The Power of Story

Book Review: STORY – Still The Heart of Literacy Learning

by Katie Egan Cunningham

In the Introduction to STORY – Still The Heart of Literacy Learning, Katie Egan Cunningham states that the purpose of her book is to “reclaim the central place of stories in …classrooms.” (2)  She then elaborates by writing that she wants to:

• Convince teachers to look “carefully and critically” at the stories they select and ensure that they represent equitably the diversity of children in their classrooms;
• Provide strategies for teachers “to center both traditional and emerging forms of story as the heart of language arts classrooms”; and
• Help teachers find the courage to create spaces in their classrooms where they and their students can “express vulnerability” and “feel things” through stories. (3)

Cunningham opens Chapter 1 “Why Stories Matter” by lamenting that some language arts classrooms “…have lost story as their core and have replaced it with an over-emphasis on skill and strategy.” (5)  She argues that reading stories provides “mirrors and windows” in that we see both ourselves and others reflected in them. (5)   When teachers use reflective and extension questions in the study of literature, they create a “wide awakeness” in students as the students approach the stories as life practices of sorts. (14)   Teachers can ask such questions as:

• Reflect on the main character’s journey.
• What can we learn from the character’s life?

Furthermore, students become more empathetic towards others by reading stories as, from stories about others, they “build an ethic of understanding.” (7)  Lastly, students gain self-confidence from both reading and writing stories.  Reading stories about characters with whom they identify gives students “courage to take on [their] own obstacles in life”. (7) 

The author cautions though that teachers should take an inventory of the books they bring into the classroom to ensure they reflect the cultural diversity of their students; otherwise, some children will not see themselves reflected in the stories and the diversity gap will widen.

In Chapter 2, “Closely Reading Our Students and Their Stories”, Cunningham uses the popularity of the Humans of New York website to demonstrate that everyone has his/her stories that define him/her, and that teachers must attend closely to the “back stories” of

 students’ behavior in order to help them learn.  She succinctly states, “Every story must count in our classrooms.” (22)   The author points out that the internet and social media in particular have provided “new spaces” for telling stories. (23)  She laments that “I see students who have rich reading and writing lives in Facebook and Instagram, but can’t access or share those lives in the classroom.” (18)   Thus, teachers needed to provide similar spaces in the classroom.

Humans of New York demonstrates the ubiquity of stories

For the remainder of the chapter, Cunningham provides strategies for teachers to rectify what a friend of hers identifies as the “unbearable whiteness” of the children’s literature used in most classrooms today. (25)  She quotes Christopher Meyers, who refers to the current lack of cultural diversity in children’s books (particularly books featuring children of colour), as the “apartheid of children’s literature”. (25)

In general, the author believes that teachers need to move beyond what she describes as Diversity 101 - token ethnic books presented periodically and in isolation during times such as Black History month – to a more comprehensive Diversity 102 in which culturally diverse books are everywhere in the curriculum, including classroom activities, classroom libraries, independent reading lists, and even teachers’ own reading experiences.

 She recommends that teachers get to know first the multiple identities of their students.  Through surveys, teachers can ask their students about memorable and not-so memorable reading experiences, and from these inquiries, develop “multigenre, multimodal” classroom libraries that reflect the interests and identities of their students. (33)

Teachers should also inquire with their students, and then have them write about, the “shared identity” and “collective story” of the classroom and get to know the interests and stories of their classmates. (29)  As well, they can have students go on photo walks and interview people in their homes and neighbourhood to learn more about the stories and identities around them.  In short, students should become “story sleuths”. (30) 

    

Cunningham recommends a broad range of genres, including essays, biographies, picture books, and poetry, be included in classroom libraries.  She also suggests teachers include digital story resources such as YouTube videos, TEDTalks, culturally diverse blogs, and even Twitter.  By following the Twitter hashtag #WNDB (We Need Diverse Books) , teachers can uncover multicultural stories. 

Chapter 3, “Where Do Stories Live”, opens with a challenge to teachers to get their classrooms “caught up to the outside world” by giving students “access to new and engaging storytelling tools.” (53)  The author hi-lights several different media for stories and provides strategies that help students navigate the unique language of each medium along with “mentor texts”.

