading may also be able to stand at a safe distance and take the journey with me.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Using Storytelling to Teach Math
A Math Story
I was recently asked to tutor an eight-year-old girl in math. Her problem was subtraction, especially when the number on the top was smaller than the one on the bottom and she had to borrow. Numbers with many zeroes sent her into a panic and she shut down completely, refusing to do any work.
When I teach, I automatically go into storyteller mode and it only made sense to find a way to help this girl subtract by using a story to help her remember the steps.
Step One: The first thing I needed to do was help her line up her columns, so we built houses.
I was recently asked to tutor an eight-year-old girl in math. Her problem was subtraction, especially when the number on the top was smaller than the one on the bottom and she had to borrow. Numbers with many zeroes sent her into a panic and she shut down completely, refusing to do any work.
When I teach, I automatically go into storyteller mode and it only made sense to find a way to help this girl subtract by using a story to help her remember the steps.
Step One: The first thing I needed to do was help her line up her columns, so we built houses.
Each column of numbers, ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, ten thousands and so on, became a house. Each house had a second floor and a bottom floor, represented by the numbers we were using. Each house also had an attic where our borrowed numbers went and a basement where our answers went. Depending on the place values the story might sound like this.
Step Two: “There were four houses. Mr. Two lived in the first house. Can we subtract 5 from 2? No. So, Mr. Two had to go next door to Miss Six's house and he said “Gimme ten!”
In this case Miss Six is large enough to give a ten to Mr. Two so she does. “And Miss Six got smaller. Mr. Two got larger.”
I taught my student to cross out the six and make it a five then place a one next to the 2 in the first house. While it would be better if she really understood the concept of ones, tens, hundreds place and so on, and that the one next to the two was really ten borrowed from the tens’ place, that was not my job at that time.
The student crossed out Miss Six and wrote a 5 in the attic.
Step Three: “Now do the subtraction. What number goes in the basement?” Write your answer in 5's basement (in the first house).
Step Two: “There were four houses. Mr. Two lived in the first house. Can we subtract 5 from 2? No. So, Mr. Two had to go next door to Miss Six's house and he said “Gimme ten!”
In this case Miss Six is large enough to give a ten to Mr. Two so she does. “And Miss Six got smaller. Mr. Two got larger.”
I taught my student to cross out the six and make it a five then place a one next to the 2 in the first house. While it would be better if she really understood the concept of ones, tens, hundreds place and so on, and that the one next to the two was really ten borrowed from the tens’ place, that was not my job at that time.
The student crossed out Miss Six and wrote a 5 in the attic.
Step Three: “Now do the subtraction. What number goes in the basement?” Write your answer in 5's basement (in the first house).
Step Four: “Now let's look at the second house. Can we subtract 6 from 5? No. So, Miss Five has to borrow from Mrs. Two in the third house. What does she say?” The student answered “Gimme ten!”
We worked on this for several sessions until she would sit down at the problem and start drawing houses and telling the story without my prompting and with very little reminder of the story. Each session that she became more confident made it easier to introduce more difficult problems until we finally did an all zeroes problem. When I felt it was needed, I introduced a game. I made my student the math detective and told her we now needed to make sure we checked the basement work by adding our numbers from the basement and the first floor to get the answers in the second floor or attic.
I created a game board about getting the bad guy to jail. Each time she remembered to build the houses without prompting, her playing piece (in this case a star) made it one block toward the jail. If she remembered to borrow and cross out the old number, her piece got closer still. Once her bad guy got to jail, we extended the game to court and then to a cell. When her bad guy got to the cell, she made Math Captain! Eventually she made Math Chief, but this only happened when she remembered to investigate the scene of the crime, in other words check her work by adding.
By the time my student was learning to check her work she had already internalized the story so that she did the work in her head and before too long, she stopped building the houses but just did the problem the way everyone else does. It was so exciting to see this process and watch her level of confidence grow. Getting my student to remember to check her work is something we just need to keep doing, especially when she discovers that her answer is wrong. She shuts down again. Practice will help this. When she does remember and her answer is right, it is so wonderful to see her face light up. I made a little sign to put in front of her SaC, Subtract and Check. Eventually checking should become part of her routine in all her work. We have now moved on to telling time.
We worked on this for several sessions until she would sit down at the problem and start drawing houses and telling the story without my prompting and with very little reminder of the story. Each session that she became more confident made it easier to introduce more difficult problems until we finally did an all zeroes problem. When I felt it was needed, I introduced a game. I made my student the math detective and told her we now needed to make sure we checked the basement work by adding our numbers from the basement and the first floor to get the answers in the second floor or attic.
I created a game board about getting the bad guy to jail. Each time she remembered to build the houses without prompting, her playing piece (in this case a star) made it one block toward the jail. If she remembered to borrow and cross out the old number, her piece got closer still. Once her bad guy got to jail, we extended the game to court and then to a cell. When her bad guy got to the cell, she made Math Captain! Eventually she made Math Chief, but this only happened when she remembered to investigate the scene of the crime, in other words check her work by adding.
By the time my student was learning to check her work she had already internalized the story so that she did the work in her head and before too long, she stopped building the houses but just did the problem the way everyone else does. It was so exciting to see this process and watch her level of confidence grow. Getting my student to remember to check her work is something we just need to keep doing, especially when she discovers that her answer is wrong. She shuts down again. Practice will help this. When she does remember and her answer is right, it is so wonderful to see her face light up. I made a little sign to put in front of her SaC, Subtract and Check. Eventually checking should become part of her routine in all her work. We have now moved on to telling time.
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