RES 5530: Race, Class, and Gender in Literacy Research (Spring 2009)

Perry’s research demonstrates the importance of giving students an opportunity to write for authentic purposes. The Sudanese refugees experienced horrific events that they needed to share. Perry’s findings showed that the students she interviewed felt compelled to share their story to inform the world of the atrocities happening in Sudan and to persuade others to help. But I wonder if the telling of the story was also a way to process, understand, and accept all that they had been through. I hope so.

Last year I read a book by Ishmael Beah called A Long Way Gone, Memoirs of a Boy Soldier. Ishmael became a soldier in Sierra Leone at the age of twelve. He described in detail the horrible things he first endured and then participated in as a soldier. Like the boys in Perry’s article, he too shared his story with the United Nations because he felt compelled to try and help his country. He also recognized that there is healing in the telling.

Perry’s article reminded me of another group in history who found a need and way to tell their story to the world: African Americans in the Harlem Renaissance. After surviving slavery, war, migration north, and much discrimination they told their story through poems, plays, paintings, music and drama. Like the boys from Sudan, the writing had purpose and relevance to them. This prolific cultural period produced some of our country’s greatest literary, musical, and artistic works.

We all have stories. Whether students write to entertain, inform, persuade or heal their stories have purpose and meaning. Educators must allow their students opportunities to read and write for authentic purposes.

Jayne Thompson

I had a few thoughts while reading this article about acculturation versus assimilation. It seemed that these boys had acculturated and not assimilated, which is a positive thing. When one assimilates, he or she just becomes like the others in the culture. But when one acculturates, that person retains the old culture while taking on elements of the new. These boys truly wanted to hang onto their native culture, even though it had caused them pain.

They were able to transform something (storytelling) in order to retain it in America. I found it interesting that their storytelling was very much done in community, like that in Latin America. Are Americans the only ones who think everything is an individual task??

Just as in the Noll article, literacy was important to these youth. It gave them power and a voice. I think because of their age, they were more easily able to recognize this. Another connection I made between these two articles is that the youths were more than willing to write for authentic purposes and for an authentic audience. The problem was not that they could not read or write, but finding the right motivation and the authentic task.

Finally, we cannot force kids to write about painful things. Oftentimes they do, and tell us more than we want to know. We can use those stories as windows to their lives and passions.

Ashley Catlett

It was ironic for me to read this week’s assignment after a class discussion I had in one of my other classes this week. The professor talked about how much storytelling has faded in our culture. One of the students the researcher was interviewing made a comment about how he feels about storytelling in the refugee community in the U.S.: “People tell a lot of stories, but here, now, we don’t learn,” illustrates the tension Francis feels between the Sudanese community in Africa and the community of refugees in the U.S. and shows how he positions himself in relation to those communities. In addition, his words suggest the significance of the change in storytelling over time”

My professor asked us how far back we could remember about specific details of family members, for instance great great grandmothers. It was neat to hear the discussions that were in the class because some students’ parents told them stories at bedtime instead of reading, and vice-versa. And with this discussion in mind, I couldn’t help to think as I was reading about the wars in Sudan that these boys most likely did not hear a book read to them at night or hear a story as they were trying to hide and escape the kidnappings.

This idea made me think about how different students life’s can be and the environment they grow in can vary so dramatically. Student’s language is not the only aspect that can bring diversity in the class. I think about students as they leave school. What situations do they face at home? Is it pleasant, or harmful? Someone was a teacher for the 7,000 young boys that escaped who attended the schools within the camps. And later in 2000, the students who were saved attended local high schools. This description of the nights some of these kids faced stands out to me: In the weeks and months of their journeys, traveling mostly at night to avoid being bombed from the air or captured by ground troops, lions were a constant threat. The boys began to form close-knit groups, a new sense of family following the loss of their own. They traveled across Saharan desert, into jungles, over mountains and through swamps—all studded with land mines. Think about the background knowledge these students would bring to class and the stories they could tell! No wonder the author/researcher was introduced in the community with the rationale: “She lived in Africa, so she understands”. But I think more importantly, she listened to their stories and I need to ask myself…do I listen to the “stories” students are telling me enough?

