MODERN FABLES - An Educator's FOREWORD

 FOREWORD

 

Connecting on a personal level in a world where children are glued to their electronic devices from a very young age is an arduous task. Connecting personally to share and strengthen the values and virtues commonly considered the foundation of family, school, and community seems at best unpopular and at times almost impossible.

 

Storytelling is a powerful tool for making that elusive connection. And Dr. Cooper’s MODERN FABLES is storytelling that connects people not only to each other but to long-respected though sometimes forgotten virtues: Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful, Friendly, Courteous, Kind, Obedient, Cheerful, Thrifty, Brave, Clean, and Reverent. 

 

In the image of Aesop’s fables with a modern twist, the fifty-one short stories in MODERN FABLES follow the fictional Williams family through the adventures, conflicts, emotions, and challenges of contemporary life.  Each story introduces a young person facing a decision or taking action.  Although the stories are organized around the twelve Boy Scout Law virtues, the lessons to be learned are not overtly stated but instead are embedded in the story itself. Talking, exploring, and discussing the story, the characters and the message is the storytelling power of MODERN FABLES connecting readers around timeless values.

 

MODERN FABLES is a book to be shared.  Read a chapter aloud as a bedtime story or read a selection together with a pre-teen.  Choose a theme and story that connects with a problem facing a family member or friend. Ask a young reader to choose a selection for themselves to talk about together.  Spark a discussion in a classroom or at a student meeting with a modern fable.  The beauty of the book is its flexibility. Use all of the stories or select those that best resonate with the young people in your life.  Start at the beginning or jump in where the best connection can be made.  From start to finish, MODERN FABLES connects people and values.

 

As a teacher, principal, and co-author of THINKING IT THROUGH:  Coaching Students to Be Problem-Solvers, I’ve helped children and adults learn to use thinking skills to manage the conflicts of everyday life. MODERN FABLES adds a dimension to that work, giving young people the opportunity to see themselves in situations requiring reflection on and understanding of the character frameworks that are also needed, not only to solve problems but to do so in an ethical and moral way. 

 

Connecting people, both young and older, around values in an age that certainly needs them is the gift MODERN FABLES gives to its readers.  

 

 Patricia Cyganovich, Ed.D.

Educator and co-author of THINKING IT THROUGH:  Coaching Students to be Problem-Solvers