Chapter 1: Seeing Students As Origin Stories | David Crook | TEDxLady Street ED

Key Concepts:

• Hero's Journey: A narrative pattern where a protagonist faces obstacles, receives help, undergoes transformation, and achieves a resolution.
• Origin Story: Viewing challenging situations as the beginning of a character's development rather than the end.
• Narrator: The importance of understanding the backstory and context of a student's behavior and circumstances.
• Individualized Assignment: Tailoring learning experiences to meet the specific needs and interests of a student.
• Self-Confidence: The role of educators in fostering a student's belief in their abilities and potential.
• Chapter One: The idea that every student is at the beginning of their story, full of potential.

1. The Universal Narrative Pattern and the Hero's Journey

• The speaker begins by illustrating the commonality of narrative structures using examples like The Lion King and Hamlet, highlighting their shared plot elements: a prince losing his father to an ambitious uncle, self-exile, help from friends and a paternal ghost, and a return to set things right.
• This pattern is linked to Joseph Campbell's "Hero's Journey," a concept that transcends genres and cultures, appearing in myths, books, plays, and movies.
• The core of the Hero's Journey involves a protagonist (prince, lion cub, space alien, AI robot, or ordinary person) facing adversity, often the loss or potential loss of parents due to various causes (dragons, curses, accidents, or metaphorical dragons like cancer, neglect, poverty, depression, anxiety).
• The speaker emphasizes the audience's familiarity with this cycle: things are bad, they will likely worsen, help will arrive, and the hero will be transformed through struggle.
• The worse the initial circumstances (e.g., an orphan's hunger, Harry Potter's neglect), the more satisfying the resolution. This is because the audience worries about the hero but maintains hope due to their understanding of the narrative cycle.

2. Reframing Students' Challenges as Origin Stories

• The speaker critiques the tendency to treat struggling students as if their stories are already over, citing examples like expulsion for bringing a handgun, teenage pregnancy, or dropping out due to being behind on credits.
• The central call to action is to view these students' situations as "origin stories," the beginning of something potentially great.
• Educators are already part of these students' stories, whether they choose to be or not. The question is how deeply they want to be involved in the student's development.
• The speaker poses a choice: be a background NPC, a side quest, or an integral part of the main plot, helping the hero achieve a transformative ending.

3. Personal Anecdotes: "Chapter One, A Missed Opportunity"

• The speaker shares a personal anecdote from his youth, "Chapter One, A Missed Opportunity," where he is late for school, smokes a cigarette, and is caught by "Coach."
• He emphasizes the importance of understanding the context: he was late due to lack of money for shoe rental (bowling PE unit), lack of clean clothes, and his parents' unavailability (father working, mother struggling with alcoholism).
• The speaker points out that "Coach" lacked this context and only saw the surface behavior (dirty jeans, band t-shirt, smoking).
• The anecdote illustrates the absence of a "narrator" to provide the necessary background information to understand the student's actions.

4. Personal Anecdotes: "Chapter One, The Boy Who Wrote"

• The speaker contrasts the first anecdote with a second, "Chapter One, The Boy Who Wrote," involving his English teacher, Mr. Shanks.
• He describes being nervous about not completing a research paper due to similar circumstances (lack of transportation, parental issues, reluctance to ask for help).
• Instead of reprimanding him, Mr. Shanks recognized his potential and gave him The Catcher in the Rye, telling him, "I want you to read this book and when you're done with it I want you to write another essay i want you to write a couple of chapters what happens next? And I want you to read this book because I think you're in it."
• This individualized assignment and the teacher's belief in him had a profound impact, transforming him into a reader and writer.
• The speaker emphasizes the feeling of being "considered" by Mr. Shanks, who saw beyond his immediate circumstances and recognized his potential.

5. The Transformative Power of Belief and Opportunity

• The speaker reiterates the Hero's Journey cycle: things get worse before they get better. His mother passed away a year or two later, and Mr. Shanks gave him A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis.
• Despite leaving high school early, the seed of confidence planted by Mr. Shanks motivated him to finish his diploma and pursue higher education.
• This experience led him to build a career focused on creating opportunities for others to be part of their own stories.
• He provides examples of students who overcame challenges (expulsion, teenage pregnancy, being behind on credits) through supportive programs.
• The speaker contrasts "Coach," who saw only the surface, with Mr. Shanks, who chose to believe there was more to the story, even without knowing the details.
• Mr. Shanks treated him as if there was more to the story, as if it was an origin story.

6. Conclusion: The Classroom as Holy Ground

• The speaker concludes by emphasizing that educators are already in the students' stories and have a choice to make.
• They can be nameless, forgettable teachers, a "Coach" with a minor role, or a "Mr. Shanks" who alters the timeline and helps the student realize their potential.
• The speaker views the classroom as "holy ground" where origin stories happen, and each student is a "chapter one."