Lynn, I was a student in your storytelling class last spring (told a story about my mother shooting a rattlesnake??).
Anyway, I wanted to share a success with you because I was inspired by you.
I decided to show Oh Freedom After While to my sophomores as a pre-reading to To Kill A Mockingbird. There are so many parallels that can be drawn, but more importantly, it gave them a true baseline of conditions for African Americans and poor people in general during the time of the novel’s setting.
It was very effective – the kids had many questions and one boy even said he wished we could go on a field trip to the location of the protest and the abandoned Cropperville.
I passed the lesson and video on to a fellow teacher who followed my guidelines to use the summer article (on you) that showed the photojournalism’s role in raising the level of awareness. She also followed my guidelines for helping students generate questions.
Her students loved it as well and one student told her he decided to write about Owen Whitfield in another class. Woo hoo!
I’ve told our librarians about the film and Mama’s Window and hope to have the book in our library soon. My department chair has agreed to purchase the film and let me add it to the curriculum!! My fellow teacher and some of our students have expressed an interest in reading Mama’s Window.
I wanted to let you know because I know your heart and energy are so invested in this story.
The only thing I wish I could have included was your photo slide show – that would be very effective.
Thank you!! By the way, I used my rattlesnake story to model storytelling before the students chose their slice of life on which to write a narrative. I also guided them into telling stories (through various questions) and they were so excited and READY to work on the essay over the weekend!
Storytelling is and always will be a part of my teaching. Thank you.
Mary Kurtz