Teaching Storytelling in Classrooms and Communities: Amplifying Student Voices and Inspiring Social Change

by Maru Gonzalez, Michael Kokozos, Christy M. Byrd

Overview

Unleash the transformative power of storytelling to build belonging, ignite critical consciousness, and amplify students’ voices. This dynamic book equips educators who work with middle and high school aged youth to teach storytelling in their classrooms or community organizations.

Through inspiring examples and hands-on teaching strategies, the authors show you how to build trust and foster community, explore diverse storytelling modes and formats, guide students in developing effective and ethical social impact stories, and more. You’ll also discover practical tools to help students broaden their story’s reach and impact through collaboration and coalition building. Each chapter brims with student examples, ready-to-use teaching tips, and experiential activities, plus questions designed to spark dialogue and help students awaken and embrace the storyteller within. There are also reflective prompts to support your own journey as both a facilitator and participant in the storytelling exchange.

Packed with practical resources, moving narratives, and actionable tips, this book is your essential guide to cultivating a supportive learning community, increasing student engagement, and unlocking young people’s leadership potential through the vehicle of storytelling.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781040348864
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	06/06/2025
Series:	Equity and Social Justice in Education Series
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	244
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Maru Gonzalez, EdD, is an Associate Professor, University Faculty Scholar, and Youth Development Specialist in the Department of Agricultural and Human Sciences at North Carolina State University. She serves as co‑director of #PassTheMicYouth, a multimedia program aimed at amplifying youth voices and providing practitioners with research‑based resources for teaching social impact storytelling.

Michael Kokozos, PhD, is an Associate Director of Teaching and Learning at the University of Pennsylvania. In addition to his role at Penn, he serves as a curriculum consultant for North Carolina State University and as an instructor for Global Online Academy. With over two decades of experience across K-12 and higher education, he is dedicated to fostering global citizenship, community engagement, and belonging.

Christy M. Byrd, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Teacher Education and Learning Sciences at North Carolina State University who uses her research and outreach to help young people tell stories that raise awareness and inspire positive change in their communities.

Table of Contents

1. Storytelling and Social Change 2. Trust, Community, and Connection: Laying the Groundwork for Authentic Storytelling 3. Ready, Set, Warm-Up: Activities for Awakening the Storyteller Within 4. From Spoken Word to Photography: Exploring Storytelling Formats 5. Positionality, Power, and Privilege: Building Critical Reflection 6. Centering Youth in Social Change Narratives 7. The Ethics of Storytelling 8. The Story of Me: Nurturing Personal Storytelling 9. Exploring Dominant Narratives and Counterstories 10. Idea to Impact: Additional Practices for Effective Storytelling 11. Beyond the Story: Moving from Awareness to Critical Action

Editorial Reviews

"Teaching Storytelling in Classrooms and Communities offers a needed focus on the power of story for youth development, voice, and activism. The book’s practical tips and engagement strategies will be a terrific resource for classroom teachers and community educators."

Ben Kirshner, PhD, Author of Youth Activism in an Era of Education Inequality

"Gonzalez, Kokozos, and Byrd have written a wonderful and comprehensive guide for those seeking to center youth while collaboratively building culturally relevant classrooms and communities. They remind us of the future we can build right now for equity and justice in learning environments."

Anneliese Singh, PhD, LPC, Professor of Social Work and Associate Provost for Faculty Development and Diversity/Chief Diversity Officer, Tulane University and Author of The Racial Healing Handbook

"Teaching Storytelling in Classrooms and Communities offers an amazing resource for youth workers and classroom educators who are committed to actively supporting the transformative power of youth voices, personal storytelling, meaningful and critical dialogue, agency, and activism. Si se puede, con apoyo!

Ximena Zúñiga, PhD, Co-Editor of Intergroup Dialogue: Engaging Difference, Social Identities and Social Justice (Routledge), Dialogues across difference (Russell Sage Foundation), & Readings for Diversity and Social Justice (Routledge)

"Teaching Storytelling in Classrooms and Communities gives life to the good and necessary work that is capable of creating transformational counter-narratives to foster critical engagement in youth. It pushes them to think about their identities, communities, and power, while arming them and their teachers with foundational knowledge, skills, and dispositions necessary to help create change. It adeptly and beautifully provides both a theoretical and practical exploration of how to foster meaningful action.

I will use Teaching Storytelling in Classrooms and Communities as a roadmap for supporting my students in using their voices as a vehicle for empowerment and change. For providing students and educators with the terminology, contexts, and the know-how to prepare young people to fight for the world they deserve, this invaluable text should be in the library of every educator committed to the cause of a more just and joyful world."

Sam Texeira, Chicago Public Schools, Teachers for Social Justice, 2019 Boston Public Schools Educator of the Year, 2014 Donovan Urban Teaching Scholar, Black Teacher Project Cohort III

"This book is a fantastic resource for educators committed to amplifying student voices, increasing student engagement, and building connection and belonging. With extensive experience working with youth, the authors provide a practical guide to teaching storytelling through a variety of mediums in the classroom and beyond. If you have ever wondered how to inspire students to create awareness and inspire action for social change, this book is an essential resource for developing empathetic movers and shakers of the next generation."

Crystal Chen Lee, Ed.D, Associate Professor, English Education, North Carolina State University, Co-Author of Amplifying Youth Voices through Critical Literacy and Positive Youth Development: The Potential of University-Community Partnerships

"Teaching Storytelling in Classrooms and Communities is a great resource for those working to empower the next generation of change makers. When youth learn how to utilize effective and ethical approaches to storytelling, they unlock the potential to move others with their stories and improve their communities and their world. This resource is full of engaging, inclusive, and comprehensive content that will support any educator in their work to lift up, activate, and amplify youth voices."

Carlos Moses, 4-H Youth Development Coordinator

"Unlock the transformative power of storytelling with Teaching Storytelling in Classrooms and Communities: Amplifying Student Voices and Inspiring Social Change. This compelling guide empowers educators to foster student competence and confidence through practical strategies and insightful examples. Maru Gonzalez and the authors illustrate how storytelling is a dynamic tool for driving ethical social change, and show us how to utilize this tool to the fullest in our classrooms, laboratories, and lives. Perfect for educators committed to creating inclusive and impactful learning environments, this book is your essential resource for inspiring the next generation of critical thinkers and empathetic leaders."

Michelle Jewell, Communications and Engagement Manager for the Southeast Climate Adaptation Science Center & President of the Science Communicators of North Carolina

"Gonzalez, Kokozos, and Byrd have written a hopeful, uplifting, and much-needed book that shows us what it really means to center the power of youth storytelling in teaching and learning — to nurture more humane classrooms and to awaken and inspire social change."

Jessica Whitehlaw, PhD, Adjunct Assistant Professor, University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education, Author of Arts-Based Teaching and Learning in the Literacy Classroom: Cultivating a Critical Aesthetic Practice

From the Publisher