Robert Coles: Stories and Moral Lives of Children

In 1973, Robert Coles received a Pulitzer Prize for his study of Children of Crisis. Coles presented children’s fears and acts of courage in situations that cause adults to cringe. By 1989, Coles produced a book connecting the value of stories to teaching and imagination. Less than a year later he published, The Spiritual Life of Children, (1990) a work that met with broad acclaim. In 1997, after a candid interview with Coles, the staff, of Psychology Today, claimed few physicians had written as much or as vividly about the moral and spiritual lives of children. In 1998, Coles received the National Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the United States, for showing the amazing power of children to recover and act with courage and resilience even when facing overwhelming and threatening situations. In 2004, Coles published an anthology of Teaching Stories; the stories connected the power of learning to the practice of sharing stories.

Robert Coles asked many questions of young people who had survived rugged life experiences. “How young are we when we start wondering about it all, the nature of the journey and of the final destination?” (Coles, 1990, p. 335). Coles spent time studying and talking with children from the days of segregation in the United States, children who endured grim days in migrant families, children who lived through conflicts from cultural shifts in Europe and religious divisions causing attacks in Northern Ireland, children in apartheid shanty towns and soul-numbing poverty in South Africa. In each area of crisis, the spirit and hope of children shone as a beacon of inspiration. To ignore the spirit of students is like trying to plant seeds in fields of shale.

Coles found children have a moral compass even without any specific religious teachings. They pay attention to life stories around them, in words and actions, learning more lessons than adults realize, watching what people do, measuring how actions compare to what people say. Children take story messages into their hearts whether they are stories watched or told. Hyde (2005) found children responded to aboriginal stories, such as the Australian Dreamtime story with levels of insight and interpretation.

The stories captivated minds, emotions, and spirit in young listeners. For teens, Dadich (2007) found that tasks addressing the spiritual potential of a person helped young people coping with mental health and substance abuse struggles. Teachers who address the whole individual, not just a single task or subject or test, will find ways to choose material that addresses the spiritual sensitivity of young people. Even in a time when whole individuals feel isolated and restricted because of a pandemic and changing educational environments. Grief (2020) provided information on books to help a young person’s spirit through tough times.

In light of Cole’s insights into the spirit of children, Cross (1986) reported Coles had a theory for how one could teach children to grow in their care for self and others. Coles promoted the idea that one could provide lived examples to children and affirm actions that focused on the care and welfare of others. When working with children, moral concerns emerged more than intellectual achievement. Newberry (2021) showed that even board books for the youngest children can tell simple stories to teach care moral values.

Naturally, through emotions, connections, and choices, children showed an interest in growing independence. They showed this desire even while they learned to care for others. In the 21st century the spark of morality, the light of a vibrant spirit, and the values of a culture can move through lived examples and stories to inspire children to care about others and the world. Coles (1989) showed how the stories that capture the attention and imagination of students are stories of pardon, partings, performance, perseverance, petition, and pilgrimage. Lowenstein (2011) explained how Handing One Another Along, (Coles, 2010) presents stories as a tool for perspectives on personal and social development. Coles hoped his work would prompt people to consider how they are interacting with the world and living the one life they have.

Coles (1989) used, “a respect for narrative” (p.30) to engage children in the excitement of learning and the process of personalizing a lesson. Sizer and Sizer (1999) pointed to history in the form of stories as able to provoke thought, discussion, and life applications. Tracy, Reid, and Graham (2009) found that composing stories helped young students with time, place, character, conflicts, attributes, resolution, and lessons they had observed and learned through life experiences. Through writing stories, students also gained skill in interpreting information in a wider variety of genres.

Graham and Harris (2003) discovered that students with learning disabilities increased meta-cognitive skills through writing stories. Their study of students with learning disabilities and stories examined self-required strategy development (SRSD). The work of Graham, Harris, and Tracy et al. reinforces Bandura’s (1997) ideas on self-efficacy while also illustrating Coles’s belief that stories stand as basic building blocks of learning that meet the spiritual needs of children.

