TALKING POINTS

SIDE COACHING: Who else is informing me about this topic or who else is talking about this topic. Their input adds to my conversation with text involving research and reflection in pursuing my curiosity.

Cognitive Processing

Storytelling and reading require two different cognitive processes. Marshal McLuhan (1964) described the power of oral literature as when the eye is subservient to the ear. Storytelling draws from the Right Hemisphere of holistic, visual, relational processing, whereas, reading and writing draw from the Left Hemispheric of more linear, logical, segmented, mechanistic (Schlain, 1998). However, both brain hemispheres function together. Ong (1982) describes this tension and complementarity of both sides of our brain identifying Western and Non-western perspectives.

Dual Perspectives

According to Deschenie (2007): As No Child Left Behind seeks to shape a more literate society, we must remember that we come from cultures rooted in the power and beauty of oral tradition and face-to-face storytelling.  

Thompson (2009) understands these contrasting views as dual perspectives. The Western view: A gifted individual, such as a Shakespeare, out of his own imagination uses the many complex techniques of rhetoric and composition to create a work of art, which we lesser mortals struggle to fully appreciate through a complicated process we call literary analysis.

The Indigenous view: The oral tradition represents "the other side of the miracle of language" as described by N. Scott Momaday in The Man Made of Words: "the telling of stories, the recitation of epic poems, the singing of songs, the making of prayers, the chanting of magic and mystery, the exertion of the human voice upon the unknown—in short, the spoken word." To paraphrase a familiar document, this sounds to me very much like a literature "of the people, by the people, and for the people" (Thompson, p. 13).

Moayeri and Smith (2010) identify literacy as a cultural practice with different literacies influenced by culture, communities, and it’s role in communicating those stories the community values. A disconnect between home/community literacies and school literacy occurs where “literacy is most often taught in schools as decontextualized, technical skills” resulting in “holding back literacy development for children, particularly those whose home literacies are undervalued and ignored by the schools” (Dewey, 1956; Dyson, 2003 in Moayeri and Smith, 2010, p. 409).

Oral tradition is a worldview, a way of knowing as a “distinctive intellectual tradition, not simply as myths and legends” (p. 414) and in comparing traditional knowledge with scientific knowledge sometimes it is viewed as not legitimate. Hanamuxw (in Moayeri and Smith, 2010, p. 414) acknowledges ways of knowing for First Nation Peoples as: scientific knowledge as represented in the dominant society; life world ways as experienced in everyday life; and narrative ways of learning through stories. In honoring multiple ways of knowing, as culturally competent teachers, we can recognize “whose stories are being privileged and whose stories are being marginalized in the representations of the other” (p. 415).

Practitioner Research

The majority of early childhood teachers in our UNM masters have engaged in questions related to oral language development. Because we are in such a rush to begin children with reading and writing early on, we forget that developing listening, speaking and thinking language arts is the foundation of future reading and writing skills. If children do not develop listening and speaking vocabularies initially just what are they going to read and write about?

• Bitah, S. (2009). What happens when poetry is used to build literacy in struggling first grade readers? Unpublished Practitioner Research, University of New Mexico San Juan Center, Farmington, NM.

• Charles, J. (2008). Promoting oral language through storytelling and play in our preschool classroom. Unpublished Practitioner Research, University of New Mexico San Juan Center, Farmington, NM.

• Cox, P. (2007). What is the impact of literacy centers in my kindergarten classroom? Unpublished Practitioner Research, University of New Mexico San Juan Center, Farmington, NM.

• Damon-Frank, C. (2010). Development of an English language speaker: A case study. Unpublished Practitioner Research, University of New Mexico San Juan Center, Farmington, NM.

• John, R. (2008). What happens when my kindergarten students write for their own purpose? Unpublished Practitioner Research, University of New Mexico San Juan Center, Farmington, NM.

• Lee, T. (2010). What happens when kindergarteners participate in daily interactive oral language activities?  Unpublished Practitioner Research, University of New Mexico San Juan Center, Farmington, NM.

• Patterson-Damon, B. (2010). What happens when I instruct our kindergarten students 75%of the time in Navajo: A case study?  Unpublished Practitioner Research, University of New Mexico San Juan Center, Farmington, NM.

        ·   Martinez, D. (2008). Learning in two languages: A case study of a kindergartner.  

