Story Hui is a group storytelling process that can be used by teachers to evaluate learning in deeper and wider terms. Story Hui combines teachers' success stories with visual mapping, digital transcripts, and a group questioning process that helps to uncover hidden meaning, value, and impact. Through Story Hui teachers can:
Story Hui makes learning and achievement visible. It provides sound evidence of progress in student learning capabilities. Using a group storytelling process, it reveals clear evidence of change in learning, engagement, and wellbeing - while re-energising the practice of teaching as inquiry.
Liz Stevenson, from CORE Education, explains Story Hui and how it is used. Teachers, Parani Temoana and Tania Chapman, from Titahi Bay School share how it has enriched their teaching as inquiry process.
The key benefit of Story Hui is that it enables participants to consider student achievement in much broader terms that test scores. During the story telling process, teachers are encouraged to reflect on the whole learner and provide rich and broad personal detail. In doing so, they cast light on a range of student competencies and develop deeper understandings about student wellbeing and engagement.
Story Hui can be used by groups of teachers and leaders taking part in professional inquiry, by teachers alongside parents and their students, or by groups of students themselves.
Story Hui works best with small groups of approximately 4 or 5 participants. Each group needs:
To begin, the direction of the stories is established through a common brief. For example, "share a story about something you did that you feel significantly improved learning for a student or a group of students."
Sharing and mapping stories
The storyteller is given 4-5 minutes to share their story. The story is transcribed and it is drawn in three different parts:
Facilitative questioning
Once the storyteller has shared their story the group asks facilitative questions to establish more information. The purpose of facilitative questioning in Story Hui is to help the storyteller expand their thinking and take a deeper look at their own beliefs, values, and assumptions. During this process the person who is mapping the story adds further details using symbols and notes. Evidence is added as points under the story. By following this protocol, the Story Hui becomes a group thinking experience that is multi-channelled with layers of information.
Titahi Bay School teacher, Parani Temoana demonstrates Story Hui in action as she reflects on her inquiry into selecting and using Apps to support learning in maths.
The following questions can be used during the questioning phase of Story Hui to help expand the story and build collective knowledge:
General question beginnings
Possible questions for section 1
Possible questions for section 2
Possible questions for section 3
Acknowledgement: These questions have been derived from Story Hui , a booklet written by Liz Stevenson.
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Story Hui
This site introduces Story Hui and includes testimonials from teachers who have used Story Hui in their professional inquiries.
Story Hui booklet
This PDF booklet written by Liz Stevenson provides information on how to get started with Story Hui. It offers an example of a mapped story and explains the data that was gathered through this process.
Story Hui – A design for social good
In this blog, Liz Stevenson explains the origins and benefits of Story Hui. Liz views Story Hui as a "hand-in-glove fit with our complex 21C world of capabilities and work".
Supporting future-oriented learning and teaching – a New Zealand perspective
This research project discusses some emerging principles for future learning, how these are currently expressed in New Zealand educational thinking and practice, and what they could look like in future practice.