What a wonderful story of strength and courage about the Lost Boys of the Sudan! I think sometimes we dismiss storytelling as a lesser form of literacy than reading and writing, but this article proves to us just how important it is. Without storytelling, where would the Lost Boys be?
These boys are fortunate to be sandwiched in-between traditional and transformed storytelling. They are fortunate because they have learned about their past through traditional storytelling and are educating others about their journeys through transformed storytelling. They use both forms of storytelling to sort out who they are, where they’ve been, and where they are going. Storytelling for these boys is a form of therapy. It allows them to express their feelings and educate others about the strife in their native country. While telling their stories they are educating others, learning English and how the language works mechanically. Although they believed English was a language of empowerment, they still needed to know their own languages in order to preserve their histories.
When I ask my students to write memoirs, they inevitably say they do not know what to write or how to write it. I tell them to write what they would say. It is a struggle for many to get the thought from their head to come out the end of the pencil, but isn’t writing merely talking through a pencil? I think if we focused more on their content and less on the mechanics during the initial writing process our students would stop saying they don’t know what to write. We need to teach our students how to tell a story first and then clean up the mechanics of it. I don’t know about you, but when I read something my comments are on the content, not the grammar. I say "What a great story!" When I help my students with their writing, I help them with content – making sure it flows in order, details are provided, and explanations are given. I want my students to be storytellers first and writers second.
And aren’t we storytellers everyday in the classroom? We use stories to enhance our lessons. We tell stories about our families, previous students, and local cultures. One story alive and well in my school is the fact it is haunted. The kids love hearing the ghost stories of our own school and the Indian ghosts haunting it. The Lost Boys article teaches us how powerful and educational storytelling can be and that we should not dismiss it as a lesser form of literacy.
Jennifer wagoner
Comments (5)
Jennifer,
What do you do about students with grammar and/or spellings so atrocious that you can't make sense of the content? Obviously, you teach children older than my pre-kindergartners so I don't have as good of a grasp of that as those with experience working with older kids. I am also asking this question because I was always one who did well with grammar and spelling. It was not something with which I struggled.
I agree with your comment about teachers being storytellers each day in our classrooms. Some of the things my kids remember most are when I use a story to teach a lesson. When we are talking about Pilgrims in November, I usually tell a story, as opposed to reading from a book. I try to be very dramatic in the telling of the story. This year, when we reached Valentine's Day, I was again telling a story about the history behind Valentine's Day and how (supposedly) the king/emperor told St. Valentine that he had to stop marrying couples in the church. One of my students made a connection and said, "That's like when the king was telling the Pilgrims they had to go to church like he wanted." I was impressed how this child could make this connection after several months. I don't know that this would have happened without the use of storytelling.
Clyde Rice
Posted by Clyde Rice | June 16, 2010 2:12 PM
Posted on June 16, 2010 14:12
I have the same thought and try to model it for my children: writing is telling a story with your pencil. Don't worry if you can't spell a word yet, just get your story down. When I conference with them, we add in some of the details and fix some of the mechanics but we do it like "come sit on my lap." Very nonthreatening and with understanding that we are still learning how to do things.
Posted by christy findley | June 16, 2010 6:11 PM
Posted on June 16, 2010 18:11
Jennifer,
You made several very great points in your blog. I never really thought about verbal story telling as being a form of therapy, but reflecting back on the article I can see that. That makes me think of those students who struggle in academics. Would they be able to perform on a higher level if they were given the chance to share and even tell stories? I think that would be an interesting research question to dive into. I also like your point about how we tend to focus so much on the mechanics of writing that we forget the most important part of writing, sharing a story. I have a hard time teaching writing to my 1st graders, but I am going to use the line you stated in your blog next year when I begin teaching my students how to write: “writing is like talking through a pencil.” I think this will give my students a visual representation of what writing is. We do tell a lot of stories during the course of a school day. I guess I never really thought about it until I read your post. I am constantly using stories to help my students grasp a better understanding of a concept. So, why not allow our students share their stories with their classmates. We never know when a connection will be made. Thanks for helping me think outside the box!
Posted by Emily Rhoney | June 16, 2010 6:46 PM
Posted on June 16, 2010 18:46
I teach younger children and I believe that younger children need to be able to have the encouragement from the teacher to write freely. I let them read to me what they write and it may only be scribbles at first, but if I correct it then they will not write independently. As they progress I work with them and show them the proper way, but they have freedom to write. Before they write I have them tell the story sometimes into a tape player before they write. This helps them hear the story first and helps them organize their thoughts. They often do not write what they said into the tape recorder, but they are orally telling the story first and that is a very important first step.
Posted by michelle moffitt | June 17, 2010 8:31 AM
Posted on June 17, 2010 08:31
I agree that we must teach our students to write stories before we begin editing their grammar. I taught second grade last year and began having my students write in journals (like Dr. Frye suggests). Once they began to enjoy writing, I would introduce a writing genre and have them write first and edit last. When I would meet with them to conference, we discussed their story and how they could extend their writing or add more details but grammar was always the last thing we discussed. I think that by modeling the process for my students, they began to enjoy what they were doing more and would ask when we were going to begin writing.
Posted by Erin Whisnant | June 18, 2010 3:13 PM
Posted on June 18, 2010 15:13