After I posted last night, I was watching Good Morning America and wanted to share about one of their stories...

Did any of you guys hear the discussion on Good Morning America this morning (Friday). About how President Obama and his wife are using language a new language to communicate a new message. Mrs. Obama was delivering a speech and at the end, she was asked questions. One of the questions she was asked was (I couldn't remember word for word) "how did you get to the point you are?" Mrs. Obama responded that in school she was identified by her peers as "talking white", but that she was getting A's. GMA only showed clips of her speech and interviewing at the end, and would flip back and forth to President Obama and Mrs. Obama. They discussed a few other things, like his language during his speech. I couldn't catch it all but I thought some of you might like to know about it, I'm sure you could find it on the GMA website. Maybe use it as a discussion in class, I've noticed in the critiques how some of ya'll are doing that.

Elizabeth Griffin

I was so excited to see that this article was about Sudanese refugees since I recently read a book called They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky by two refugees themselves. It was a powerful story (you should check out the book if you ever get a chance!) I appreciated the chance to think about the literacy side of these refugees' stories. When reading the book, I was wrapped up in the struggles overcome by the boys, by their lives and the stories they had to tell. Looking back now, I realize that I did experience their literacy. Weren't they telling their stories to me in the form of a book? Weren't they expressing thoughts, emotions, and experiences in a storytelling format? Absolutely!

Which got me to thinking...when did the art of oral storytelling transform into the written word? When (and why?) did various cultures suddenly decide that the stories told should become the stories written? And why has the written word overtaken the spoken word? Storytelling is a lost art and something that is now rare to find. There are storytelling festivals all over this country, and the mere existence of them show that it is not a common occurrence--there have to be festivals to even bring them to the public's attention.

Storytelling in general has always fascinated me because it is the original form of literacy. What can be more simple than telling a story? It's so primitive and ancestral. No matter what your culture, you can bet that, in the beginning, it all started with a story. We are all linked by the fact that our cultures have storytelling at their beginnings. African, European, Asian, Hispanic, and Indian cultures all have storytelling roots. These Sudanese refugees were linked by their stories, and it was what they brought to this country to remind them of their past. The following quote by Bok sent shivers down my spine: "My story...was all I had with me, the only remnant of my past." This is more powerful than any written word, than any book. What do these refugees have if they don't have their stories?

I would really love to start utilizing the art of writing and telling stories in my classroom. Do any of you use storytelling in your classroom? How have you done it and have you found it effective? I'd love to hear some of your ideas!

-Christy Rivers

This article touched me on so many levels. First, I am beginning to write my rough draft of my own action research paper, so I was very attuned to the mechanics of the paper - the layout and the specifics of each section. On this front, the thought that kept running through my mind was- I have to write a paper like this? Oh, no! However, those thoughts didn't stay in my head very long because I was soon contemplating the horror of the people of the southern Sudan. Let me take just a second to say that I am thankful I was born here in America. My life has been one of ease compared to so many around the world. I have traveled some, but my husband has been to over 40 different countries on five different continents, and when he talks about the things he has seen, I know I am truly blessed to be an American. What these three young men have seen and lived through is truly terrible yet I am thankful that they are willing to share their stories with the world. Chol's autobiography left out the horrors I believe he has experienced, but perhaps one day he will elaborate.
I liked the Wortham reference on page 323, that autobiographical stories can illustrate the ways in which a storyteller makes sense of the world. I had never thought of it quite like that before. But often writing is done to help us make sense of our world. What I found surprising was Heath's ethnographic study of literacy (page 325) where he found differences in a white working class community and a black working class community in the way each community enacted storytelling and that those in black community differed greatly from formal education. Those two groups are represented in many of our schools today.
I enjoyed reading about the contrasts in storytelling and literacy, about how stories connect generations and communities. The differences in oral and written storytelling, the purpose in tradtion and culture. I believe I enjoyed this reading more than any of the others. Although like so many of the others, it makes me think a little more than I did before.
SuSu Watson