She begins with traditional literature, but recommends the use of online story repositories such as www.cowbird.com .  The focus of study should be on authentic characters, compelling events, and episodes that provide insight into universal human themes. 

Noting that “stories …live in poetry”, Cunningham states that teachers attend to the structure, language, and sound of poems.   She recommends Eve Merriam’s “How to Eat a Poem” as a mentor text and advises teachers to have students share their poetic stories through poetry cafes and slams.  Likewise, to find the stories in songs, the author suggests that students be taught how musicians use of sound (ie. tempo & rhythm) and structure to affect meaning.  She recommends the Beatles “Blackbird” as a mentor song.

Eve Merriam’s “How to Eat a Poem”

A fourth medium Cunningham explores as a source of stories is visual arts and illustrations.  To unlock the stories found in pictures, she emphasizes that students need to be taught the codes and conventions of this medium, such as colour, texture, line, shape, and form.  Play is also a physical form of storytelling (including video gaming) and not to be overlooked.  Audio and visual media such as audiobooks, podcasts, and videos should be explored.  Again, the elements of each medium should be studied– for example, camera techniques, such as close-ups and panorama shots, for films and videos.   Lastly, the author recommends “the power of mashups and curation”: “Our students are primed for creating mash-ups to tell their own stories”, and can use social media sources like Pinterest to display their favourite books and stories. (71)

The focus of Chapter 4, “How Can Stories Come to Life”, is strategies teachers can use to engage students in stories, or as she writes, to “lean in” to stories. (83) 

One traditional method the author recommends is read alouds, which allow students not only to acquire new vocabulary and build background knowledge in areas of interest but more importantly teach them to associate reading with pleasure.  Another established practice is close reading – that is, reading for a specific purpose from a specific perspective.  Cunningham suggests that this strategy be applied to other modalities than print.  For example, an engaging activity is for students to view films to notice the influence of sound, lighting, or camera techniques.

 Choral reading and independent reading can also be engaging activities.  Teachers should allow significant amounts of classroom time for independent reading so that students can experience reading flow – “the reading zone”. (93)  Wordless picture books are a great way for students of all ages to get inside stories asking essential questions such as What is happening? and what’s next?  The author suggests Shaun Tan’s “The Arrival” as a mentor text.  Dramatic readings and interpretations, such as reader’s theatre, are excellent strategies for actively involving students in stories. 

The Arrival - A 'mentor text' for
"getting inside" a story

Chapter 5, “How Do We Build Stories” is an extended metaphor that compares writers to architects “building stories from the ground up.” (108)  The foundation for stories are both the writers’ impactful daily experiences and the archetypes found in literature (ie. the hero’s journey).  The walls & ceilings (or structures) are the building blocks of language – words, sentences, and paragraphs.  The bricks & mortar are the conventions of language – the parts of speech, figures of speech, and punctuation choices.  The author recommends that teachers use the “noticing, naming, and sorting” process in helping students understand the language conventions in stories.  A “bonus lesson” that emerges from the storywriter as architect is that less is more. (121)  Strategies that help students learn the art of brevity in writing include Twitter-style (140 characters or less) summaries of stories and 6-word story summaries.  For samples of the latter, the author recommends www.sixwordmemoirs.com.

Chapter 6, How Do We Talk About Stories”, offers some suggestions on how students can share their stories.  The main suggestion the author makes is to move away from the I-R-E classroom exchange pattern – teacher initiation, student response, and teacher evaluation – to I-R-R-R, which involves anyone, teacher or student, initiating discussion and many others in the classroom responding.  Cunningham also recommends teachers encourage students to “turn talk [about stories] into action” by “noticing and naming [for students] the ways characters take action.” (137) For instance, students can read about the courageous actions taken by Malala.   

In the final chapter, Cunningham gives some advice on how teachers can create a classroom environment that is a safe place for students to “practice vulnerability” and openly express themselves through stories. (142)   Language arts teachers can begin class with “open letter time”, set up class newsletters with rotating weekly student editors, and share student successes through class tweets.  Teachers should display student drafts and share their own writing errors to build a “culture of revision” in classrooms. (145)