Dual-Enrollment: The Art of Storytelling + Storytelling in Creative Writing

The BHSC Dual-Enrollment Program is excited to offer a paired combination of co-requisite classes rolled into one BHSC dual-credit class: The Art of Storytelling and Storytelling in Creative Writing are offered through a partnership with The Academy at Houston Christian University (HCU).

Professor Bearden Coleman is excited to teach The Art of Storytelling (NARR 2200) and Storytelling in Creative Writing (WRIT 2100). The Art of Storytelling (NARR 2200) is two-unit college class offering an overview and survey of storytelling across multiple mediums, from ancient oral tradition to modern video games. Storytelling in Creative Writing (WRIT 2100) is a one-unit co-requisite that provides students opportunities to apply the principles developed in Art of Storytelling to specific creative writing projects.

This 3-unit class combo will explore the role storytelling plays in culture and help train students in the development and presentation of stories. (Recommended as a full year of Literature & Composition high school credit in addition to the 3 units of college credit awarded by HCU—2 units for The Art of Storytelling, NARR 2200, and 1 unit for Storytelling in Creative Writing, WRIT 2100.)

The Art of Storytelling and Storytelling in Creative Writing classes combine as paired co-requisite narrative arts courses offered through the Narrative Arts program (formerly “Cinema, Media Arts & Writing”) and is a freshman-level requirement for students majoring in degrees in the area of cinematic arts, digital media, and/or creative writing.

Professor Coleman has written about film, music, adoption, and running for Image Journal, Christianity Today, World Magazine, and Christ and Pop Culture.  His research is concerned with the relationship between the film experience and religious experience. He is particularly interested in helping students grapple with the way their convictions transform the building blocks of their respective disciplines—whether that is film or the written word. When he is not spending time with his wife and two daughters, Professor Coleman is training for his next marathon, hoping to one day break three hours.

The Art of Storytelling and Storytelling in Creative Writing will be offered over the entire 2023–24 BHSC school year, so the pacing will be much more relaxed than taking an equivalent class at a college or university. Instead of the 3-unit college class combo lasting one semester, the same class combo is offered at BHSC over the full year, August through May.

The class combo will be offered on Fridays, 9:25 to 10:40 a.m. in 2023–24.