This article was really interesting to read. It provided some insight as to how events and experiences help to mold and shape personal responses and lives. The Sudan, like many cultures before written language was developed, relied heavily on oral story telling to teach the culture and values of their tribe to the younger members. I can think of countless other cultures where this has been done, Native Americans, other African tribes, even Greek and Roman storytellers like Aesop. But, generally, as written language appeared, cultures began writing down stories and teachings in order to preserve their message. Now, as with the Sudan, these "lost boys" have begun to write, but not to preserve their culture, to remind it and the rest of the world of the horrors they have seen and experienced.
Think of how many other wonderful pieces of literature have been created through these personal experiences. I myself am fascinated with survival stories of the Holocaust and the fact that survivors are courageous enough to share the experiences impact lives. I was glad to read that one of the "lost boys" was going to write an autobiography. Yes, they may feel like they are "not learning" but that is so not true. They are meerely taking their learning to a different place then they had historically been exposed to. If anything, their new found voices will impact no just future Dinka, but hundreds of other cultures worldwide with their stories.
I really loved to that these refugees valued literacy so much. In all cases, the young men knew the importance of learning to read and write. They went on to become wonderful successful participants in a society that was not culturally theirs. And they also helped to bring culture to America by sharing their experiences.

Whitney Gilbert

As usual, the first thing to catch my eye with regards to any reading is a quote. This was also true with this reading. The moment I finished reading and processing the quote from Ochs and Capps (2001), I was engaged in the meaning of this quote. It was as follows.

“Human beings narrate to remember, instill cultural knowledge, grapple with a
problem, rethink the status quo, soothe, empathize, inspire, speculate, justify a
position, dispute, tattle, evaluate one’s and others’ identities, shame, tease, laud,
entertain, among other ends” (p. 60).

I found myself thinking of all the stories I have ever told and all the stories my children have told me. I try to place them into one of these categories. Amazingly enough, these really are the reasons we narrate. I have told stories to give others knowledge, to help myself process situations in life, to entertain others, to justify my position on a number of issues, and to do almost every other thing on this list.

However, usually we consider stories and narrating as writing. We ask our students to write almost every day. How often do we really consider that sometimes important stories can be told by simply telling. Perhaps, a child will tell a better story talking without worrying about his hand getting sore or where the next period goes in the sentence. I began to consider, really consider, the usefulness in storytelling for children. It especially reminded me of the struggles my ELL students face. At times, they can't find the words to say to tell a story, yet we expect them to write a story. Imagine being in a new culture, using a new language, and be expected to write a story using proper mechanics to a prompt that you may have no idea what it means. This is the situation some of our students are faced with almost daily.

Storytelling could also be an interesting way to build community in the classroom. As I was reading, I was already anxious to do this again one morning. Oh the stories students always have to tell. Anyone who has ever been around elementary children for long knows that these kids have plenty of stories to tell, and they actually like to hear stories from others. My students actually beg me to share a story or two from my childhood every Friday at the end of the day. They sit entranced as I talk about my sisters and I and our many trips to time out and even the hospital. They have laughed with me, and we have been saddened by the stories of our classmates. Overall, I believe storytelling is powerful. It can easily be fit into the day simply by having kids write FREE DAY journal entries and sharing them. The stories are always much better when they share them!

Brittany Guy

As I was reading this article, I was intrigued by the shift these young men had to make with storytelling. In their home community, storytelling was an oral form. As they shifted to the camp and on to America, they were "forced" to become literate. I say forced because they knew being literate meant power. And power for these young men was incredibly important. It meant freedom. Also, the example of the message board board indicates why becoming literate was essential.

It seems as though they thought they had no choice but to become literate. One said that it was important for the oral stories to be written down so that others could find them and read them if they were from the same community. Tradition and history are important to them as it identified who they were and what they came from.

After reading an article, I always think of ways I can use it in my classroom. This article confirmed what I already believe to be true. Students lives must be a part of their literacy. Without connections learning is meaningless. Oral story telling is also incredibly important. So often we get wrapped up in the whole writing process that we forget the beauty of telling stories orally. Today I listened to one of my students use a voice for a stuffed polar bear I have in my room. Her imaginative play was a way of storytelling. It was nice to hear her talk about why he wasn't cold (because of his fur and thick skin) and why he was brave. She may have just been "playing" but that was her way of connecting her knowledge.