Teachers in any country have the opportunity to use ancient and modern-day stories from the culture to captivate learners, bring joy to learning, and inspire students to listen, learn, and write. Using stories works well in face-to-face classes or online. Books offer vibrant images from the thick block pages of baby books to the covers and illustrations in young adult books. Twenty-first century options including digital books that can include vivid illustrations and sound. The 21st century has also found teachers in varied disciplines including graphic novels and zines to increase literacy and student engagement (Garrison, Wulff, and Lymn, 2021)).

Arem (2011) showed that stories and writing form an essential part of learning; strategies for addressing fear in writing. Negative experiences in writing and comprehesion can change through positive language experience and encouraging self-talk. Stories are like home remedies building positive learning experiences, spoken, read, or written.

A tale, Simmons (2001) declared, meets the human need to learn without drowning people in disconnected lists of information. Simmons described six kinds of stories that influence and inspire:

“Who I am stories,
why I am here stories,
the vision story,
teaching stories,
values-in-action stories,
I know what you are thinking stories” (p. 4).

Examples of topics for teaching stories advocated by Coles (1989) include conversation and an exchange of stories chosen for:

Therapeutic possibilities
Inspiring insight
Topics related to fears and stresses
Showing how people overcome great adversity
Demonstrating care for others
Appreciating often overlooked items and actions
Choosing to help others
Highlighting people succeeding
Persevering through struggles
Helping others
Communication methods
Leaving prejudices behind
Asking rhetorical questions
Considering connections
Reflecting on personal applications
Looking at the past
Learning from present challenges
Setting goals for the future
Measuring cost commitments
Prioritizing values
Remembering lessons learned
Hoping for a better future
Building relationships
Supporting society
Developing many levels of awareness
Thinking from a variety of perspectives
Exerting best efforts to match inspirational figures

English teachers face overwhelming pressure to build language skills in grammar, punctuation, mechanics, and vocabulary. Processes of constant word analysis, language drills, close reading, and reviewing the same material repeatedly does not meet the basic needs of students. Even though repetition stands as an essential component in learning, connections enrich knowledge and will leave a lasting impression for students. Bandura, Bethune, Bloom, Coles, and many other education and psychology theorists posited that all children can learn if one can find the right combination of strategies to meet the learning needs of the student.

In, The Way They Learn, (1998) and Every Child Can Succeed, (1996) Tobias encouraged educators and parents to see that different methods are needed to meet the learning needs of students. Students need diverse experiences. Few common factors reach all students—yet there are those few, and one obvious successful element emerges in the power of stories.

Coles (2004) reminded readers that stories are a classroom and stories are a world. The voice of the story-teller, the broad range of topics, and different times, places, and events, cause people to remember, know, analyze, anticipate, evaluate, and grow in wisdom. Coles (2004) claimed stories, “have been mainstays of educational enlightenment” (p. xiii). Kornberger (2008) proposed stories exist as the basic element for stimulating imagination, observation, perception, memory, and transformation. Haven (2007) found that even though written communication has existed for approximately 7,000 years, stories have existed for more than 10 times that long. Haven (2007) discovered stories build cognitive abilities from logical consideration to abstract math. Stories help teach, communicate, and motivate.

Storytelling energizes learning. According to Collins and Cooper (2005) educators working with any age level can use stories to help students communicate, visualize, and construct meaning. Psychologist, Baldwin (2005) promoted the use of oral and written stories, to lift individuals onto a higher plane of understanding self and others. The spiritual healing, nurturing, and mentoring that Baldwin finds in stories parallels Coles concepts of the power of stories to reach every student in every society. Teachers and students can recall stories, fiction and non-fiction, that have made an impression on their thoughts and lives.

Simmons (2001) described strengths in comprehension, inference, and predicting skills emerge when students work with stories. Teachers who practice vivid story telling skills, can also encourage students to use story telling techniques. Students who hear and tell stories with power grow in understanding actions, seeing implications, and determining what might happen.

