Leveraging Oral Stories in Support of Cross-Curricular Teaching in Technology-Rich Environments
Tell Me a Story
Amber sunlight rises through east-facing windows as students settle into circle within the classroom’s walls. Saa’kokoto jokes that the chair he sits in is the most comfortable he has ever sat in and the joke breaks the uncomfortable pall that hangs over the room as the learners gathered there participate in their first circle, uncomfortable with how much is ritual and how much classroom routines. |
The Right Story at the Right Time
Story is a place where learners feel safe; it's a place where students come to know the grammar of how a story is told. That is, story has structure within which students come to know what to expect through repeated exposure. Stories read on a parent’s lap lead to feelings of comfort and security. When that is translated into a learning environment, students come to know what to expect: a beginning, middle, end. A lesson drawn from the story’s structure.
In circle teachings, Elder Saa’kokoto teaches that if a listener is gifted a story then they have the obligation to tell that story forward without changes, additions, or deletions (2018). The story offered within the context of the circle was gifted to students, which they used to tell forward, creating podcasts, shadow plays, artwork, and poetry and prose.
In Orality and Literacy, Ong discusses developing a storyline as a way to relate to information; even students in a lab write up their lab report and retell the story of what they did in the lab (Ong, p. 138). Storying allows students to contextualize information and better remember. In exploring differences between oral and written cultures, Ong notes that written text frees the mind from the burdens of having to remember as written text, even when memorized and represented verbatim, can be consulted multiple times during memorization; oral cultures, however, repeated what was necessary in order to remember it (Ong, 2002). Given that writing physically takes longer to complete than speaking, the very act of writing things down allows the brain to restructure and reconsider even while drafting, while speaking orally takes a greater cognitive load (Ong, 2002). McKeough, et. al. note that storytelling alone is not enough to support developing literacy and note that it should be paired with specific reading instruction that includes ability grouping and phonemic awareness instruction (McKeough, 2008). “When oral stories are written by children and they begin to think deliberately about the story’s structure and verbal expression is transformed into composing a text.” (McKeough, p.150).
13 Moons:
A Land-Based Inquiry Project
The 13 Moons Project begins with an inquiry question: What makes a good life?" Students work together with a Blackfoot Elder to explore the question and engage in land-based education that involves visiting the same location during each of the 13 moons of the Blackfoot calendar to listen to stories, to observe the environment, and to reflect on what contributes to a good quality of life.
1. Story serves as provocation for inquiry. When students begin, they will ask the Elder for a story related to the land.
2. Following the story, students will explore science-related concepts that come from this story. As a part of the FinS program, students will engage in land-based observation and science inquiry to understand what is currently occurring in that location.
3. Students will represent their observations through written story and poem, and through visual art by sketching and painting.
4. Students will leverage digital tools to tell the story, collaborate with teams, share with audience and receive feedback
1. Story serves as provocation for inquiry. When students begin, they will ask the Elder for a story related to the land.
2. Following the story, students will explore science-related concepts that come from this story. As a part of the FinS program, students will engage in land-based observation and science inquiry to understand what is currently occurring in that location.
3. Students will represent their observations through written story and poem, and through visual art by sketching and painting.
4. Students will leverage digital tools to tell the story, collaborate with teams, share with audience and receive feedback
Story told orally, by an elder, by a storyteller, or by a student, encompasses curricular content areas. In the case of the 13 Moons Inquiry Unit, content areas include the Science curriculum related to animals (life cycles, habitats, needs). The curricular content is communicated through story (Visual Arts and Language Arts), which is recorded collaboratively using digital tools and shared with authentic audiences for real-world feedback. This use of digital and analogue storytelling technique allows students to play with the ideas presented to them and to represent them in a way that makes sense to them as a teller and will make sense to the viewer.
* Leslie Tait is a Learning Support consultant working with the Calgary Board of Education to guide teachers in the integration of Indigenous perspectives in the classroom.
* Leslie Tait is a Learning Support consultant working with the Calgary Board of Education to guide teachers in the integration of Indigenous perspectives in the classroom.