Invitations to Curiosity

The Strengths Cafe is an online publishing project sponsored by Innovative Resources.

find out more:

• view The Harveys on IR's shop site

In the Mailbag

Dear John,

I'm a second year Social Work student studying at the University of Queensland. At the end of last year I stumbled across the book The Harveys and Other Stories on your website (I was actually on there looking up Strength Cards) and wanted to let people know what a fantastic resource it is.

The stories are great, BUT the questions that accompany each story have been a real bonus for me in my course work. There are questions that you can apply to so many situations, not just those presented in the stories.

There have been very few assignments this year where I haven't thumbed through those 16 pages of questions and I've also used them to initiate conversations in tutes. The Harveys has really led me in some interesting directions and continues to influence my thinking about what I'd like to do when I complete my degree.

Thanks to all involved,

Jenny

Brisbane, QLD

The Harveys: Encouraging Reflective Practice

Chatting with the Author, Jennifer Lehmann

'Perhaps I was just a naturally nosy child, but I was fortunate to have a father who encouraged me to be both curious and observant. It started when I was allowed to have a fish tank that had been cast off by another family. My tank revealed astounding diversity. That little ecosystem had a multitude of amoeba, protozoa, water fleas, tiny snails.and hydra that were visible to the naked eye. Hydra! It was generally considered impossible to maintain these sensitive creatures without laboratory controlled conditions and yet there they were, going about their lives in my bedroom under the single, east-facing window. But my greatest discovery was the realisation that to see the diversity it was necessary to look into the tank from different places, using different lights and a variety of tools. What I saw with the natural light and my little magnifying glass was quite different to what I saw using my bed-lamp and the ancient family microscope produced from my father's parents' back room.

'So started my interest in noticing things (and things about people too). I was intrigued to know people are as they are, the choices they make and what encourages them to make changes in their lives. This involved me in self-observation. I found there were things I liked about myself and things I would have liked to be different. I also learned to be kind to myself and others, allowing space to explore and reflect. I wanted to find some sense of peace for myself and perhaps wisdom in this complex world.

'There are always unanswered questions, but the telling of stories I found to be a powerful medium to investigate ideas and explore one another's lives. Stories encapsulate aspects of time and context, character and relationships, events and living with the things we can and cannot change. I found when I began teaching that stories could also be used a teaching tool. The characters of people can be more fully developed than in a case scenario and there is a sense of past, present and future. Stories are often open-ended which gives the audience an opportunity to ponder the many possibilities that are left to the imagination.

'While the stories are fictional, they are drawn from my life and professional practice experience, and in this sense are about real people and events that I have observed and pondered upon over the years of I have been a social worker. This set of stories are mostly set in rural communities and reflect my commitment to living and working in the country.

'I use the stories to encourage students to explore their own values and ideas about social work practice because many students have not yet had the opportunity to work in the field and find it difficult to reflect on situations not yet in their own experience. In this way the stories act as a bridge to reflective practice and lead to the exploration of their own stories.

'My hope for this book is that teaching staff across human service disciplines will see the value of using this form of storytelling as a teaching tool to develop reflective learning and practice in students who are destined for important roles with people.

USING TOOLS IN TEACHING - THE GERMAN EXPERIENCE

'I was teaching in English. It was the second or third language for these students.'

The invitation to teach a small class of social work students at Coburg University in Germany was an opportunity not to be missed. What's more, I was allowed to teach using narrative-something I love doing and something they had never contemplated before. The exchange of emails over several months advanced arrangements and I met with Professor Frau Gaby Franger, Head of Social Work, on 5 October in Nuremberg, as planned.

We travelled to Coburg together the following day-the first day of the academic year in Germany and one that is always somewhat chaotic in every university. The title of the seminar was: Using Stories as a Pathway to Reflective Practice in Social Work and we had anticipated 10 to 12 students. Then I was told there might be only 4 to 6 students. I remained unperturbed; a small group would enable a more personal and conversational approach to the three days.

