Minds Made for Stories: How We Really Read and Write Informational and Persuasive Texts

by Thomas Newkirk

In this highly readable and provocative book, Thomas Newkirk explodes the long standing habit of opposing abstract argument with telling stories. Newkirk convincingly shows that effective argument is already a kind of narrative and is deeply "entwined with narrative."

--Gerald Graff, former MLA President and author of Clueless in Academe Narrative is regularly considered a type of writing-often an "easy" one, appropriate for early grades but giving way to argument and analysis in later grades. This groundbreaking book challenges all that. It invites readers to imagine narrative as something more-as the primary way we understand our world and ourselves. "To deny the centrality of narrative is to deny our own nature," Newkirk explains. "We seek companionship of a narrator who maintains our attention, and perhaps affection. We are not made for objectivity and pure abstraction-for timelessness. We have 'literary minds" that respond to plot, character, and details in all kind of writing. As humans, we must tell stories." When we are engaged readers, we are following a story constructed by the author, regardless of the type of writing. To sustain a reading-in a novel, an opinion essay, or a research article- we need a "plot" that helps us comprehend specific information, or experience the significance of an argument. As Robert Frost reminds us, all good memorable writing is "dramatic." Minds Made for Stories is a needed corrective to the narrow and compartmentalized approaches often imposed on schools-approaches which are at odds with the way writing really works outside school walls.

Genres: Teaching, Education, Writing, Nonfiction, Professional Development, Summer, Psychology

168 pages, Paperback

First published August 21, 2014

About the author

Thomas Newkirk is a teacher and author who worked for 39 years at the University of New Hampshire.

Reviews

[Peaches · Rating 4 out of 5]

Newkirk makes compelling points on why educators should consider utilizing narrative writing for more purposes than a one level assignment sequence or activity. He explores the way narrative follows us in our daily experiences and how, really, it's impossible to separate our thoughts as constructed reality from narrative.
I did find the second half less useful, as he uses abstract examples such as "argument" instead of focusing on how common assignments in education (which is is critical of in this text), could be restructured. This is more of a "here are my ideas; you figure it out" kind of book, which I respect less in educational research; however, I did find his ideas useful for my practice and own research.

[Ken · Rating 4 out of 5]

Newkirk argues that narrative (story) has a preeminent place in writing and speaking. We're all hardwired for it. He takes on writers of the Common Core who try to park it in the lower grades and make "argument writing" and "exposition" the key modes for high school. Both contain story, says Newkirk. He provides sundry examples, including a chapter dedicated each to science and math.

Quick read, breezy style. Contains stories, of course! Like most Newkirk books, it's not a practical, for-the-classroom type of book. It's just something educators should know, kind of like having a long breakfast with Tom at UNH's marvelous cafeteria.

[Kerry Pickens · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good textbook for writing teachers, but the most I got from it was recommendations for a few books to read. I ended up skimming a lot of the material. The takeaway is that writing is taught in a linear fashion such as five paragraph essay style. Writing is a creative and nonlinear process, so you are forcing young students to write in a manner that is not natural or creative for them. Basically it is stifling their creativity.

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent information to help me shape my thinking and my instruction.

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing perspective on narrative and its importance is all aspects of writing and the thinking involved therein. Everything I read from Newkirk hits home with my own philosophies on teaching, learning, reading, and writing.

[Anna]

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[TJ Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well-deserved piece of writing for any writer, teacher, or student. We often, in our idealism, seek to deny our humanity, and this is one of those books that seeks to advance humanity by realizing our humanity.

[Claudia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm on a story quest right now...doing a presentation about the importance of stories as nonfiction, and I found this book. Newkirk makes the point that all nonfiction is essentially narrative...story.

He takes some great swipes at CCSS and David Coleman. He shows with examples how all our nonfiction is written in time...and time involves stories. To deny that fact is to deny our own brains and the way we organize information.

I found lots of quotes:

"The hero of the story is a narrative itself...Narrative is there to help us 'compose' ourselves when we meet difficulty or loss. It is there to ground abstract ideas, to help us see the pattern in a set of numberical data, to illunminate the human consequences of political action. It is home base.

