A Tale of an Exemplary Tale in the Classroom: An Accidental Inquiry of the Restoration of Beauty

This “accidental” research project looks at the use of a case story as a pedagogical foundation for teaching narrative therapy in a master's level course in the University of Denver's International Disaster Psychology program (MAIDP). Case study is here utilized primarily to document process, methodology, and approach of the practitioner. A survey of students involved suggests that by using this practice, the pedagogy emerged serendipitously rather than as a preplanned part of the curriculum. The findings provide support for this style of pedagogy, and the summary of steps taken offers educators a roadmap to utilize if they wish to replicate this process in their own classrooms. Moreover, this article was authored in the spirit of co-research between those facilitating the class and those positioned as the learners. It contains both pre and post reflections in an effort to show how the pedagogy impacted the learners’ knowledge of, and relationship with, narrative.