In my bag of goodies

I planned to use stories from my book The Harveys and Other Stories: invitations to curiosity. In my bag of goodies I also had St Luke's Strength Cards and stickers, Angels With Attitude cards and stickers, and The Wrong Stone. My own addition to this collection was what I have called Insight Cards featuring evaluative questions that require a reflective response of one or two sentences.

The night before the seminar began there was a phone call. Twenty students had enrolled. I went into overdrive. This would be quite different to a group of half a dozen. Classes in Germany start at 8.15am and I was due at the campus at 7.30am. No time for preparation in the morning. I had to be ready to engage students who were entering their very first week of university study along with Year 2 and Year 4 students (and the first year students were in the majority).

The morning dawned-a cold, damp autumn day with the trees turning shades of gold. Ralph, the resident red squirrel, was busy collecting and storing various nuts and seeds as I packed my gear and headed for the university. Twenty-two students had now enrolled and entered the seminar room ready for a formal lecture. I was teaching in English. It was the second or third language for these students. We were all feeling a little anxious and I needed to overcome the hurdle anxiety creates for learning and reflection. I had no intention of delivering a stream of formal lectures either, although I was aware that all subjects in the social work course, with the exception of two, are delivered through formal lectures only. Seminars and discussion as a teaching mode are a rarity for these students. Using practice-based stories was unheard of. I had been warned that students usually said little and self-disclosure was even less likely. It is not common within German culture and not encouraged.

On that first day Steffi Langer-Kool, a friend and colleague, was able to participate and we chose a team teaching approach. Steffi is a graduate of social work from Coburg University, but speaks excellent English (Australian!) after significant periods studying and working in Australia. She also recently completed her thesis, with the highest of grades, on the topic of social work and Indigenous Australians.

Introducing reflective learning approaches

We had decided to use the story 'Background to Silence' from The Harveys to demonstrate reflective learning approaches and, after introducing ourselves, outlined the structure of the three days and the assessment task. The students were relieved to have Steffi as an interpreter and to know she would be leading a session later that day. in German!

Out with the Strength Cards; it was time to get the group talking together-and to me. I needed to understand better the people with whom the coming days would be shared. I asked the students to spread the cards across the floor in the centre of the room. They looked amazed and were immediately intrigued. No one had ever asked them to introduce themselves through describing a strength they brought to their learning. The yellow English-German dictionaries (something of a 'standard issue', I discovered) emerged from bags and backpacks. They were to be regularly consulted, though much less so by Day Three. The introductions were made with a warmth and humour that increased as the day proceeded. The students then collected the corresponding sticker for their learning journal and wrote something about their strengths.

Later that morning I read The Wrong Stone to the class and we discussed the core messages that students felt could be related to social work. This was a first step to using the practice-based stories.

Emotional restraint evaporates

After the lunch break I read them 'Background to Silence' and a long silence followed. Then the emotional restraint evaporated. Any tendency to 'after lunch drift' dissolved and, together with Steffi, the class participated in exploring the story and then the history and issues of concern to Indigenous Australians. They had discovered a new purpose for acquiring knowledge. Knowledge could give them understanding and contributed to developing their ideas about social problems as well as about themselves.

Next morning they eagerly spread the Angels With Attitude cards on the floor and selected one that represented an aspect of themselves that had changed since the commencement of the seminar. This brought forth both humorous and serious reflections that were first shared with a partner and then with the class. Some important stories emerged. One student found her energy for studying had returned, another had discovered that she was able to think more deeply about issues, and a third person reported seeing things from different points of view. They collected the matching sticker and wrote corresponding notes in their learning journals that were, by now, several pages long.

That afternoon the class dispersed for individual investigation of some aspect of either 'Background to Silence' or 'Inside Anna' (another story from The Harveys). When we reconvened on Friday morning, at what still seemed to me like the crack of dawn, all 22 students were bubbling with the new information they had found. The contributions were a rich mix of topics together with personal responses and reflections on the knowledge acquired. We shared statistics on divorce and on child abuse, and discussed the implications for social work. We shared information on child development issues, discussed punishment and rehabilitation issues for people who commit offences, debated the issues of guilt and responsibility for social problems, and reflected on what we felt and thought about such things.

