A literature teacher comes into class, shares an extract from a good novel, and from there begins to test her students' comprehension of the story. While they discuss it and the lessons learned, she directs their attention to a place where a character in the story shot himself in the foot by continuing to lie to his wife who already knew what he had done behind her back. “This is an example of dramatic irony,” she says, “whereby readers understand something that the character doesn’t and as seen in this example, the character can make a fool of himself because of his ignorance. Dramatic irony is the reason why people whisper to the screen when watching movies trying to warn their favorite character of trouble laying right ahead of them”
Another teacher of the same subject opens up with, “Today I am going to teach you about dramatic irony. This is an irony that is inherent in speeches or a situation of a drama and is understood by the audience but not grasped by the characters in the play…” He doesn’t need to go further into this definition before losing half the class. Students are bored and most of them aren’t absorbing these definitions and explanations fed to them. They are confused as to why such an arguably interesting class is difficult for them and nowhere near as thrilling as the other class with a different teacher exclaiming it is.
The agenda in both cases is to teach literature but the latter isn’t doing much justice to the cause.
Polly is always sharing scriptures with his family, preaching to them concerning what they should and shouldn’t do to live a righteous life. They aren’t a believing family so this doesn’t do much to them, instead it sparks up lots of debate. He is frustrated and at a loss of how to save them while they also constantly make fun of him in his absence. Becky is just as zealous as Polly is about the scriptures but what she has constantly been doing is share testimonies with her family. She noticed how attentive they get when she recalls her encounters with God and how He continually saves and guides her. It is difficult to argue with her as is Polly’s case because she is insisting that all these experiences are a result of her personal relationship with the Lord. Slowly they have been warming up to her and as they lend her their ears, she takes the opportunity to push the same agenda that Polly is struggling to bring loved ones closer to God.
Let me introduce you to Mike, a man of great wealth who accumulated it from scratch in his thirties. As he was learning the principles of money, he used to call his then seven-year-old daughter to share with her everything he was learning from books but noticed just how quickly she would lose concentration and begin asking irrelevant questions. It took Mike years to realize that his daughter didn't have concentration problems but that it was his particular method of delivery that didn't resonate well with her. After much thought, he began to dramatize his lectures. Not only did he think of hypothetical people and situations to teach from, but he also created visuals and used toys and other objects to drive his point home. The result? All his children became as he had desired, money savvy and well capable of growing the wealth he is planning on leaving them.
Something happens when you tell tales instead of pushing a lesson down people’s throats: you speed up the learning process for them and you take the pressure off of yourself to make them understand. When they figure out the lesson themselves then they are even quicker to accept it. Most people like to believe that they are good at figuring things out for themselves so the less you give them, the more they strive to find out for themselves. In the case of Becky, the testimony girl, she effortlessly got her family so curious about the things she told them that they began searching them out themselves. Before she knew it, they had all become ‘Bible scholars’
Your agenda may be to open people’s eyes concerning a tradition that they blindly follow. Find an account of someone who got stuck doing things just because they had always been done that way and had a terrible ending. By the time you conclude that account, most of the job will be done. If, however, you come upon them stressing that they need to change their way of doing things, you will not be able to cut through their layers of opposition. While trying to bring motivation you will notice that people’s attentiveness grows when you explain how you applied a certain principle as opposed to when you list principles that work. Whatever your line of business, try spicing it up with good storytelling for good results.
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