"Even scientific discourse, normally thought so distant from narrative, depends on establishing causal relationships or sequences, even stories. Photosysthesis is a story; climate change is a story; cancer is a story...

"...I maintainthat we have literary minds that seek order by imposing a narrative frame even when we know it makes no sense ("my computer hates me")

"...here would be my advice for writers and readers: 1. Read as if it is a story. 2. Write as if it is a story.

"Emotional and powerful storytelling can affect our moral sensibilities, altering the boundaries between 'us' and 'them'. They can change us in a way that pure numbers cannot.

"Making 'sound' arguments is crucially important, but the rarely can carry the day unless they both employ narratives and embed evidence in broader stories that fully engage listeners.

"Reporter Kate Anderson claims: "Whoever most vividly characterizes a situation usually dertermines how others view it, discuss it it, and make decisions about it.

"I always felt...[a] power imbalance when taking a standardized test, as if I had to fit in someone else's sckin; i had to psyche out what some 'they' felt was significant."

So, lots of great quotes for my presentation...but more important, more evidence for my stance that we are storytelling creatures. We see in stories, we think in stories.

[Sarah Zerwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

We are wired for narrative, even when we think we're not. They are the air we breathe.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the few books that have transformed the way I think about reading and writing. I'll come back to this resource to share Newkirk's ideas about how all good writing has a narrative arc, and to reflect on how I can continue to improve my own writing. If you are an educator in any context, you need to read this book, and soon!

[Kevin English · Rating 5 out of 5]

Teachers: Read this book! This is by far one of the most thought-provoking books I've read, especially in a time where narrative is pigeonholed as a mode and not something we live by and crave.

[Brandon Westlake · Rating 3 out of 5]

I requested this book thinking it would go deeper into Daniel Willingham's argument about how to structure a class around stories and why to captivate students' attention. While there is some of that, there is a lot more theory than I was prepared for. If you're into that sort of thing, then go for this read. Newkirk does a great job outlining how story is important and how we can make use of the idea in the classroom. It's lighter on how to plan units or lesson plans out using it, but more on how to conceptualize learning and teaching through the idea of story.
There are some good points in here that I will keep with me, but the book felt a little off balance. I'm not sure that the average busy teacher, looking for some quick go-to strategies to implement in the classroom will feel reading from cover to cover will be beneficial; instead, I recommend checking on the TOC and finding what your interests and needs might be and reading those chapters/sections.

[Syd L · Rating 5 out of 5]

The entire premise of this book is that humans process information best when it is given to us in the form of a narrative. With that sort of argument, it makes sense that this pedagogy book has wonderful structure and flow that makes it easy to read. Thomas Newkirk understands that when you read nonfiction, you are giving yourself over to the author, and he does a fantastic job of navigating his audience through his brain.

Besides the general readability of this book, it also raises crucial points for all teachers to consider while teaching, mostly regarding the relevance of the material we choose and the authenticity of our assessments. While Newkirk does not provide clear-cut solutions, journeying through this book gave me some ideas on how to teach nonfiction without telling me outright (perhaps that was his point?).

[Erin McDonnell-Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

A really interesting text that I enjoyed reading. Teaching college composition, I feel locked into a certain structure. This book helped me think about ways that I could break that structure, specifically by focusing on and implementing narrative into all types of writing.

Chapter 4 offered some interesting ideas regarding nonfiction texts, such as textbooks. This could be a good study strategy for incoming freshmen who do not know how to study. Re-writing sections of the text in narrative form could be very beneficial for them.

[Rillene · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful book. It's left me much to reflect on. Even though I still have questions and find myself conflicted on some things--mainly related to CCSS--I believe Newkirk has hit upon some enduring truths about how and why we write, truths I need to incorporate into my practice in the classroom. I know that I "rely on stories not mearly for entertainment, but for explanation, meaning, self understanding. ... To deny the centrality of narrative is to deny [my] own nature."

[Wendy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rather than a practical “here’s another strategy that i swear works” book, I found Newkirk’s theoretical focus on why stories are so effective at persuading very refreshing. I often get glares from fellow teachers (and a few students) when I promote and encourage using story in argumentative/persuasive writing, so this is a great reference tool to add to my belt when that inevitably comes up again.