In another course, we talked about creating "camp fires" for classes to sit around and tell stories. I think this social interaction is essential. Students need to learn how to speak to one another, in addition to learning how to write an amazing piece of work in 45 minutes.

Sarah Feinman

This article helped me see myself in a new light. I am a border patrol agent. I am constantly on the lookout to see who is going to cross over into my country. My role is a bit different than the agents currently on patrol between the U.S. and Mexico. See, I practice open borders, and welcome anyone coming in from a foreign land. Which, when I look around the desks in my classroom, I do not recognize any natives.
Early in the article, those two words"border-crossing" have stuck with me all week. This term refers to the process of "importing and exporting practices from different contexts." This is how a child's literacy is influenced, shaped, grown. It is not based on just one environment or one circumstance, but a fluid movement between the many environments, circumstances, and experiences one has. Visitation to new territories is encouraged, passports are not required, there is freedom to move about these new lands. The gentlemen in this article bear witness to this. They traveled through dangerous places, encountered the enemy, lost those close to them, and settled in a new environment with purpose. They took all their eyes, ears, and minds had witnessed and desired to share it with the rest of us. These young lads were experimenting with their voice and the result is profound. Their stories of survival, of tradition, and of identity are powerful. This is what I would like to witness in my classroom. The power of storytelling, relating to others the experiences of life. Perhaps I will not have a refugee from a war torn country, but I may have a child from a ravaged home life, or a painfully shy child waiting for an outlet to express all that is tucked so deeply down inside.
I love this article and how it is knit to the others we have read, examined, and sought to embrace in our own classrooms. Again, it testifies to the power of our words. Chol, Ezra, and Francis may have been termed "lost boys" because of the painful experiences of their life in Africa. However, they have certainly found what to do with those memories. They tell others what they endured. They bring into the light the atrocities of darkness, the traditions of their ancestors, and the hope for future generations.
It's time to hold a festival! A storytelling festival! Let's allow our children to practice their voice, to share orally and in written form the events of their lives. If we allow their experiences from all the borders they cross to be heard and read we are building a strong foundation for literacy. There is no worry of deportment, everyone is welcome, no story is too small too tell. Let's fill our classrooms with the stories of the travelers that have crossed our borders; sought to stay and discover the treasures our land has to offer.
Stefoni Shaw

As I read this week’s article I was reminded of several different experiences that I have had over the past several years. The first thing that came to mind was a conversation I has with my grandmother this past Christmas. Our family has been going through a difficult time so any time we spend together has taken on a new level of importance for me. As I visited with my grandmother, she began to tell me stories of her time as a child in Germany. She literally came alive as she told me of her grandmother and how hard she worked to take care of her and their family. I couldn’t help but be a little upset with myself as I listened to her because I realized that my grandmother has always told me stories but I wasn’t always willing to really hear them. Now I have this feeling of fear every time I finish a visit with my grandmother – will this be my last visit with her? Are those the last of the stories I will hear? I can tell that she wants me to know as much about her as possible. I’m her oldest grandchild and her youngest grandchild will be born in October, so in some ways I now see it as my responsibility, my honor, to carry on her memory when she does leave us.

This piece also reminded me of the power of purpose. When we teach our students to read and write for purpose, when we give meaning to the reading and writing that we ask them to do, our students engage in authentic, learning experiences. The Lost Boys learned to write and tell their students so that they could show the world what they lived through in the Sudan. They realized that through story they could encourage others to act on behalf of all those who were left behind. Our students have so many stories to tell. My hope is that none of them have stories as difficult as the Lost Boys, but no matter the hardships you have had, they are hardships all the same. Our students need to feel comfortable enough to share their stories and confident enough to know that their audience will appreciate the story they tell. I think this piece makes a nice connection with many of the other pieces we have read because it again stresses the importance of giving our students a chance to find their voice. In telling their own story, their voice is the voice that knows it best. It only takes one teacher to help a student open up and begin to share their story. Once the Lost Boys realized the power of their story, they used it to make a difference. They used it to educate our world so that there will be an end to genocide and hate. The used it because they had a little bit of hope that their voice telling their story just might make life better for someone else. In my opinion the story of the Lost Boys provides a perfect example of the power of literacy. It begins with words on the page and then we tell the story and it becomes an agent for change – I only hope that the Lost Boys continue to write and tell their stories and that more of us begin to listen.
Amie Snow

