The Transformative Power of Storytelling in Enabling Program Classrooms: Reflections on Pedagogical Practice and Teacher-Student Relationships

In this paper, we, academic language and learning specialists with disciplinary backgrounds in English and Creative Writing, explore the ways in which our expertise informs and enhances our practice as teachers in enabling programs. Developing a trusting, transparent, and supporting teacher-student connection is crucial in facilitating transformative learning experiences (Kreber, 2004). Drawing on the notion that storytelling techniques can foster engagement and connection, we delve into the transformative potential of narrative inquiry and pedagogies of storytelling. There is a deep history of storytelling and its relationship to the classroom; however, narrative techniques like storytelling, authenticity, and the resulting parasocial relationships are under-researched. Employing storytelling techniques in our classrooms enables students to perceive us as human, creates a safe space for risk-taking, and facilitates the connection between personal experiences and academic material. By doing so, we foster authentic relationships with students and cultivate a sense of connection, community, and belonging, crucial for their transition into higher education environments (Lizzio, 2006; Orón & Blasco, 2018). Through this paper, we aim to unpack our relationship to narrativizing the classroom as enabling and academic language and learning teachers. We reflect on our roles in the classroom, both the ones that we make for ourselves, and the ones that are bestowed and imposed on us by our students and the higher education system we work within.