From the very start of my current teaching position, I could tell that I had landed on something so very special. With each new day I was learning how to create a safe space in the classroom so that in turn, students would feel able to share their unique stories, perspectives, and experiences. I have been honored to be the audience for these beautiful and important narratives, but now I am compelled to help my students reach a wider audience with the addition of an audio station in my classroom.
Oral history and storytelling have proven to be powerful in celebrating metaphor as the way out of ourselves and into the "other;" in other words, empathy. By having an audio station in my room, consisting of a reliable laptop, microphones, isolation shields, and noise-canceling headphones, I will be able to incorporate a living oral history in everything I do. Students can use the station individually and in groups. They can go out into the field to conduct interviews. With the exploding popularity of podcasts, we could explore the more formal production of a structured episode. This will have an impact on both listener and speaker, inviting the world into the classroom as well as ushering the classroom out into the world. Literacy and language will be enhanced, as well as confidence. And finally, students will be actively engaged in what Audre Lorde calls, the "transformation of silence into language and action."
About my class
From the very start of my current teaching position, I could tell that I had landed on something so very special. With each new day I was learning how to create a safe space in the classroom so that in turn, students would feel able to share their unique stories, perspectives, and experiences. I have been honored to be the audience for these beautiful and important narratives, but now I am compelled to help my students reach a wider audience with the addition of an audio station in my classroom.
Oral history and storytelling have proven to be powerful in celebrating metaphor as the way out of ourselves and into the "other;" in other words, empathy. By having an audio station in my room, consisting of a reliable laptop, microphones, isolation shields, and noise-canceling headphones, I will be able to incorporate a living oral history in everything I do. Students can use the station individually and in groups. They can go out into the field to conduct interviews. With the exploding popularity of podcasts, we could explore the more formal production of a structured episode. This will have an impact on both listener and speaker, inviting the world into the classroom as well as ushering the classroom out into the world. Literacy and language will be enhanced, as well as confidence. And finally, students will be actively engaged in what Audre Lorde calls, the "transformation of silence into language and action."
Read more