My mom was one of the very first Head Start teachers on the reservation, and she always worked with three year olds. I would visit her in the classroom, and without warning, she'd walk out, leaving me with 15 preschoolers.
Out of desperation, I would tell them a legend and teach them the song and dance that went with it. It wasn't until much later I realized my mom was forcing me to use the Stories I had been taught.
Most recently I've worked with the National Science Foundation's Flagship Project, Synergy. I was asked to teach STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math)professors at over a dozen colleges how to use Storytelling to more effectively communicate complex concepts about technology to a general audience.
I currently live in Arizona, where our local college (South Mountain Community College) has one of the only Storytelling Institutes in the United States, where one can be certified as a storyteller.