Editorial
School Library Media Activities Monthly/Volume XXV, Number 8/April 2009
The Power of Story
By Deborah Detenbeck Levitov
I recently had the pleasure of listening to a lecture given by Doris Kearns Goodwin related to her book Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln, Nebraska, is the largest city in the world named after the United States' 16th president and Goodwin provided a perfect, informative evening of historical storytelling to "Celebrate Abraham Lincoln Days in Lincoln."
As I sat and listened to Goodwin spin her stories about Lincoln and other famous people, I realized how she was using her research to bring history alive for the 1,500 people present. I remember, several years ago, when my school district was updating the social studies curriculum, a survey of former students had been conducted that indicated that students had found social studies boring. If educators could capitalize on the power of story to bring history to life, as the audience experienced with Goodwin, it would be difficult for any student to characterize social studies as boring.
This brings to light a role that library media specialists can play in building a collection of resources that can be used to create a dynamic learning environment. Working with teachers, library media specialists can not only purchase the best materials but also can promote them, reminding teachers what is available as units are planned. In addition, library media specialists can encourage and promote the use of digitized historical documents so readily available. It is almost impossible for a student not to become engaged when seeing the Gettysburg Address in Lincoln’s own handwriting, with words scratched out and edits in place.
The library media specialist can become a storyteller of history. Knowing the resources and being able to glean the treasures found within are a few of the key assets of the profession. Library media specialists can tell students about the content by sharing pieces of history in interesting and engaging ways… stories. In this way, nonfiction and historical fiction can be transformed into something students will want to know. Take a lesson from Doris Kearns Goodwin on making history come to life—use stories.