Category: Narrative and Pedagogy

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Caylie Cox (caylie.cox@tcu.edu)

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Category Description: While its primary focus is on writing and rhetoric pedagogy, this category takes a broad approach to applying narrative in any pedagogical stage and context. Sources in this category consider how storytelling can be incorporated into assignments, used as a classroom activity, used as a reflective tool for instructors, and more. Some sources also consider narrative's implications for marginalized students as well as justice-centered pedagogy.

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Sources

Brad Hokanson, Gregory Clinton, and Karen Kaminski (editors). Educational Technology and Narrative: Story and Instructional Design. Springer, 2018. https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-319-69914-1
Annotation: This edited collection looks at the intersection of narrative and instructional design. The many contributions give readers insight into many different ways that instructors have incorporated narrative into their classrooms, from presentation design to metacognition to narrative identity. Not all contributors are from rhetoric and composition, and I believe that's a good thing! It's fascinating to see the power of narrative pedagogy across several different academic fields.
Positionality Statement: This text was interesting for me to read because it's outside of my field (rhetoric and composition). I do not know all of the instructional design terms that the contributors use, for instance. However, I found many commonalities between how these contributors use narrative in their classroom and how I use it (or envision using it). I believe its interdisciplinary nature is an important strength of this collection.
Contributor: Caylie Cox (caylie.cox@tcu.edu) contributed this source citation on April 8, 2025.
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Christina LaVecchia, Allison Carr, Laura Micciche, Hannah Rule, and Jayne Stone (editors). Revising Moves Writing Stories of (Re)Making. Utah State University Press, April 2024. https://upcolorado.com/utah-state-university-press/item/6572-revising-moves
Annotation: Revision sometimes seems more metaphor than real, having been variously described as a stage, an act of goal setting, a method of correction, a process of discovery, a form of resistance. Revising Moves makes a significant contribution to writing theory by collecting stories of revision that honor revision’s vitality and immerse readers in rooms, life circumstances, and scenes where revision comes to life. In these narrative-driven essays written by a wide range of writing professionals, Revising Moves describes revision as a messy, generative, and often collaborative act. These meditations reveal how revision is both a micro practice tracked by textual change and a macro phenomenon rooted in family life, institutional culture, identity commitments, and political and social upheaval. Contributors depict revision as a holistic undertaking and a radically contextualized, distributed practice that showcases its relationality to everything else. Authors share their revision processes when creating scholarly works, institutional and self-promoting documents, and creative projects. Through narrative the volume opens a window to what is often unseen in a finished text: months or years of work, life events that disrupt or alter writing plans, multiple draft changes, questions about writerly identity and positionality, layers of (sometimes contradictory) feedback, and much more.
Positionality Statement: I am one of the editors of this book, which interestingly did not initially feature "story" as prominently as it ultimately does. The editorial team came to this project thinking about how to *show* revision through screen shots, track changes, multiple drafts, and so forth. Once we received proposals and then chapter drafts, however, we began to find ourselves really taken by the stories of revision our contributors were telling. We realized that story is *showing* in ways we hadn't fully acknowledged early on. I think readers will find themselves somewhere in this book, whether graduate students navigating the peer review process for the first time, parents balancing life with writing and administration, faculty of color accessing their power, or veteran scholars working through a concept or idea over a period of years. The stories in this book are about revising writing as much as they are about revising one's personal and professional sense of self.
Contributor: Laura Micciche (laura.micciche@uc.edu) contributed this source citation on August 22, 2024.
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Liz Prather. Story Matters: Teaching Teens to Use the Tools of Narrative to Argue and Inform. Heinemann, 2019. https://www.heinemann.com/products/e09950.aspx
Annotation: While this book focuses on high school writing pedagogy, it contains valuable insights for writing instructors at any level who are interesting in narrative pedagogy. Prather gives many specific teaching strategies that incorporate narrative principles into both argumentative and informative writing. Her annotated mentor texts would be particularly helpful for students to peruse. This is a readable and friendly book that any writing teacher could benefit from.
Positionality Statement: While I teach at the undergraduate level, I found Prather's book to be helpful and insightful. Some of the teaching strategies may need to be adjusted for college students, but they're a great place to start. In particular, I loved Prather's use of annotated mentor texts; this is something I hope to implement in my own classroom.
Contributor: Caylie Cox (caylie.cox@tcu.edu) contributed this source citation on April 8, 2025.
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Thomas Newkirk. Minds Made for Stories: How We Really Read and Write Informational and Persuasive Texts. Heinemann, 2014. https://www.heinemann.com/products/e04695.aspx
Annotation: Minds Made for Stories is a great resource for those students or teachers who are new to the idea of viewing writing as narrative in the classroom. Newkirk first defends the idea that all writing is storytelling (see Walter Fisher's work for more on this), then gives examples of storytelling within different genres. He includes classroom activity ideas as well as discussion questions. The book is extremely friendly and readable while still providing research-based insights.
Positionality Statement: My interest is storytelling within the classroom--specifically, writing as storytelling within the classroom--so I was very excited to discover this resource. I'm using this book in my own classrooms in order to support a storytelling-themed course which I hope to research. All of that leads me to view this source very favorably, as I already accepted the main premise of the book (all writing is storytelling). Those who do not accept that premise may or may not find the evidence he provides persuasive.
Contributor: Caylie Cox (caylie.cox@tcu.edu) contributed this source citation on February 27, 2025.
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