Wow, what a great article to read! I found it to be inspiring and a reality check. As I read I not only recognized the importance of storytelling in our classrooms, as well as the inspiration to motivate minority students through storytelling, writing, reading, etc. but it was also a reminder of how fortunate we are to live in a relatively safe country.

I think we all too often forget, especially when times get rough, that the issues we face are not all that devastating when you look at other countries and what they face every day for years upon years. I also think our children are not exposed or taught enough about the true trials and tribulations that are out there in our country, but especially in other countries. I loved that just a few weeks ago we had two teachers that had gone on a mission trip this year, hold an assembly to talk to the student body about the town they visited. They talked about and showed pictures the portrayed how life is for the children in this particular community. This community does not have running water so the school is raising money to send to their schools to help get them running water.

Personally, I never really thought about the power of using storytelling in the classroom. The participants in this article really emphasized the importance of it to their identity and culture. After reading this article I realized not only the influence it can have on all students but specifically for our minority students. It is a tool that can empower the most reluctant writers. Not only does it eliminate the barrier of having to write, but it can give students a chance to share their culture, history and traditions. It also gives the rest of the class a chance to learn stories, fables, etc. that may not be written in the books we have today. In addition, it heightens their listening skills and builds their memory. Emphasizing storytelling would not only offer an important way of passing along cultural and historical information, but it would also provide a meaningful context for literacy learning. Learning how to tell stories involves many of the same skills that we teach during reading but gives students another means to learn the content of the stories, as well as understanding that stories often contained morals or teaching points.

Amy Spade

This was my favorite reading thus far. The article presents, yet again, a new idea of literacy. Storytelling is, in my opinion, one of the great lost arts. I think that with the emergence of technology, oral traditions slowly started to disappear in the United States. Instead of listening to their parents tell wonderful stories about times past, kids play video games or watch T.V. This, in one aspect, connects to what Perry mentions in the article regarding the relationship between marginalized groups and oral traditions. He mentioned that, historically, groups that have been kept at a disadvantage often place more emphasis on oral tradition. As a very wealthy country, the United States (for the most part) has been one of the world leaders in technological advancement. While our children are interacting with this on a daily basis, kids in third world countries are not; therefore, they are often entertained by great stories. The Sudanese boys reiterated this point when they said that “...in Africa, there's not a lot of work, so people gather to tell stories.”

Historically, a great example of a marginalized group within the U.S. affected by this phenomenon is slaves. This first group of African immigrants kept their dignity and traditions alive through oral storytelling. Because most of them were forced to remain illiterate, they passed down stories of family and tragedy and hope through story.

Personally, I can fully relate to the importance of oral stories. Some of my fondest memories involving my grandparents revolve around tales that they shared with me. I learned a great deal in school about WWII, the Great Depression, and Vietnam; however, I never fully grasped the “reality” of it all until I heard about it from the perspective of a person who lived through it. For example, my grandfather would tell me about our country's immediate response to the attack on Pearl Harbor. He said that he remembered being out working in the fields when plane after plane would fly over—for two-three days at a time. These stories allowed me to “connect” to what I had learned. Also, like some of the African tribes, religious stories are an important part of my life—this is one area of my life today that storytelling still exists.

As for storytelling in the classroom, I believe that it creates a wonderful “diversified” learning environment. By creating their own narrative or drama on a topic, kids include bits and pieces of their lives. Recently, I had my seventh graders create a fictional narrative about time traveling to ancient China. They had to discuss which time periods they would travel to, what they would do, and who they would see. Aside from the basic elements that I wanted them to include, the kids stories were full of a variety of supplemental information. For example, I have several Asian children in my classes. They incorporated family religious traditions into various parts of their story (three of which have Buddhist traditions practiced in their homes; they are 2nd generation Americans).

