Please see my attached project plan: My Inquiry Project
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All people have a basic need to share stories. Stories organize experiences and record important happenings. As common forms of discourse, stories are of great interest and significance in language and literacy development, especially when considering the increased linguistic and cultural diversity of students in classrooms. Stories enable teachers to learn about their students’ cultures, experiences, and meaningful relationships. Through the sharing of stories, teachers, and children “create the potential for new connections that link them together inside a new tale” (Dyson & Genishi,1994). In this Unit Plan, we have taken up Inquiry as our way to discover the importance of storytelling in human experience. Through this inquiry, the students may connect with different cultures of the world through the exchange of different stories and make personal connections with the cultures of the world. This Inquiry Project is based on taking up a Unit – Storytelling Across Cultures and shall focus on understanding the core of the unit to address the essential question: How can cross-cultural understanding help us understand the basic human values that remain the same across the socio-cultural landscape?
As discussed in the brainstorming activity there are various ways to design inquiry-based instructions and assessment design to help children not just learn and evolve but to develop a love for learning. Storytelling is one way—it costs nothing, is enjoyable, and can be used anywhere and at any time (Zabel, 1991).
This unit is focused on storytelling and the importance of storytelling tradition in all communities across the globe and tapping into the oral culture of Canada’s Indigenous People. The idea for this inquiry unit came after having gone over some allied questions and topics with our professor and also from my years spent in Elementary Teaching.Top of FormBottom of Form I’ve used Socratic circles in my classroom several times to explore topics or themes and I connected to the readings, and the history because it felt like an opportunity to ‘explore’ our experience and personal connection to a topic. It also helps develop students’ conversation skills and gives them the necessary tools to build on their interpretations and understanding of the world around them. Stories come in many forms and are a way of life as we describe an anecdote, a fantasy, a news item, an adventure, or anything that is fiction or nonfiction. This inquiry shall aim at harnessing the oral as well as written skills of the students to express themselves about their innate feelings, inquiries, and curiosity through the written word, oral-storytelling, dramatization, role-play, video/ audio recordings after having discussed the topic with them in a brainstorm session in the introductory class from where they can choose their course of finding the path to address the essential question and presenting the final project.
This unit is inspired by the work being done to reconnect humanity with our environment and connect self to place. Our eco-self asks us to stay connected to our roots. Culture-based perspectives help us grow our awareness of how people have lived on the land where we are, or where does the story originate from. I also intend to explore the role that Aboriginal people have played in the stories of this land to be recognized. Integration of language arts and social studies under the broad umbrella of storytelling as a way of life shall be helpful to students as they become storytellers, thereby giving them the tools to build on their ideas and interests of the world around them.
We humans have long recognized that stories are a great way to transfer knowledge and wisdom. We know that better stories result in more resonant messages. But we’re selling storytelling short by putting it in the ‘communications’ box. This limiting belief that story is simply how we impart information means we don’t harness its full potential. Stories do more than help us to tell and sell. Shared narratives are powerful catalysts for change and the building blocks of our culture. A story well told helps students to
1. Communicate with clarity and confidence.
2. Achieve emotional resonance with your audience.
3. Be more persuasive and influential.
4. Consistently act in alignment with your mission.
5. Attract the right people, whether they be customers, employees, volunteers or donors.
6. Inspire people to buy into your mission or get behind your cause.
7. Execute plans as you work towards your vision for the future.
8. Add value to your products, services, and company
9. Spread your ideas.
10. Change the culture and create the future you want to see.