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(A Story) can change the world

"Actors are agents of change. A film, a piece of theater, a piece of music,  or a book can make a difference. It can change the world." ~ Alan Rickman


Years ago I fell in love with Alan Rickman. I was in college and home for winter break and my mom forced all of her teenaged & young adult children to watch Truly, Madly, Deeply. I was hooked. A few years later, my brother and I would chronically watch Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves realizing it was a terrible film but relishing in Rickman's wit and talent. He went on to play Colonel Brandon in Sense and Sensibility - my favorite of Jane Austen's impressive body of work. And while I was a fan long before Alan Rickman became Professor Snape, his role as Snape appealed to my inner nerdy teacher. Professor Snape was demanding and exacting, but he really knew his stuff.

I love what Alan Rickman had to say about the power of storytelling to create change. Looking back at his body of work, both the sublime and the ridiculous, I can identify things within each story that helped me to see things in a new light or adjust my thinking in some way.


As educators, we seek to change the world. We have many avenues through which we try to accomplish this change. Some of our "interventions" are "data-driven" or "researched based." But it is important to keep in mind the truth in Rickman's statement. Stories and the people who tell them, can change the world.  And we must let them. We must create opportunities for students to hear stories and to tell them. To act in theater and to watch. To perform music and to hear it be performed. To read books and to write them.


Always.



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