Although I was already aware of the atrocities that have been taking place in Sudan over the past several years, the stories of these youth allowed me to fully connect to the young person's experience there. Hopefully, these boys voices will continue to be heard so that people across the world can personally connect to what is happening there.

Heather Coe

I was so excited to read this article! Last month I attended a seminar at the North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching and the topic was "Oral Storytelling". We spent a week discussing oral storytelling and the significant impact it could have on students if it was brought back into the classroom, especially for minority students. The most important thing that I took for this seminar is that everybody has a story and it's important to share our stories with one another. In this seminar, David Holt talked a lot about using storytelling to give minority students a voice in school since "generally speaking minority students are really underrepresented in the literacy part of education". Diffferent storytellers were brought in to illustrate the importance of storytelling and how to use it effectively in our classrooms and in our personal lives. We also practiced telling our own stories all week. We chose our favorite and story to share around the fire and not a soul could leave Cullowhee without typing that story out. They took our stories, combined them and made it a "class" book.

I'd already been thinking a lot about how to bring storytelling into my own classroom since the seminar, but reading this article has really inspired me to take stop thinking about bringing it and just do it. I know that my students would benefit so much from this opportunity to share their stories with one another. It's just one of those things were you know it would make for better quality writing, increased vocabulary, and could bring a sense of community. I also think about the impact storytelling would have on reading. Think about all of the text-to-self or text-to-world connections that would be made more often when a child reads a book. Comprehension just went through the roof, because if you can relate to something then you understand it better.

Ezra, Chol, and Francis have reminded me why we need to bring storytelling back. It provides more students that chance of exceling in the world of literacy.

I will always remember my grandmother’s seventy-fifth birthday. My mom and I were busy with last minute preparations before the rest of my dad’s family arrived when we heard music coming from the living room. Who was playing the piano? Since I was the only one in my family who played the piano, my mom and I exchanged puzzled looks and cautiously approached the living room door. I recognized the familiar form of my grandmother, but at that moment I realized she was a stranger. I had no idea my grandmother played the piano. And I was not alone—neither my dad nor his siblings knew until that day that my grandmother had taken piano lessons throughout her childhood. I thought my grandmother was from a very poor family. Surely they could not have afforded piano lessons? I remember wondering, “What’s the rest of Grandma’s story?” and deciding that I must know.

Perry referenced Salman Rushdie’s (2005) argument that becoming part of the family involves learning the family’s stories just as becoming part of a community necessitates learning the stories of that group (p. 323). I was not just shocked that my grandmother played the piano, I felt left out because I did not KNOW my grandmother’s story. I did not really know MY story. As we have discussed the importance of bringing children to voice and valuing their cultures, I have begun to realize that our children will not have anything to voice or value if they do not know their own stories. One of the most personally fulfilling assignments I have completed in graduate school was to write my own version of George Ella Lyon’s poem Where I’m From. As I evaluated why I found that assignment so gratifying, I concluded it was the empowerment I received from putting my life into words. I told my story. Perry states, “Because it reflects culture and shapes identity, storytelling embodies a powerful form of sense-making.” (p. 323). Our ability to be entertained by much more complex means than storytelling may have robbed us not just of creativity but of our ability to make sense of ourselves and the world in which we live.

On May 29, 2009, my grandmother will celebrate her 100th birthday. The song she played twenty-five years ago truly became a prelude to an interesting journey as I have learned my grandmother's story. She was not from a poor family. But she did, according to her parents, make the critical mistake of marrying "beneath" her. I began to make sense of this complex woman who never discussed her feelings or her past--the one who gave birth to thirteen children and washed diapers on a washboard for more than twenty-two consecutive years. Just as hers has not always been a fairy tale, the stories of my students will take many twists and turns. I want to look for authentic ways to allow my students the opportunity to tell their stories. I want them to see the value in passing on their own cultures. I want them to know that each has a story to tell.

Lisa Rasey