Liang and Galda (2009) suggested students can think about each story situation and practice a variety of thinking skills that will improve comprehension. Teachers can lead students in analyzing stories. Form small groups to discuss and analyze the story-line, the conflicts, the characters, the choices made by characters, the motivations behind the choices, the implications, the outcomes, the resolution, or the lack of resolution.

Sylvester and Greenidge (2009) found students are better able to remember and correctly use information when answers to questions about stories read in a computer lab that had digital pictures added to writing about a story. In the growth of online learning, teachers need to look for illustrations that will intrigue students. Twenty-first century young people have broader exposure to visuals, often fast-paced changing visuals.

Teachers who have visuals that complement stories will meet a broader range of student learning needs. Combining different kinds of media and literacy reinforces vocabulary, comprehension, application, and creative endeavors. If computer options are not available, educators can still write, draw, or even tape record students engaged in expressive telling or reading of a story to help reinforce understanding of the vocabulary, sequence, and concepts.

Most counties, states, provinces, and nations have wonderful storytellers of public acclaim. Educators can look for entertaining competitions for storytellers that students can attend. Storytelling appears in forms from poetry jams to iconic traditional tales. Teachers of any subject can develop a time each day when a story will be read or told because every discipline has amazing individuals and unique stories. Involving students or another teacher can contribute to a two-speaker, reader, or multiple-speaker stories.

Strategies to encourage the linguistic abilities that emerge in story telling can seem diverse, but they can easily be adapted for classes of varied ages.

Develop the ability to tell stories, fiction and non- fiction by listening to acclaimed story-tellers and by practicing.
To start, students can tell a simple story, one they heard as a child.
Students can tell a story-style joke.
Students can sing a song that tells a story.
With a class member acting as narrator, students can act out a story.
Students can tell a story through dance.
Students can create a puppet show to tell a story.
Students can report on a current event as if telling a story.
Students can create a storyboard, such as those made by movie-makers.
Teachers need to help students consider the content and arrangement of

material so they are not just sharing facts, but actually telling a story

incorporating the facts.

Let students use assigned vocabulary to create stories.
Have students practice telling the story to different levels of listeners, preschool age, elementary, middle school, and adults. Students can see that structure and vocabulary changes for different audiences.
Allow and encourage counter-stories that seem in opposition to well-known

cultural stories. Students who live out of the mainstream, students from minority backgrounds, have important stories to broaden knowledge of a culture.

If the Internet is available, students can watch storytelling through an

online format.

Invite local storytellers to tell a story to the class. Besides telling a story,

invite the speaker to share the origin and development of their storytelling ability.

Invite students to add expressions in face, voice, or body language while they

tell a story.

Students can write to famous individuals asking for stories about their time

in school, growing up, or moving to a new place. The stories they collect

can be shared with the class and the school providing ideas and inspiration from

people who have achieved a life goal.

Assign students the task of interviewing local people of different ages. Students

should ask each person for a story of an important event, person, or activity in

his or her life. Students should write the answers they receive in language as

close to what they hear as possible.

Create a class book around a theme or topic with the stories students collect.

If a computer lab is available, the book can look quite professional and

provide students with opportunities to practice editing and design techniques.

Have discussions analyzing stories, main characters, conflicts, resolutions,

and possibilities for future stories. Accept differing opinions. Ask for reasons

and examples supporting an opinion. If students think the teacher is just looking

for one answer, discussion will not occur.

Let students engage in creating a story, on their own, with a partner, or with

a group. The story can be written, told, acted, danced, performed with puppets,

developed with computer graphics, created on a story-board, or in some other

form desired by students.

Practice research by taking a famous national tale and looking for versions

of the same story in other cultures and countries literature.

Watch television commentators who are expressive in giving a story and

others who are very stiff and awkward in giving a report or story.

Analyze and discuss the story elements in an opera or ballet.

TEACH students to understand how they learn.

