Life Lessons through Storytelling Children's Exploration of Ethics [Paperback]

Storytelling empowers children to engage in discussions; explore ideas about power, respect, community, fairness, equality, and justice; and help frame their understanding of complex ethical issues within a society. In Life Lessons through Storytelling, Donna Eder interviews elementary students and presents their responses to stories from different cultures. Using Aesops fables and Kenyan and Navajo storytelling traditions as models for classroom use, Eder demonstrates the value of a cross-cultural approach to teaching through storytelling, while providing deep insights into the social psychology of learning.

Donna Eder is Professor of Sociology at Indiana University Bloomington. She is author of School Talk: Gender and Adolescent Culture.

Regina Holyan is currently a senior staff attorney with the Navajo Nation Department of Justice and was Assistant Professor in the School of Education at Indiana University Bloomington.

Foreword by Gregory Cajete
Acknowledgments

1. Introduction
2. Strengthening Community through Storytelling
3. Drawing on Oral Traditions for a Contemporary Storytelling Event (with Regina Holyan)
4. Of Fables and Children
5. The Wolf Really Wasn't Wicked : Ethical Complexities and Troubled Students
6. Rabbit Tales (Tails): Kenyan Stories with Multiple Meanings (with Tiffani Saunders)
7. It's Hard to Admit, But Sometimes You Get Jealous : Lessons from the Hyena (with Oluwatope Fashola)
8. The Next Stage: Putting It into Practice
9. Coming Full Circle: Cross-Cultural Lessons

Appendix A: A Multimethod Approach to Storytelling
Appendix B: Examples of Focus Group Interview Questions
Appendix C: Editions of Aesop's Fables
Notes
Bibliography
Index