Storytelling Is Not Improvisation (And Teachers Need to Hear That)

Let me start with a confession: I love creativity. I really do. Joy and creativity are two of my core values, and if you’ve spent more than five minutes on That Is Evil, you’ve probably noticed. I like stories. I like absurdity. I like playing with language until it squeaks. This is precisely why the current obsession with the word creativity makes me, pardon my French, pissed. Like, the word is everywhere, in job ads, in teacher trainings… oh, and in motivational speeches delivered by people who clearly haven’t taught five lessons in a row on a Wednesday.

Be creative has become the educational equivalent of thoughts and prayers: vague, well-meaning, and completely unhelpful. Worse still, I keep meeting teachers who quietly confess that they would love to try storytelling, but they’re scared they’re not creative enough. And, darlings, I find it absolutely heartbreaking.

A Bit of Heresy

Let’s get one thing straight. Creativity is not a personality trait, a moral virtue, or a magical substance you either possess or tragically lack. Creativity is a tool. And like all tools, it works best when it has:

• a purpose,
• a shape,
• and very clear instructions.

Storytelling, despite its reputation, is not chaos. It is not improvisational theatre (fair enough: not always; and it’s OK to hate impro theatre. I love storytelling and yet don’t share the impro theatre vibe). It is also not just let the students express themselves and see what happens. Storytelling is structure in disguise – the more you read on the topic, the more you realise that (although some approaches do get outdated, and I’m looking at you, the followers of Joseph Campbell!). The most common elements stories rely on repetition, predictable patterns or cause and effect. Thus, I encourage you to see structure as something that not only does not kill creativity, but stops it from becoming pointless chaos.

So now, instead of worshipping creativity let’s try to use some structure to tame it and make it grow the way it would be educationally beneficial. Pretty much like dealing with plants – in order to have impressive and lush greenery we need to trim it and give it structure.

From Structure to Storytelling: 7 Sensible (and Slightly Evil) Activities

Below are seven activities that will guide you into storytelling mode safely, logically, and reassuringly. No one is being told to just be creative, just encouraged by some casual questions that guide them gently towards a story.

1. Sentence Skeletons
Students complete fixed patterns, e.g.:
Every day, ___ did ___.
One day, ___ didn’t.
You now have a story and no forced creativity!

2. The Three-Box Method
Box one: describe normal life.
Box two: something goes wrong.
Box three: consequences.
Stories love boxes. Teachers love boxes. Cats love boxes. Everyone wins.

3. Story by Numbers
Ask students to write five numbered sentences with specific functions:
1 Introduce the character
2 Describe routine
3 Break the routine
4 Reaction
5 Ending

4. Because / But / So Stories
Each sentence must include one connector. First, serve grammar, then add drama!

5. Story Dice (With Rules, Obviously)
Dice decide content (take a look at my old post on StoryCubes). Structure decides length, order, and survival.

6. Collective Skeleton, Individual Flesh
Build one story structure together, and then ask students to personalise within it. Safety first, creativity second.

7. The Ending Comes First
Students write the ending (or you provide it to make the activity even more structured). Then they work backwards using logic, not inspiration. Stories enjoy knowing where they’re going.

A Kinder Way Into Storytelling

If you’ve ever thought heresies like I’m not creative enough for this, This looks great online but terrifying in real life or I prefer structure and that must mean I’m doing it wrong… here’s what I can tell you: storytelling is a bit like walking. I know that listening to great stories makes you feel frustrated, but we all start with baby steps. Then we grasp the idea of stability, and before you know it, we’re off to the races!

What’s important is that you don’t need to be creative all the time, but you need structures to help you navigate safely within the story. And if it appears slowly? My dear, you know: that’s how learning works.

Want More (Naturally You Do)?

If this way of thinking feels like relief rather than another expectation, let me know, as I’d love to hear from you. Follow That Is Evil on social media, take a tour of the blog for more structured mischief, and obviously – subscribe to the newsletter!

You’ll get:

• storytelling ideas without creative guilt
• lessons that work even on a Thursday afternoon
• and a free lesson plan designed for teachers who prefer clarity over chaos

And again, repeat after me: creativity does not need worship.
I, however, might 😉