[Dana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Newkirk successfully argues that story is at the center of all other writing. I was looking for a few more concrete "do this" types of suggestions, but I did glean some ideas for improving my writing instruction.

[Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Newkirk delivers again. Narrative is not a default to the least restrictive path; rather it is a way perhaps the way, we make sense of our collective and individual worlds.

Hey, Heinemann, what's up with the typos a spell-checker would catch and correct?

[K Love · Rating 5 out of 5]

Newkirk's treatise validated and transformed my thinking. I will consistently go to this text to inspire and create meaningful, deep thinking and learning with students.

[Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

By complicating and opposing the narrow conception of literacy presented by the writers of the Common Core, Thomas Newkirk has actually done them a valuable service, if they have the wisdom to listen to his important argument. Newkirk is not arguing that all student writing must be personal narration, but that the virtues of strong narrative are evident in any well-written text, regardless of its nominal category or genre. "The narrative," Newkirk argues, "is the deep structure of all good writing." As such, the distinctions that the Common Core makes between narrative writing (which it belittles) and other forms of exposition such as persuasion (which it honors) are seriously flawed. These distinctions can be made better if we acknowledge both the primacy of narration in the process of human learning, and its presence, even in latent form, in any kind of text which produces a sustained reading.

Among this book's many highlights are Newkirk's criticism of textbook writing, which generally fails to employ the tools of narration; his exploration of the virtues of narrative elements that produce sustained reading; his argument for exploring narrative in science instruction; and his advocacy for math instruction that finds story in numbers.

For those of us who are struggling with ways to "implement" (a careless word that I fear) the Common Core's laudable attempt to expand writing beyond the English classroom, Newkirk has offered us something really important to think about. We are in a position, in this era of broad and insouciant school reform, to do a lot of damage to our students in the name of "rigor," "college readiness," and "preparation for the workplace," especially if by accepting ideological conceptions about what our students "should" be doing, we ignore the ways the human mind actually works. What Newkirk asks of us is to acknowledge the primacy of storytelling in human learning, and act accordingly.

Whether this message will make its way up to the policy-level proponents of the Common Core--whose product could benefit greatly from his rich and valuable opposition--remains to be seen. I am not particularly hopeful. But I do know that we teachers have the ultimate say in how teaching and learning take place in our classrooms, regardless of orders from the members of the policy, executive, and administrative castes. The more ideas like Newkirks' get around to the teachers, the more likely it is that the reforms our students experience will be effective and humane.

[Ron Christiansen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great read which helped me better articulate why and how I use narratives in the rhetorically focused comp class.

[Jean-Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This a great read. If nothing else, it has strengthen my resolve in the way I homeschool my children: authentic writing vs. the 5-paragraph "hamburger" formula; rich, engaging literature vs. dry textbooks and boxed curriculum; learning with stories vs. stand alone facts. What I do have hard time rectifying is society's love/hate relationship with anecdotes and causation. We love/hate the stories told, but they may not always be right/wrong story. (Consider CNN vs. MSNBC vs. FOX News vs. The Daily Show with John Stewart) And maybe that's how I rectify it. We accept that the stories we read/write won't always be right/wrong, but we can learn from them just by considering this one perspective in a moment in time.

"We rely on stories not merely for entertainment, but for explanation, meaning, self-understanding. We instinctively make connections of cause and effect, and always have. To deny the centrality of narrative is to deny our own nature. We seek the companionship of a narrator who maintains our attention, and perhaps our affection. We are not made for objectivity and pure abstraction -- for timelessness. We have "literary minds" that respond to plot, character, and details in all kinds of writing."

[Julianna Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

"It is conventional to view narrative as a mode, a type of writing, often an easy one. When we rely on stories we are accused of being "anecdotal," not intellectually serious. We are told that on the job and in college, we do the hard stuff, the rigorous stuff; we analyze and make logical arguments. We don't tell stories.

