Blending Narratives: A Storytelling Strategy for Social Studies

Abstract

Blending narratives allows students to combine their personal experiences with specific social studies content to tell a story. Each story created and told by students is uniquely different. The primary purposes of blending narratives are to validate each student in the classroom and allow them to demonstrate knowledge of classroom content. Students determine which prior experiences they should draw from to demonstrate their comprehension of the content. The blended narratives are complemented and supported by instrumental music that is appropriate for the classroom and is chosen by the teacher and students. The author provides an example of a blended narrative and step-by-step instructions for implementing this strategy in the classroom.