Why an instructor should read novels (and even write them)

Introduction

Are you an instructor?

Are you a teacher?
If so then, you should definitely read novels on a regular basis and you should even be able to write them. At least you should be able to tell a story by writing it.

Let me explain why and how it will greatly improve your performance as a teacher

Since primitive man started to work together in small packs as hunters and gatherers, the main way to share information was by storytelling. 

For instance how to find an animal hideout, by tracking his tracks; or how to build an axe stronger and more solid by fixing the sharpened stone with fibres stripped from tree stems.

There wasn’t anything such as didactic tools or a learning plan.

Over time, tales became a way to pass on even the history of a people or a land, using religious myth, heroic tales, and poetry.
When the writing took over as a way of saving and sharing information, tales and storytellings grew more and more in importance. 

Emotions are the key

We can say then that telling a story is the first and primary way to pass complex information. 

But in order to understand why a teacher should have great storytelling skills, we need to understand why tales are so effectives not only in igniting interest but also in retaining information for the human brain. 

Well. Emotions are the key.

We retain information by connecting it into a context and this process is much easier if strong emotions are involved.
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Every one of us lived in their past events that they’ll never forget.
By tales we can link both elements (emotions and context) using the story plot for sharing an experience without the need to make our audience experience it for real.

So, coming back to the teachers’ storytelling skills. 

How to improve?

The more, as a teacher, that you will be able to use your storytelling skills, the more you’ll be able to create a context where information will be connected in a more digestible form and enhanced by the emotions you have conveyed in doing so.

How to improve then?
If you want to be good in that, as in every knowledge field, learn from the best and train a lot. Read a lot, write a lot, exercise yourself in telling stories.
You’ll notice when you become good at teaching by storytelling by clear feedback:
Your students will start to remember your lessons as they were tales worth passing on.