Building an environment of trust and care allows students to feel safe and open to learning. Teachers can tell a personal story at the start of each semester, perhaps how they came to teach, or a story of a person who inspired them to enjoy learning a language, or a person who just enriched life by being a great story-teller, or by telling a favorite childhood story. Teachers should make sure to present their stories with changes in tone and volume and with appropriate physical action to make the story more vivid. Cosh (2015) showed stories meet multisensory needs, and teachers need to think about the sensory aspects of each story.

Wade, Boon, and Spencer (2010) explored the reliability and effectiveness of building comprehension skills for language, through story mapping, particularly for reading and grammar abilities in students with specific learning challenges. In story-mapping activities, students read, watch, or listen to stories and then identify elements of title, characters, setting, time, problems, conflicts, solutions, resolution, themes, and personal feelings about the story. Teachers can point out how much students remember of a good story. Ask students to discuss why they think they remembered something about a story.

Connect the power of stories to passions, social concerns, personal goals, families, discoveries, or admirable figures. With the written and spoken word, students can see how a story is constructed, and they can discover the value of telling the story well. Grammar, idioms, dialects, sentences, phrases, sayings, and tone appear in story telling units as a result of speaking and listening, analysis, and discussion. Writing assignments can help students to review the story. With young children the teacher can lead a discussion and write down student answers as if creating a class piece of writing. Older students can practice written language skills by answering questions.

What were you curious about at the beginning of the story?
If you had to pick one person in the story to be a best friend, who would you choose and why?
Who made good choices in this story, and why do you think they could make these choices?
Could you guess the ending before you heard/read/saw it?
If you could help one of the characters in this story, who would you help? Why do you think they need help, and how would you help them?
If you could change the ending of this story, would you? Why or why not?
Does this story teach any lessons to you about something in your own life? If so, please explain which lesson you see.

As a class, create a story of an event, discovery, or person connected to the community. This can evolve into a gift the students can give to the community in public readings or as a presentation of their story. The presentation could include art work for the story or acting out the story with spoken parts or with a narrator. Some libraries have community history sections on reserve and welcome projects that add to their community knowledge and perspectives.

Walsh (2003) provided steps to forming stories. Of basic importance, the art of seeing a story emerges. What will help students to visualize the elements of the story? Perspective, imagining the thoughts and feelings of people involved in the story, can build empathy and understanding. Comprehending the strengths and weaknesses of characters, parts of setting, language choices, conflicts, symbols, and resolution build strong thinking skills, enjoyment in learning, and a spirit to enrich the moral lives of students.

Coles, (2004) dedicated his study of learning and stories to all teachers. He found stories

take listeners and readers to a different level of activity in emotions and cognition. He claimed that sharing stories helped both the storytellers and the listeners to cope with life’s complexities. There are always students who will catch the power of ideas, choices, and actions in a story. No story is meant to reveal everything one needs, but a good story choice to share with students is one that will expand over time through reflection, interpretation, and application.

Simmon’s (2006) research on the effectiveness of stories found elements of learning that

educators should recall each day. Education does not mean only adding more information. Students desire meaning, inspiration, and ideals. Stories of real people who practiced and strengthened their own self-efficacy by overcoming challenges offer students paths to learning that can be personalized, build insight, and create avenues to trust in one’s own choices. Simmons cautioned that telling a story needs more detail, emotion, and influence than a short illustrative example. Examples only provide slight enhancement of information.

At the end of Teaching Stories, (2004) Robert Coles included remarks by Erik H. Erikson, noted child psychoanalyst. Erikson argued that schools are places where students can ascend or decline, earn rewards or face troubles, but no matter what the environment and experiences, Erikson emphasized the teacher’s main responsibility; find a way to bring all the students in the classroom together, willingly engaged in learning.