But we do. We can't get away from it. Even the arguments we make are often about a version of a story, or in the service of a story, or in the form of a story. Evidence regularly serves to establish which story, which claim for causality, is most plausible. We critique a story by imagining another story. Informational texts regularly describe processes that take narrative form.
We are caught in time, caught in history. Or rather history is the form we give to time. When my mother lost this capacity, she thought she was losing her mind, her self. We rely in stories not merely for entertainment, but for explanation, meaning, self-understanding. We instinctively make connections of cause and effect, and always have. To deny the centrality of narrative is to deny our own nature."

[BookChampions · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the third and the best Newkirk book I've had the pleasure to read. They are always intellectual affairs—so teachers looking for lesson plan ideas will be disappointed. But the argument he makes here is sound and stimulating.

In this text, he takes old adage "show, don't tell" to a logical but radical extreme. He places Narrative at the heart (or core) of all writing (something I've always done but never could articulate like Newkirk does here)—and he takes a few valid swipes at Common Core along the way.

I place this one firmly alongside the work of Gerald Graff and Tom Romano's Crafting Authentic Voice. Newkirk is just as essential as either of these authors, and I may even appreciate him more because it leaves me to ultimately find the answers to the questions I am wrestling with about writing instruction. He gets my own wheels turning. And isn't that the sign of an amazing teacher?

[Tamara · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are only a handful of writers who can make me think like Thomas Newkirk can make me think. I checked the "read" box on this book for the purposes of Goodreads, but that's a convenient lie because I am never done reading a book by Thomas Newkirk. I just keep going back to it, rereading, and understanding more each time. For decades now, I have struggled with the narrow genre definitions we, as teachers, assign to our writing instruction. While I understood that descriptive writing transcends all genres, but I hadn't reached that understanding about narrative writing until reading Minds Made for Stories. As with The Art of Slow Reading, Newkirk has once again transformed the way I think, read, and teach.

[Jason Griffith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Newkirk writes, "We rely on stories not merely for entertainment, but for explanation, meaning, self-understanding. We instinctively make connections of cause and effect, and always have. To deny the centrality of narrative is to deny our own nature" (146). As a teacher, when I search for "real-world" examples of texts to share with students, it's hard to find ones that fit into the narrow parameters we often assign for "school" writing. Real-world texts blend modes, and Newkirk presents a clear and entertaining argument for narrative being at the heart of much nonfiction writing as well as fiction. I really enjoyed reading this book; it confirmed many of the ways I'm already thinking, and it's connected a few more dots and given me some more avenues for exploration.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book-but it got really meta at times. I will try to explain; this is a short read about how all people, in all subjects, build understanding through texts- which are all basically stories because all texts happen through time. I agree - but what will this belief look like for me as a teacher and writer? Newkirk has issue with the Common Core, breakneck speed teaching, and literacy testing, and rightly so. What can I do about all of this in my classroom? Sadly, the book stopped short of guidance on these issues - setting me off on more reading, research, and thought. I do not think this is all and all a bad thing, it's just not what I really wanted.

[Jacque · Rating 5 out of 5]

This books joins a long list of other professional development books and lectures from this school year that have turned my curriculum and pedagogical beliefs upside down. My prior teaching environment offered little room for critiquing Common Core, standards which value logic over emotion. But as I finish reading yet another stack of essays that feel like a punishment for both me and my students, I realize I'm the one to blame for that. For if I want story and passion, dedication and care from my student's writing, I need to foster those values in the writing I prompt my students to create. The necessary but difficult evolution of my craft continues...

[Debbie Shoulders · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read for teachers and writers.

As humans we have always relayed information through story or as Newkirk writes, "We have 'literary minds' that respond to plot, character, and details in all kinds of writing."

Though many movements including the latest, Common Core, have tried to separate narrative writing into its own category, NewKirk contends that all writing includes those elements. It is what brings the reader in and sustains the reading.

Through anecdotal evidence, he shares how narrative elements brings alive such ideas a argument, science, data, and even mathematics.

[Katy Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

Minds Made for Stories is about how, despite the Common Core sway away from narrative writing, our minds are really made to understand and convey information through stories. I think this book made a lot of good points but also was a little repetitive and therefore somewhat boring. My takeaway from it was that even information and argument writing is truly story writing at heart and that writing can't be divided up into arbitrary categories. I would recommend it to anyone struggling with excluding narrative writing or any Reading / English teachers.