Historians are story tellers. History teachers are story tellers. Social studies teachers are story tellers. We tell stories and we help students make sense of their personal, local, state, national, and international stories (past, present, and future).
Most of the best teachers I've known were not only good teachers in terms of their ability to teach concepts, skills, and content, but also because of their ability to tell great stories. Stories that stirred your emotions, captivated your heart, and stuck with you well past the dismissal bell.
A great story...an incredible story...one for the history books is emerging before our very eyes here in Kansas City. It's a story worth telling...regardless of the ending. A story that encompasses so many other stories...personal stories for fans who remember the sweet emotions of victory felt in 1985, or who grew up listening to their elders talk of those glory days. Personal stories for fans who have spent thousands of dollars, endless nights at the K, cheering for their team year after year, hoping, perhaps praying, that this year their beloved team will make it to the Fall Classic, or at least have a winning record. Personal stories that have become local stories, such as Tim Grimes, diagnosed with stage 4 Melanoma and given a 5% chance of survival. His friends started a social media campaign #RoyalswinforTim, fundraising to help pay his medical expenses, and to provide opportunities for Tim to watch his beloved Royals in the playoffs. You may have wondered who the guy was giving George Brett the enormous side hug when the team clinched the ALCS pennant - it was Tim.
Now, we are a national story...the story of the underdog...and turns out, America is finding our lil' Midwestern Team's story irresistible. So far, this article is my favorite, The Kansas City Royals Huge Appeal. Here's a snippet...
For the past decade or so, the entire Kansas City metroplex has been experiencing a civic boom. This Royals resurrection feels inexplicably yet inextricably connected to what's happening in the city itself. The Royals, after all, are a small-market Midwestern club suddenly reborn. They win by being tough and smart, by adhering to classic, proven values, but while having fun, playing as a team, and always believing that good things will happen. That is precisely the story Kansas City wants to tell about itself.
That story, given the team's national embrace, is also something the whole country must want to hear. That could be because, sappy as it sounds, these underdog Royals not only evoke a better era in baseball, but a better time in American life. They represent a nation that still exists, but is too rarely portrayed in mass and social media. In that America, quiet self-sacrifice is still celebrated, teamwork will still win you something that money can never buy, and a relentlessly abiding faith in the future still can make even the craziest dream come true.
This is a captivating story that we as social studies teachers have the opportunity to embrace and use to teach history lessons, civic lessons, geography lessons, sociology lessons, psychology lessons, economic lessons - our entire discipline can be woven and connected into the story of our underdog team who because of hard work, determination, and grit, will play for what some consider to be the best competition in sports - The World Series.
Go Royals! Take the Crown!
Most of the best teachers I've known were not only good teachers in terms of their ability to teach concepts, skills, and content, but also because of their ability to tell great stories. Stories that stirred your emotions, captivated your heart, and stuck with you well past the dismissal bell.
A great story...an incredible story...one for the history books is emerging before our very eyes here in Kansas City. It's a story worth telling...regardless of the ending. A story that encompasses so many other stories...personal stories for fans who remember the sweet emotions of victory felt in 1985, or who grew up listening to their elders talk of those glory days. Personal stories for fans who have spent thousands of dollars, endless nights at the K, cheering for their team year after year, hoping, perhaps praying, that this year their beloved team will make it to the Fall Classic, or at least have a winning record. Personal stories that have become local stories, such as Tim Grimes, diagnosed with stage 4 Melanoma and given a 5% chance of survival. His friends started a social media campaign #RoyalswinforTim, fundraising to help pay his medical expenses, and to provide opportunities for Tim to watch his beloved Royals in the playoffs. You may have wondered who the guy was giving George Brett the enormous side hug when the team clinched the ALCS pennant - it was Tim.
Now, we are a national story...the story of the underdog...and turns out, America is finding our lil' Midwestern Team's story irresistible. So far, this article is my favorite, The Kansas City Royals Huge Appeal. Here's a snippet...
For the past decade or so, the entire Kansas City metroplex has been experiencing a civic boom. This Royals resurrection feels inexplicably yet inextricably connected to what's happening in the city itself. The Royals, after all, are a small-market Midwestern club suddenly reborn. They win by being tough and smart, by adhering to classic, proven values, but while having fun, playing as a team, and always believing that good things will happen. That is precisely the story Kansas City wants to tell about itself.
That story, given the team's national embrace, is also something the whole country must want to hear. That could be because, sappy as it sounds, these underdog Royals not only evoke a better era in baseball, but a better time in American life. They represent a nation that still exists, but is too rarely portrayed in mass and social media. In that America, quiet self-sacrifice is still celebrated, teamwork will still win you something that money can never buy, and a relentlessly abiding faith in the future still can make even the craziest dream come true.
This is a captivating story that we as social studies teachers have the opportunity to embrace and use to teach history lessons, civic lessons, geography lessons, sociology lessons, psychology lessons, economic lessons - our entire discipline can be woven and connected into the story of our underdog team who because of hard work, determination, and grit, will play for what some consider to be the best competition in sports - The World Series.
Go Royals! Take the Crown!