Shared learning transcends barriers

At the close of the final session the spare stickers had vanished along with copies of St Luke's catalogues and newsletters. The learning journals were handed in and I collected up the last of the evaluative comments on the Insight Cards. In three days our class had become a little community of reflective learners and it was hard to say good bye to people who had been so willing to work together across the barriers of culture, language and background. And from reading the learning journals I suspect it is unlikely our time learning together will be quickly forgotten. It certainly won't be forgotten by me.

By Jennifer Lehmann, Lecturer in Social Work,

La Trobe University, Bendigo

The Harveys in Review and the Classroom

When the author shared drafts of The Harveys and Other Stories they impressed with the breadth of issues they touched on, their potential to raise questions and trigger insights. They allow the reader to glimpse the inner worlds of many of the characters, and they point at the same time to the realities of structure and culture which in many ways enhance or constrain everyday life and which lay the tracks on which we act out our choices on life's journey. Their potential as a teaching aid for budding human service practitioners was also apparent and we took advantage of this by sharing them with our second year social work class of 2002.

The subject area was one which explored human development, social diversity, and issues of deviance and disadvantage. Students were asked to read the stories and choose one as a basis for discussing their learning from the course. Their comments reflected the thought-provoking nature of the stories and much arousal of interest. One remarked that on reaching the end of them she felt hungry for more. Each story it seems stretches the imagination, invokes a range of feelings and raises a host of questions about how one could or should respond to the circumstances, attitudes and actions of the characters. Collectively they touch on an array of human emotions, of both extreme and subtle forms. They canvas a range of life stages from childhood to ageing as well as a number of other aspects of diversity including, gender, race, socio-economic status, sexual orientation, health and mental health. Within these there are examples of life on the margin, the challenging of norms and in two instances the escalation of events to the point of murder and its aftermath.

Issues of social structure, organisational life and socio-political context also appear in poignant observations of the dynamics within families, friendships, the work place and local communities. There is an Australian flavour in the context and some leaning toward rural and country town environments. There is a strong consciousness of the significance of time and distance in people's lives and many pointers to the many facets of communication, including the lack of it in some instances, and the distortion of it for various ends.

'The Idea of this Book' from The Harveys and Other Stories

'The stories in this collection are based on personal and professional experiences associated with the practice of social work in the human services field. They are drawn from conversations, observations and reflections on the richness and diversity of human character and its interface with our social expectations and structures. While the stories have similarities to real life situations-and the reader may form the impression that they know one or more of the characters-there is little resemblance, if any, to real people. And yet the nature of the people and events are real in the sense that we are able to relate to their experiences and identify the truth inherent in the situations they face.

'The purpose of developing this collection of stories was to generate another means for students and practitioners in the human services sector to develop their reflective learning capacities. The ideologies we use to interpret the stories provide opportunities to explore many issues including the influences of our own socialisation, social structures and lifestyle choices. The stories are designed to complement other strategies and techniques for learning and reflection that lead to improved professional practices.

'These stories have been used with various groups of students over a number of years, particularly those studying welfare practice and social work. This led to the decision to use the stories in a more formal way and, as a result, they were trialed as tools for both teaching and assessment with Bachelor of Social Work students at La Trobe University in 2002. The comments and feedback from staff and students were encouraging, with students commenting that the stories were particularly useful because they were: 'grounded in reality', 'close to the real thing' and 'interesting and enjoyable'. In addition, the students indicated that the stories offered imagery that tends to be excluded from case studies, and engaged the reader both intellectually and emotionally.

'Following the stories is a section containing notes for teachers and those interested in using this tool as an individual reflective learner. The questions and commentary are intended to assist in reflective explorations at a number of levels. In a practical sense it is hoped that teachers will find this material useful in tutorial sessions, discussion groups, or to promote debate on various issues relevant to professional practice. Individuals seeking to develop reflective learning skills should also find the notes a guide to examining their thoughts and feelings, values and attitudes to others and to complex life situations. Teaching staff are welcome to use the stories, questions and commentary (with due acknowledgement) for teaching and assessment purposes. I have found using these stories a useful tool that complements other techniques in the development of social analysis and reflection.'