| Story |
|
| Come. Sit. Join me around the
fire |
| Listen. I have a story to tell you. |
| Long, long ago, when I was a little girl, I used to hear
stories about my ancestors, as I'm sure you did as well. Stories, because my
father was orphaned at eleven, my mother did not know her father, and her mother
died when I was nine. So, because I never had grandparents, stories were the web
that connected me to my ancestors. My young, self-less mother was often engulfed
in the everyday battles of survival, yet she cultivated in me a life-long love
of stories, books, and writing. Because stories replaced absent memories, they
were all that I had, and my imagination became an important aspect of my
heritage. |
| I can remember hearing many stories regarding Earhardt
Therwhacter, one of my mother's ancestors, who left Germany for Holland and
boarded a boat called The Janet. Sickness abounded on this treacherous journey,
and a pregnant woman who would not stop screaming was picked up and thrown
overboard. Literally, only the strong survived this difficult trek. In 1741, my
ancestor arrived in New York. |
| Another ancestor of mine, my father's father, who also died
before I was born, was hardly ever talked about. He was called "Shorty"
and used to visit his mother on the Blackfoot reservation in Montana. He lived
an exciting life; he knew Indian sign language, Spanish, broke horses, lived in
a cave, rode with Pancho Villa, had a bad eye, and the end of one of his fingers
was missing. This ancestor of mine really seemed to embrace life, and he became
the great mystery man to me. My fascination with my grandfather is where my
interest in American Indian Studies began. |
| Thank you for being a part of my story and
adventure |
| Now, sit back, relax, and listen. |
|
Sa-Ku-Ra
|
| Mrs. Ferrero, my fourth grade teacher at Margaret
Heath Elementary School in Baldwin Park, California, presented me with
what I believe to be my first academic cultural immersion experience. Of
course, at the time my young mind did not understand the theoretical or
pedagogical reasons underlying her methods of instruction, and even now
looking back, I do not know whether she actually understood the
progressive nature of what she was doing. I do, however, know that she
was a great teacher, and I loved her classes and looked forward to each
day with her. She had been fortunate enough to visit Japan, and she made
this foreign country come alive for me, and, as a matter of fact, my
classroom experience with Mrs. Ferrero is one of my clearest and most
powerful elementary school memories. |
| Mrs. Ferrero implemented a wide variety of techniques
that made Japan seem real and exciting to me. For example, she decorated
her entire classroom with pictures and artifacts and brought in kimonos
for us to try on. She also provided each of us with chopsticks, taught
us how to use them, and provided a feast for our entire class in order
for us to test our newly acquired culinary skill. She also taught us the
song "Sa-Ku-Ra," which still rings magically in my ears even
after all of these years. I also learned the delicate art of origami,
and Mrs. Ferrero brought in the thin, brightly colored paper and many
different patterns for us to use. Her elementary school classroom was an
immersion experience for me; it was experiential, collaborative, and
interactive. |
|
Storytelling and the MTV Generation
|
| This powerful, pre-class teaching technique empowers
students, improves listening skills, and brings a sense of community
into the classroom: |
| I realized very early in my career that in order to
teach many of the students who attend my classes, I would have to figure
out how to reach this young MTV generation who seems to be bent on
instant gratification. I also knew that I would have to be imaginative
in order to create a safe and fun environment that would be conducive to
learning for this pierced and tattooed, under-prepared generation of the
nineties who enter my classes tightly clutching their twenty minute
attention spans. Of course, not all of my students fit this
stereotypical portrayal, but I found that most students do expect to be
entertained during class; I am expected to be both an actor and a
comedian. |
| As a composition and Indian literature instructor, my ideas
about composition and literature began to emerge and merge as I began to
see similarities in both types of courses. The link and overlap of
theories and methods became apparent to me as I tried to make the topics
accessible to students. In doing so, I found that these originally
hesitant students began to blossom academically. For example, in all of
my classes, I use the powerful technique of storytelling as a method of
bringing the group together as a whole and empowering both the orator
and the receiver of the information. Five to ten minutes before class
starts is set aside for storytelling, which ends exactly as class
begins. Storytelling is strictly voluntary and students choose the
stories they want to present. Because I tell the students that it is the
unusual that sells in life as well as in a classroom, the stories range
from renditions about family or friends, a review of a movie or book, to
any other adventure that the student thinks is out of the norm. |
| In the
beginning of the semester, I often walk into the class and say something
like, "someone tell us a story-what did you do this weekend, did
you go anywhere or see anything that you would like to share?"
There are usually more students who want to tell stories than time will
permit. The only two rules the students must follow are that as a
student is telling the story, the rest of the class listens intently and
without interruption, and the subject matter must be appropriate for the
classroom. When the story is finished, the group comments on the story
by choosing to share a similar story, agree or disagree with the review,
or even try to help solve an issue. |
| Recently a student stated that he
and his brother had an unemployed uncle move in with them. This uncle
was unemployed, watched TV all day, and contributed no money or any
other assistance to the household. The class listened, and the student
was offered three different possible solutions: kick the lazy bum out,
give the uncle thirty days to find a job, and don't do anything out of
respect for the uncle. |
| In another case, I actually had one student, who was not able to
stay for class because of a dentist appointment, come to class just to
tell her story. |
| An added benefit to storytelling is that students are
very rarely late to class. As a matter of fact, my students can often be
seen running to class in order to be able to hear the stories. This oral
technique helps the students telling the story by being heard, and it
helps the audience learn the art of listening. The class forms a bonded
unity through the storytelling that remains intact throughout the class
period and the entire course. |