          Unpublished Practitioner Research, University of New Mexico San Juan Center, Farmington, NM.

• Minnehan, L. (2010). What happens when we use rhymes, songs and chants to increase oral language development in our preschool classroom? Unpublished Practitioner Research, University of New Mexico San Juan Center, Farmington, NM.

• Salazar, R. (2009). What happens when my Kindergarteners explore dramatic play for language development?  Unpublished Practitioner Research, University of New Mexico San Juan Center, Farmington, NM.

Storytelling Project-Stories as Content and Context for Learning

In our UNM Educating Diverse Students' Practicum project at Apache Elementary School, we focus on the storytelling arts throughout the year. In the Fall we invite students to write a family story and in the Spring, students engage in a Chautauqua experience where they become a family member in a storytelling presentation. This is a balanced approach.

In each learning experience, family stories become the content and context for their learning. As Christensen (2000) explains:

“As teachers, we have daily opportunities to affirm that our students’ lives and language are unique and important. We do that in the selections of literature we read, in the history we choose to teach, and we do it by giving legitimacy to our student’s lives as a content worthy of study”  (p. 103) . 

The richness of personal stories our children bring to school is the focus of this oral history project. As teachers we recognize that students who walk through our school doors are walking stories connected to family members who may be walking encyclopedias of knowledge. Recognizing the meaningful and relevant connections of students’ own lives as valid content and rationale for learning, this project honors both the oral and literate ways of communicating and sharing knowledge. Students seeking their own family stories will validate their own sense of belonging and self-identity as well as learn the skills necessary in communicating, orally and literary, in accomplishing this goal.

Student Samples:

Apache school students’ practicum: UNM Student webpages, Apache Student Anthologies, student Chautauqua stories, student Family Stories, Digital Storytelling: example 1, example 2, example 3, example 4, example 5, example 6, example 7, example 8.

Excerpted reflection of UNM student, Ryan:

“Since I have begun the process of the practicum I have been adapting to my students. I have learned some new strategies in dealing with the students. One strategy I learned was to focus on what is wanted from the student and not to muddle it up with irrelevant tasks. I learned this from getting the students to begin their Chautauquas. I would have never thought of having them tell me their stories while I scribed. It is obvious now that the telling of their stories was the objective and to have them write it themselves may have led to students being more concentrated on correct spelling or grammar.”

Excerpted reflection of UNM student, Mary: Sharing stories with the children has helped them see connections in stories and give definition to family traditions. It's also helped them experience the art of a good story and the value of details and descriptions that help the reader 'see' what the author sees. Another valuable strategy we've used in the practicum is building webs and pulling out the details of our stories. Even more importantly is the aspect of connecting and learning from the children, their stories, their experiences as we have discussions.

Oracy & Literacy

There is a complementarity & tension between the oracy and literacy for without literacy oral stories would be lost. Ong (1982) compares the two perspectives, similar to the processes of the Right and Left Hemispheres of our brain. Wilson (1997) defines oral tradition, including oral history, as "the way in which information is passed on rather than the length of time something has been told" (p. 103). Storyteller Judy Hooks said that when you read a story, students connect to the pictures; when you tell a story, students connect with you. Denise Hinson (personal communication, May 28, 2010) recognizes the significant role storytelling plays in building personal connections of trust and respect among students and teacher and the effect on classroom management.

Story as Technology

Language is the earliest human technology and stories are a natural extension of who we are as human beings giving meaning to and extracting meaning from our world. Rietz, 1988 refers to stories as "a human invention" and "Learning 'story' and learning to 'story' involves learning a way of thinking, a way of organizing events and information, a way of knowing" (p. 164). Bruce Perry reminds us that we are storytelling primates.

Frank Smith (1990) validates that our “thought flows in terms of stories—stories about events, stories about people, and stories about intentions and achievements. The best teachers are the best storytellers. We learn in the form of stories. We construct stories to make sense of events. Our prevailing propensity is to impose story structures on all experience, real or imagined….The brain is a story-seeking, story creating instrument.”

Benjamin Whorf describes language as, “the greatest show man puts on.” Burke and Orenstein (1995)document just as the axe was a tool that changed civilization, so too, the alphabet became the most powerful tool for change thus far (p. 75) and literacy negotiated with computer and digital technology continues to change our cognitive awareness to new levels.