In the field of teaching, specifically English teaching, it is crucial for teachers to be able to retell stories effectively and efficiently. Teachers may tell stories to make a point, to spark conversation, or to explain a concept--not to mention the obvious storytelling that occurs when teachers summarize literature. The following story is a summary of the beginning of the novel "The Lord of the Flies" by William Golding (incidentally, a novel that basically everyone had to read in my high school).
Example Story
William Golding's The Lord of the Flies tells the story of a group of young boys who, as a result of a plane crash, get stranded on an island. The boys establish a primitive system of leadership (one of the boys, named Ralph, becomes chief), but one of the other boys- Jack- disagrees with Ralph's ideas and starts gathering his own followers. Ralph's group is focused on building shelters and maintaining a smoke fire in order to attract the attention of potential rescuers. Jack, on the other hand, is more on the party side and his group goes on hunting expeditions.Analysis
A teacher could use a story similar to this in order to prep a class for a reading assignment or to review it before a discussion of the text. The summary isn't analysis heavy at all--in fact, there's none of it. However, in this situation, analysis isn't necessary--it will be (hopefully) brought out when the class discussion begins.
Retelling the Story
If a teacher was to tell this story in an English class more focused on analysis, it would be structured differently.
In The Lord of the Flies, we know that the boys' humanity deteriorates over time, ending in the murder of two of the kids. We first see the foreshadowing of such events when the boys split into two "tribes"--the leaders being Jack and Ralph. What other early events foreshadow the dramatic events that occur later in this novel?
In this retelling of the story, I started with the end of the novel, went to the beginning, and worked my way back to the middle. Because this story would be used to address a different audience, such as an honors English class, it makes different points and ends with a question to inspire class discussion.
I like how the second telling of the story didn't seem like a story at first. It seemed like an English teacher just posing a question to the class, which just shows how skillful English teachers have to get at telling and retelling stories in different ways.
ReplyDeleteI do appreciate the open-ended question in the second story to invoke opinion and judgement of the literature. Especially in an english class where (forgive me if I am misspeaking here--I have never taken a college English literature class) there is usually never one right answer, there is wisdom in opening discussion.
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