Pink starts out making the point that stories are how we have communicated since the beginning of man. Furthermore, he points out that stories are how we remember information. Many people see stories and facts as oppositional. However, since story is our way of remembering important information it is the glue that makes facts (and experiences) stick in our brains and therefore not oppositional to facts but rather a companion to facts. Often times we use mnemonic devices to remember facts, which are usually short stories.
I think that Pink expresses that value of story very well when he says that story is context enriched by emotion. That is why stories are so integral to our lives. Stories encapsulate context, information, and emotions. Thinking about stories as the intersection of context and emotion reminded me of today when Amy said that she can't watch certain movies because she gets too emotionally involved. As someone who was up most of the night last night after catching up on the last two weeks of Game of Thrones because it had sucked me in so deeply that even after several hours I had not emotionally or mentally calmed down.
I think the idea of organizational story telling could be especially useful to school. The stories that our students would tell could likely explain a lot about the schools culture. Sometimes it is hard to see these things clearly when you are enmeshed in the organization.
Pink also explains that stories are used to differentiate goods and services in a crowded marketplace. He relates a story about buying a certain bottle of wine because of the story behind the company. This shows how story can create meaning, to the point that it controls our spending. This personal meaning that comes inherent in story is a strategy that we can use to help our students create meaning in their artwork. As Eisner says, "One of the most important pedagogical tasks is to help students formulate something to say that matters to them" (98). In the portfolio section of the story chapter Pink says "Listening is an act of love." I think this is important to remember when working with kids. Too often people dismiss kids stories (especially since sometimes they can be very long winded), however, I have found that when I take the time to listen to kids stories they respond very well. It's clear that sometimes they feel so important just for having an adult listen.
Symphony:
"Symphony...is the ability to put together the pieces. It is the capacity to synthesize rather than analyze; to see relationships between seemingly unrelated fields; to detect broad patterns rather than deliver specific answers; and to invent something new by combining elements nobody else thought to pair" (130). This quote makes it obvious why this sense is important for us as teachers and our students as artists. Strength in the symphony sense can lead to students that are able to think holistically and see the big picture. They can see a whole that exceeds the sum of its parts. This is a skill that art is particularly well suited to develop in our students we should highlight this to administration, parents, and students. As Eisner says at the end of chapter six, art teachers can help the public see the importance of arts education by making the cognitive development that takes place in our classrooms evident.
Pink writes about a drawing class that he enrolled in to improve his symphony skills. Many of the stories that he relates are familiar from my drawing classes. These exercises are developed to help keep the left-brain from taking over while the right-brain tries to represent what it actually sees.
"Boundary Crossers" is the name that Pink gives to people who have a variety of experiences of backgrounds that they bring together. He refers to these people as living a "multi-life." Though not completely intentionally, I think I fall into this category. I have lived in several places and worked in several careers. Hopefully, these experiences will help me to be a better teacher in the future.
Bertie, I said the exact same thing about art being an opportunity to develop symphony is our students. It seems obvious to me that art builds this skills, but you are most definitely right that we should be shouting this fact to the community. It's important for the community to understand the variety of benefits from a 21st century art education.
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