As an educator, the author has taught elementary students, mentored in-service teachers, supervised preservice teachers, and taught undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral students. Regardless of the developmental range of learners or the content, the author's goal as an educator has been to promote creative and critical thinking by providing a learning platform for risktaking and freedom of expression--a formidable task considering the culture of standardization experienced in today's schools. The challenge: Instead of mundane instructional tactics, anesthetizing curriculum, and "only-one-right-answer" assessment instruments, flip, morph, or twist them to serve as stimuli for divergent and autonomous thinking. Pedagogically, for all levels of learners, storytelling serves the purpose of inciting personal meaning-making and trumps lecture as a vehicle for conveying ideas sans dictating ideals. Bottom line for many educators, storytelling is practical and an effectual way to share wisdom of experiences. To highlight instructional objectives and promote class dialogue with preservice teachers, the author often introduces or chases an instructional activity with personal anecdotes from lessons learned in the author's elementary teaching experience. A story entitled, "March of the Not-So-Perfect Penguins," that the author shared to stimulate critical thinking and discussion, and a "tongue-in-cheek" one-question multiple-choice quiz are presented.