This is the full-text alternative of the reflection video I made for class.
Take a moment to reflect on a story that has had a lasting impact on you. Maybe it’s a fairytale from your childhood, that one book you can’t seem to put down, or even your favorite adventure film series.
Now let’s break that story down into smaller pieces. I bet you have some main character that eventually faces an important challenge. Whether or not they overcome that challenge, there’s also probably a resolution of some sort.
But let’s backtrack and hone in on that challenge, that key problem faced by your central character.
Describe it. No, sorry… wait, I didn’t mean literally.
Why don’t I share my favorite story so it’s easier to understand?
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster—have you read it? You should, it’s life changing… even as a little girl when I first read it, I just knew it was the book for me.
You see Milo, he’s the main character, he’s a very bored little boy that takes things for granted. That is until one day his toy tollbooth transports him into the unfamiliar Lands Beyond and Milo doesn’t know how to get home.
And thus Milo embarks on a journey through the Lands Beyond where he meets all sorts of unusual characters—like a giant watchdog, King Azaz the Unabridged and his brother the Mathemagician, and the banished princesses Rhyme and Reason.
On his journey, Milo manages to escape the Doldrums, repair the relationship between the warring Kingdoms of Wisdom and Digitopolis, and even bring rhyme and reason (both literally and figuratively) back to the Lands Beyond.
When he finds himself successfully passing through the tollbooth and back in his room once more, Milo longs to return to the Lands Beyond but can’t because he now knows the way.
So the once bored Milo finally opens his eyes to the world around him, because it’s all about the journey and the learning along the way.
Maybe the problem Milo faces in the book isn’t quite as literal as solving a math equation, but it’s a problem nonetheless. And it’s through the art of storytelling that we learn the value of learning.
From an instructional design perspective, storytelling is a tool that can scaffold learning, build a community of learners, and help learners negotiate meaning. (Merrill, 2012; Black, 2008; Jonassen & Hernandez-Serrano, 2002; Lave & Wenger, 1991; Bruner, 1990)
But from a personal perspective, I can tell you that it’s because of this book—this story—that I learned to appreciate and pursue learning. I learned how to be clever with my words and appreciate math. But most of all, I learned that “one of the nicest things about mathematics, or anything else you might care to learn, is that many of the things which can never be, often are. You see, it’s very much like your trying to reach Infinity. You know that it’s there, but you just don’t know where—but just because you can never reach it doesn’t mean that it’s not worth looking for.” (Juster, 1961)
So take a moment to reflect on a story that has had a lasting impact on you. Think about the challenge the main character had to overcome and the lessons you learned through their journey.
References
Black, L. W. (2008). Deliberation, storytelling, and dialogic moments. Communication Theory, 18(1), 93–116. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2885.2007.00315.x
Bruner, J. S. (1990). Acts of meaning. Harvard University Press.
Jonassen, D. H., & Hernandez-Serrano, J. (2002). Case-based reasoning and instructional design: Using stories to support problem solving. Educational Technology Research and Development 50(2), 65–77. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02504994
Juster, N. (1961). The phantom tollbooth. Random House.
Merrill, M. D. (2012). First principles of instruction: Assessing and designing effective, efficient, and engaging instruction. Pfeiffer.