Perseverance can be defined as persisting or remaining constant to a purpose, idea, or task in the face of obstacles or discouragement. Perseverance is one of my favorite words in the dictionary and a theme that I strive to instill in my students. Perry’s research told the story of perseverance of “Lost Boys” who made a difficult journey on foot across Africa, and eventually settled in America. The article tells the story of the perseverance of Chol, Francis, and Ezra as they faced obstacles to adapt in a new culture, while holding on to their own cultural traditions and the role that literature (storytelling) played in their lives.
“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” (Perry, pg. 321). I believe this quote sums up the purpose of storytelling, which helped the boys persevere in times of change and in part reflects the goals of the boys as they shared their stories in America. Perry shares of Chol sharing his story of identity and receiving empathy from the audience, speaking that he was “lonely without my parents”. Ezra’s goal in sharing his story was to instill cultural knowledge about the refugees to others as he wrote for a newspaper. I concluded that the opportunity to share their stories helped the boys cope and further preserver as they adapted to a new life. It was a way to change, as they transformed storytelling, but also a way to remember who they “were” and traditional storytelling.
One can only imagine the stories that these refugees are able to tell? One can only imagine the stories are students are able to tell? Do our students tell stories as a way of coping with obstacles? It is vital that we allow students to talk to us. I have often had students come in with a frown on their face, and a look of desire to share what happened at home, or on the bus. When we are teaching a lesson, how many times do we say, “Please do not raise your hand, unless you have a question about the directions?”. We try to avoid numerous hands raised that are anxious to tell stories related to the lesson taught. I admit that I am guilty of avoiding students who are dying to share their stories aloud (typically there is always one student who will talk forever). However, we love to tell our own stories, to encourage students to think about the lesson. The stresses of time and fulfilling teaching standards (including state tests) during the day prevent us from taking quality time to allow students to “talk” and share their stories. Sharing and teaching lessons is a major part of the school day for teachers, but what if we also allotted time to listen? How would this change the classroom environment? As teachers, we want our students to listen to what we have to say, so shouldn’t we listen to what our students have to say? In a previous graduate class, the professor stressed the importance of the connection between talking and writing. For many students, when assessing their writing abilities, it is important to first listen to the child tell the story that they are planning to write. This allows the teacher to discover if the child has “book language”. This year I learned that one of my students’s reading abilities encompassed her ability to tell a story but struggled with the mechanics of writing, therefore I would often use dictations when having her write a story. I also observed a major difference in my students’ writing when I would ask them to “tell” their story to a partner before they began writing their story.
After reading the article, I have found a new appreciation for storytelling and plan to implement it in the classroom. A common theme throughout the articles read in this course is the importance of taking time to truly know your students, discovering their culture, and allowing them to have a voice in the classroom through reading, writing, and sharing their stories. As teachers, we hope to preserver throughout the school year to adapt to the changes in education, and making our students and their stories our first priority.
Katie Johnson
Comments (4)
Katie- perseverance is an awesome word that we as teachers fulfill the meaning of each day when we return to our classrooms, facing the challenges of each new day, striving to meet the needs of each of our students. To instill in our students the importance of education in their lives demands our perseverance for sure.
I completely agree with you about the stories our students could tell us if we took the time to listen to them. It has been my experience that students will tell all the good, bad, and ugly. They are so innocent and often unaware that some of the things they are sharing should be shared in private conversations and not openly. I have had several instances of a student telling of domestic violence in their homes and several other students joined right in and told similar stories before I could get them to stop. It can be so heartbreaking to know of the difficulties our students must face but none seems as extreme as the Lost Boys in this article. I imagine if given the opportunity I would love to hear them tell their stories. This article helped me see the need to allow more time to hear my student’s stories and to help them learn to transform those oral stories to stories on paper.
Posted by Tracy Icenhour | June 17, 2010 9:48 AM
Posted on June 17, 2010 09:48
Katie,
Your post hit home for me! I am very guilty of not allowing my students enough talk time in class. I have gotten better each year, but as the year goes on and I see the end of the year approach and all that we need to accomplish, I power thourgh and force the kids to sit and listen to me. I can think of countless times I have cut a child off while talking, or told someone to put their hand down. I would try and do it in the nicest way, but how nice is it really when I tell them I just don't have time to hear them. Yikes!
Forming bonds with kids has been a foundation of my classroom management, yet if I don't allow them to talk, how is that bond being developed?
Seeing the imapct storytelling and basic talking can have on literacy development is critical and should be a staple of all lessons.
I always allowed my ESL students more talk time and would advicate for rthat by saying, they need it, they need to develop their language skills. Hello! Good teaching is just good teaching, why did I allow that for ronly ESL students,and not everyone. The article has caused me to be reflective on my practices and I am looking forward to the changes that come from it.
Michael Lemke
Posted by Michael Lemke | June 17, 2010 11:15 AM
Posted on June 17, 2010 11:15
Many children are needy and it can be difficult to stop and listen to a drawn out story. I am reflecting back on some of my own comments to those needy children: “I would love to hear about that, talk to me at break or lunch”, then I get busy at lunch and forget to come back and talk to them. Yes, sometimes I feel terrible about this, but I must press on. We do have to maintain a schedule and prepare our students for the EOG’s, but we must not forget that they are talkative little creatures. One way that I have been able to work through this is by using “think, pair, and share” (part of a balanced literacy approach). At the beginning of the year I teach them that they need to think about what they want to say, turn to their partner and share and listen and finally I ask for someone to share with the whole group. The first few years that I tried this it seem to take up too much of our time, so now I use a timer. Another strategy for letting student talk is paired reading. Pairs of students may read together and discuss connections. One of their favorite times during the week is when I say “grab a partner, a book and read”. We all want to feel important or special, to feel like we are understood, some students are able to achieve this through writing and others just want to talk. Thank you for sharing your ideas.
Elizabeth Achor
Posted by Elizabeth Achor | June 17, 2010 3:37 PM
Posted on June 17, 2010 15:37
Guilty! I am that…As I sit here and read your critique, I can think of times where I sat in my classroom and wanted to tell a child, “Get on with it already.” When students are taking the time to tell a story in class it is often their way of relating to that story on a personal level. This is ultimately what we want our students to do on their own. I need to remind myself that even through these mini-story telling sessions that students are making those connections.
Perseverance is the greatest compliment that you could pay to these young men. Making through the persecution of their own native country and to learning new customs of American, these three young men have already had to live through more hardships than most of us have had in our lifetimes. Through their experiences we have gained new knowledge and new stories to help us better understand the unrest in Sudan and other countries.
Posted by Angela Steele | June 18, 2010 10:54 AM
Posted on June 18, 2010 10:54