Using Stories in Public Schools

Nadine’s applications of the ideas of Robert Coles

Nadine works at an overcrowded city high school. As a new English/language arts teacher she has all 9th grade classes. The class sizes range from 29 to 42 students. Because the school is overcrowded, few teachers have one classroom that is their classroom alone, so Nadine has worked out an arrangement with the teacher who also works in the classroom, to have one wall to display English/language arts posters, work, and motivational phrases.

Nadine believes the environment of a classroom contributes to the mood of the learners and whether or not students will feel care, encouragement, and hope in a classroom. Nadine teaches 5 classes a day of Year I English, but in her classes, she has some students taking Year I English for the 3rd time. If these repeat students do not pass the class this time, they will probably drop out of school.

Many of Nadine’s students are from homes that have income levels below the state poverty level. Most of them are from immigrant families. Absenteeism stands as a school wide problem. Moving to online learning during the pandemic came like a tornado disaster for Nadine’s students. Without enough computer equipment, the focus allowed by sharing a room for their learning, and in-person interactions, the students floundered through covid school years.

Nadine knew she should try to keep basics for learning and their classroom procedures whether in person or online. Her students have a procedure for immediate work upon entry into the classroom. Moving to do this online meant showing the plan for the day, the goals, materials need, and homework plan at the start of class. Nadine did this in case the wifi went out or they ran short on time.

Nadine has her classes follow a set procedure from the first day of school. Because so many of them come from chaotic homes, Nadine feels like having consistent practices will help the students feel they are in an organized and safe environment. With online learning, some procedures have disappeared, like having assigned seats. Changes in the classroom have caused students to have a difficult focusing on their online classes.

In her face-to-face class, Nadine greeted students and had a picture on the board for students to describe in writing. They knew to get to work and she could take attendance. With an online classroom, Nadine has two computers, one for what she will present, and one to see the faces or raised hands of any of her students. Some warm up activities have worked online as they did in the classroom. The students still react with anticipation to see what picture she has chosen for the day.

The poster might be a famous person or someone they do not know. Students have to look at the picture and write at least 5 sentences about something they think the person has achieved or struggled with in life. Students need to write complete sentences, even if they are short sentences. Nadine tries to improve writing skills to meet the state standards.

Students complete this writing practice almost every day about a different person or scene. When time for this warm up activity has passed, Nadine gives students a short article on the real struggles the person has overcome. Students examine the article to see if they have guessed correctly on any item about the person.

Any student who has guessed some of the struggles correctly and put their idea into a complete sentence receives an extra point for daily work. At the end of the week, Nadine reviews the people they have looked at through the week and what those people have overcome. She varies the approach to review and enlists the students in using their memories.

Nadine believes students need an adult mentor to guide them through a day of learning outside the classroom with casual but purposeful conversation. In the classroom or online, she shows a short video about a famous place related to someone they have studied. They look at maps and have a discussion on how a person would travel to visit the place. The stories they have learned about people and places help them to have interest in maps, in historic places, in learning how to plan a trip, and even to figure out a budge for a trip.

When Nadine has something to read to students, she reads with dramatic expression. Many of her students have never had a fluent reader of English read to them. They hear words they have seen in print, but never used. Nadine tries many methods to help build vocabulary recognition and comprehension.

If more discussion seems necessary or welcome on the topic of the day, Nadine tries a variety of strategies like role playing, spontaneous composition of a rap, paraphrasing something from the reading, or creating a list of questions about the reading. Motivating students to discuss, to think creatively, and even to laugh helps Nadine to measure if the class absorbs the lesson. Throughout any class, Nadine finds moments to remind students that everyone can make choices and take action to help them think about the lessons in class or something they must do for homework.

Sometimes when there is more writing to do, students may work alone or with a partner. Nadine learned how to use breakout rooms in online teaching and she visits the rooms where the students are working together. Nadine has let them know she respects the fact that some people prefer to work alone and some do best when they work with a partner. She reminds them of the goal they all share, to improve in their reading comprehension, thinking, and writing skills.

