Storytelling and Vocation
University educators are storytellers—in the classroom, in advising, in student development, in religious programming, in athletics. We share our own vocation stories, teach with stories, engage in the larger stories of our institutions, and cast a vision for the stories to come. NetVUE events and publications have pointed frequently and clearly to the interweaving of vocation and storytelling. Whether in our own stories, our sacred texts, or our art and music, there is always a before and after to calling; in other words, vocation is a story-shaped reality.
This NetVUE regional gathering seeks to offer a space for educators to engage a wide array of professional storytellers—writers, podcasters, journalists, playwrights, singers, filmmakers, actors, and others—as they consider together how storytelling can help students in their work of vocational reflection and discernment. Guiding questions for the event include:
- What stories can we tell to help students clarify their callings?
- How might our own storytelling call our students to reflection and action?
- When can we best call on our students to tell their own stories?
- Why and how do different kinds of story, in different media, call us?
- Where are our stories grounded, and how does place affect our storytelling?
This gathering, in Bristol, Tennessee, will give particular attention to Appalachia in the context of broader questions. In these mountains, storytelling and vocation share a long history; hence, this location offers rich soil in which educators can cultivate new approaches to guiding their students as they discern their many callings in life.
Complete information on this NetVUE regional gathering is available on the King University website.