This theme formed the basis for this year’s sixth-grade humanities “Mini-Term” class. Taking inspiration from the popular StoryCorps, DCD middle school teachers, Nancy Barre and Julia Cavan, rolled out a new curriculum for students after receiving a special grant from the Head’s Innovation Fund. The Innovation Fund enables DCD faculty and staff to reflect upon and further develop the curriculum, systems, or methods the school uses to achieve its mission with a lens for experimentation and change.
With an interest in harnessing the power of stories as a learning tool for students, these two middle school teachers were excited about the opportunity to revamp the humanities portion of the mini-term curriculum over the summer months. “The common perception is that the Innovation Fund focuses on technology-based projects, but in reality, funding can go toward bringing fresh thinking and innovative projects to our curriculum”, commented Ms. Cavan. “With clear minds and the slower pace over the summer, we were able to put some fresh thinking toward developing a great curriculum that combined lessons in history, storytelling, and creative writing.”
There are two main parts to the “Stories Are Meant to Be Shared” project. The first part involved students sharing a story about a historical event that occurred before they were born. Using a recorded audio interview as a means of sharing, they could both learn and teach their classmates about a significant point in history through the eyes of a family or a special friend.
After brainstorming ideas about potential events to consider with friends and family, students were tasked with conducting research that would ultimately form the basis of an interview guide to use with their subject. An important part of this process was for students to learn how to conduct a successful interview. Working from “Guidelines for Oral History Interviews” from The History Channel Student Workbook, they learned about employing memory, explanation, and judgment questions in the interview guides they created. Memory questions, students learned, encourage the interviewee to reminisce and get comfortable talking; explanation questions ask that people dig deeper into thoughts about why a particular event may have occurred; and judgment questions elicit opinions and feelings about the event. Students spent class time working on their interview guides, soliciting feedback from peers and watching sample interviews to ensure they had all the elements to conduct an impactful session with their subject.
After conducting and recording their interviews, this first part of the humanities project culminated in sharing with peers and family members, which evolved into an incredibly moving experience for everyone in the room. The story device worked! Learning about the various historical events was impactful but hearing these stories through the voice and eyes of someone there to experience them, added a richness and depth that wouldn’t have been possible just reading about it in a book. The stories shared were quite interesting and moving, and included one from a Holocaust survivor, a Vietnam draft dodger, a family member who was at Lake Placid for the 1980 Olympics (where the U.S. won the gold medal in hockey), someone who experienced the Blizzard of 78, and much more. The experience of sharing stories created a new and deep connection between the students, their family members, and those fortunate enough to be in the audience!
Part two of the Stories Are Meant to Be Shared project introduces the creative writing component and will finish up with a completed ‘work’ before winter break. Students are in the process of considering what they learned from their interviews and research, and have been asked to come up with several ‘truths’ or real nuggets they learned about this event. Here’s where the creative writing comes in!
Ms. Cavan and Ms. Barre have challenged students to think about “what if” something different had happened. What if during the event, a secret was uncovered or the outcome was different than what they learned in the interview? Students will then use this as inspiration to create and write a scene that captures a moment in this new story – contemplating important elements such as characters, setting, conflict resolution, genre, and narrative voice. Ms. Cavin and Ms. Barre are looking forward to seeing the imaginations of their students take flight. Who knows, this creative endeavor could lead to historical fiction, fantasy, sci-fi, or comedic stories, or perhaps even spark an idea for a future novel!
