I read with interest the Sept. 23 article titled “A vaunted teaching style is left behind.” It referred to the Scottish Storyline method of teaching, which I have used successfully with my students for more than 10 years as a teacher at Tumalo Community School, being “left behind” due to the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act. In my 25 years of working as an educator, this method has been the most effective technique I have used for engaging my students and their families in learning.

Using this method, my students have had experiences they never would have had otherwise. We have created a model aquarium and traveled to the Oregon Coast Aquarium to share our prototype with the staff there, created a living history museum to bring in the millennium, traveled the dusty roads on an authentic wagon train, lived as the early colonists did, traveled the Underground Railroad using the north star to lead the way, and grieved for our lost loved ones as soldiers and families in the Civil War. When Tumalo alumni stop by to say hello, these are the experiences they remember.

As noted in the article, schools using the storyline method score well on state tests. This is also true for my school. So, why, if a “win-win” is so apparent, would this incredible teaching technique seem to lose support?

I think it has to do with the incorrect perception that storyline is not standards-based. All storyline teachers know that the source of a storyline is the standards. That is the basis on which a storyline unit is built. Like a foundation of a house, that is where it all begins.

I am a trainer for my district in the area of increasing student achievement by helping teachers work with standards using Douglass Reeves’ work. During my training, it became apparent that the storyline method was the perfect vehicle for this work. A standards-based model requires the use of “backward design.” By that I mean as a teacher I start with the standards and build units and lessons that will teach the standards. In addition, I design performance tasks and assessments to ensure my students are proficient in the standards. This is what storyline teachers have been doing all along. This lesson design is taught in storyline teacher trainings.

As stated in the article, this method is used at a specific time of the day, though I would say that my students would love to do it all day! In addition to my storyline units, which I use to teach social studies and literacy, my students daily have math, science, language arts and reading instruction using district curriculum. With that said, it is storyline time that they anticipate. I would propose that the momentum and enthusiasm built during storyline time is a factor that increases achievement in other subject areas as well.

During this time of day, my eighth-graders can use their imagination as they enter the Renaissance era as time travelers delving into the world of Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, all the while working on performance tasks and assessments that show proficiency on the standards. It is a time when they use their artistic and intellectual talents to solve problems and create solutions. It is the time of day when they experience their learning. Research says that students who have the opportunity to experience their learning will remember 90 percent as compared to those who hear a lecture on the same material. They will recall 10 percent. The storyline method provides our students with this deep learning opportunity, which is the focus of a standards-based program.

If we truly want to close the achievement gap, and we must, then I would suggest using caution when deciding this method, though highly lauded, does not align with the requirements of NCLB. It is a gift we give our students and their families. As educators we must be careful not to stop doing the very things that are getting results simply because they are misunderstood. We need to continue to communicate the work we do so that perception becomes understanding. In addition, teachers need support to continue doing this type of demanding work. Writing a storyline is writing curriculum. In a true standards-based system that is what is required.

It is my hope that as educators we will be mindful of dismissing that which is “vaunted,” or highly praised, due to a lack of understanding or misperceptions. Learning, achievement and joy can and must coexist in our classrooms.