Nadine has used may people through the year for her class to study and read. A couple examples of her choices:

person of the day-- Karina Melendez, a teen from the Bronx, NY, who endured homelessness, foster care, and cancer treatment to win a full scholarship to the college of her choice.
person of the day: Jimmy Santiago Baca, abandoned at 2, placed in an orphanage, living on the streets as a teen, imprisoned in his twenties, taught himself to read and write while in prison. Now a poet of great acclaim, Jimmy does workshops all over the country to help others use writing to move forward in life.

Nadine believes what Coles shared about children recognizing that humans share darkness as well as light, and children recognize that truth and other truths through stories. In human history stories have appeared as basic teaching tools for tribes, families, communities, provinces, systems, and nations. Nadine tries to instill a knowledge of stories, especially awareness of each person’s story in her students.

Stories on stone walls from prehistoric times can teach students history, creativity, art, and communication skills. Stories from around the world can build appreciation and understanding for cultures and people of the globe. Stories used in the classroom, shared in the classroom, analyzed in the classroom, and created in the classroom can bring a diverse group of students and teachers together. Nadine has found that stories shared, created, discussed, presented, and reviewed in classes promote the exciting adventure of learning for a lifetime.

Leon

Themes help Leon and his students choose stories to study. In the first few months of school, Leon chooses stories of suspense with inspirational conclusions. For two days each month the students just focus on the story Leon has selected. They listen to it or watch it, depending on the medium Leon has chosen for presenting the story. They analyze, evaluate, and discuss the story. For extra credit they can try to write a story on a similar theme. The high school also has a literary magazine, and Leon recommends some of his student stories for that publication format. Students who see their stories in print, shared with anyone willing to read them, feel a sense of accomplishment and often go on to write more stories advancing in English vocabulary, sentence structure, voice, and style.

David

Guiding questions help David choose stories for discussion, analysis, and writing tasks. In the second and fourth weeks of each month, David has students read, analyze, discuss, and write stories based on samples he selects. The samples answer such questions as:

Who am I?

What values are important in life?

How do people develop goals and a vision of their future?

How can people understand lives of others in places and times that seem so different? David uses at least a story a week of people who live in very different locations from his students. Sometimes the stories come from collections and sometimes right from the news. David varies stories so students can think about answers to life questions.

Why do some people find it possible to overcome fears?

What lets a person know if he or she is making wise choices?

What lets other people know they are appreciated?

How can a person improve in communicating?

What can a person learn from difficult life experiences?

Who can have hope in dire circumstances?

How much is anyone responsible for helping other people?

What can a young person do to contribute to having a healthy society?

Liliana

Liliana has found many of her students have missed the opportunity to enjoy childhood stories. They enjoy children’s stories when she finds ways to use them in her class, but they feel embarrassment in reading them in front of other people. Liliana gave them a respectable purpose. Liliana assigns a semester project, the writing of a children’s book as the big spring project. Students will work on it from January until June. She explains to the students that they must study what they will write. If they want to write a fairy tale, they must read and analyze at least 20 fairy tales before they start writing their own fairy tale. If students enjoy stories with animals as main characters, they must read a couple dozen stories with animals as main characters. No matter what genre, Liliana requires the students to read analyze and summarize at least 20 stories. Students keep vocabulary lists of unusual words, imagery, onomatopoeia, personification, rhymes, similes, and metaphors from the children’s books they read. Liliana has students from different countries in her class. She shows her students that children’s books in any culture teach lessons that the culture values. If a person wants to know a culture, they should study its stories and songs. Although the level of writing seems as diverse as the students in Liliana’s classes, almost every student reads many children’s books and creates a quality project by June.

Robert Coles in his years as a psychiatrist, teacher, researcher, writer, and mentor has shown constant appreciation for the stories of individuals, especially young people, and for sharing stories that help one another through life's challenges. His his first book, Children of Crisis: A Study of Courage and Fear, became a series of books revealing how children and their families cope with life-altering dangers and changes. That series led to Coles being awarded the Pulitzer prize in 1973. He has written more than 50 books and 1200 articles.

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