Build contrast

The skilled speaker builds in contrast at every opportunity. 

• She uses the full range of her voice, changing the pitch (high to low) and the volume (quiet to loud).
• She purposefully moves to different parts of the stage to organize her content and help the audience visualize her stories. (Your stage is your classroom or your video screen!)
• Her use of multimedia (video, audio, images) and props delights the audience, stimulating their visual senses.
• She crosses a wide range of emotions and content: a telling joke, a heart-tugging story, a meaningful statistic, an ambitious view of the world.

All of those devices build contrast -- audible contrast, visual contrast, content contrast. All are storytelling tools that teachers can use to give their teaching impact -- and that students can use to bring their projects and creations alive.

The power of the pause

I’ve caught myself droning on and on as a parent, a teacher, a trainer and a speaker. Students do it, too, when they speak during class, when they talk to others, when they do presentations and record videos.

But why? Why do we do it?

• For one, we have a lot of information to share and want to get it out quickly. 
• Two: We’re afraid that someone will seize control of the conversation if we allow too much silence. 
• Three: Silence makes us uncomfortable; we fear awkwardness and what someone might fill the silence with.

The phrase “silence is golden” is well-known for a reason (and not just for parents and teachers with noisy kids!). 

• Silence gives our listeners’ brains a moment to catch up.
• Silence allows the words that follow it land with more impact.
• Silence lets our brains rest for just a moment.

Often, we talk as fast as our brain can process information. But that’s a problem for our listener. We are talking about information we already understand very well. Therefore, we can process it very quickly. The person listening to us, though, does not. We talk at a pace that serves us as the communicator.

Our poor listeners are doing mental gymnastics to organize all this new content, to process it and to understand it. They often just can’t do that as fast as we talk. Many times, our listeners won’t ask us to slow down or repeat. Students especially won’t ask that. They’ll just check out (or think about what they want to say when we finally stop talking!).

Just pause. 

Pause when you teach and talk to students.

Pause in your interpersonal communication with others.

Encourage students to pause when they present ideas.

Pausing gives your words this commanding force they don’t have when you’re droning. When you talk nonstop, silence finally breaks the stream of words. It's a form of contrast (as we saw above). When you pause, your words break the silence -- and it’s powerful. 

Three-act story structure

Great stories have a natural structure and flow. There are several great frameworks we can use when we teach -- and when students create with their learning. 

The three-act structure is a common story arc used in books, theater, TV and even jokes.

• Exposition: Set the scene and introduce us to the characters. Give information that’s relevant to the rest of the story.
• Conflict: There’s a problem. Something happens that disrupts the status quo in the exposition. Characters undergo change and develop themselves as they try to resolve the conflict.
• Resolution: The problem is resolved. The climax -- the most intense and exciting part of the story -- often happens here. The characters find themselves meaningfully changed.

Three-Act Math

Dan Meyer brilliantly connected the three-act structure to the math classroom with three-act math. In a blog post (and in accompanying videos and curriculum), he spells out the steps:

1. Introduce the central conflict of your story/task clearly, visually, vicerally, using as few words as possible. (A visual can help.)
2. The protagonist/student overcomes obstacles, looks for resources, and develops new tools. (What does the student need to solve the problem?)
3. Resolve the conflict and set up a sequel/extension. (And, as Dan writes, “the payoff in the third act needs to meet their expectations.”)

How to bring three-act story structure to the classroom

Reading about the three-act structure and three-act math gets my mind racing. If we, as humans, crave conflict and resolution, where can we create it as teachers? How can we resolve that conflict when we teach? And how can students establish and resolve conflict in their creations to demonstrate understanding and learn?

• Literature, theater and history are already full of conflict and resolution. It doesn’t hurt to borrow successful storylines/characters and adapt them.
• Math is full of uncertainty and unsolved problems. That’s conflict. Solving problems -- or failing to solve them -- resolves that conflict.
• Hypotheses in science are conflict. Resolving that conflict and coming to a conclusion is a natural part of the scientific method.
• Foreign language can play off of any of these three-act models as long as it’s in the target language.
• Physical education is full of conflict. That’s why people are so passionate about watching sports. A big play resolves conflict. A win or a loss is the big conflict resolution at the end of a game.

Identifying conflict and resolution aren’t enough. Making conflict and resolution clear and building them up is what makes the whole learning experience memorable. Tie the conflict to something our students have experienced or can sympathize with. Help them to see why the conflict is so precarious. Then, let the conflict hang in the air. Help them see failures in trying to resolve it. Conflict that’s resolved quickly is a wasted opportunity.

Well maintained conflict keeps us on the edge of our seats when watching movies. Keep students on the edge of their seats. Or, when students demonstrate learning, they can keep their audience and fellow students on the edge of their seats. Imagine a day of student presentations being as electric an atmosphere as a movie premiere instead of drudgery and boredom!

PIRATE hooks

In his book Teach Like a PIRATE, Dave Burgess provides lots of suggestions to embrace storytelling techniques to make class a memorable experience.

Here are a few:

The Mystery Bag Hook 

• How can I gain engagement by openly hiding something from the class?
• How can I build up the suspense of the unveiling?
• What can I put into the mystery box or bag that would tie into my lesson? (This has conflict and resolution all over it!)

The Dance and Drama Hook

• Can students impersonate key people from history in a panel discussion or interview format? 
• Can they reenact historical events?
• Can they write a script and create a video to play for the class?

The Opportunistic Hook

• What current events are related to this lesson? 
• Is there a hot topic in the news or on campus that I can use to capture student interest? (Current events and news are full of conflict!)

The Storytelling Hook 

• What captivating story can I tell that would draw students into this lesson? 
• How would speaking in character, using accents, changing intonations, and varying volume for effect (even whispering) have an impact on the class?
• How can I use facial expressions, dramatic pauses, and gestures to improve the power of my lecture?

Think like a storyteller

These storytelling techniques and countless others elsewhere help give teachers and students creators a powerful advantage -- attention. They help us capture and retain attention. Use the elements of story: contrast, conflict, resolution.

Use the tools of a storyteller: pause, movement, vivid description. They’ll build attention. If we can hold an audience’s attention and deliver the punchline at the end, we can touch a heart. When you touch a heart, you can make a case for change and motivate others to take it. 

Our world is filled with distractions. Cell phone notifications. Pop-up advertisements. Full calendars. Attention is at a premium. When we help students learn how to capture attention and use it to create change, we’re not just preparing them for the future. We’re empowering them to create the future we all need.