Language Arts Journal of Michigan

Volume 7 | Issue 2 Article 4

1-1-1991

Calming the Storm: The Story of a Second Grade

Writing Project
Mary M. Dekker

Recommended Citation
Dekker, Mary M. (1991) "Calming the Storm: The Story of a Second Grade Writing Project," Language Arts Journal of Michigan: Vol.
7: Iss. 2, Article 4.
Available at: http://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/lajm/vol7/iss2/4

This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Scholar Works @ GVSU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Language Arts Journal of
Michigan by an authorized administrator of Scholar Works @ GVSU. For more information, please contact [email protected].
LANGUAGE ARTS JOURNAL OF MICHIGAN

CALMING THE STORM:

THE STORY OF A SECOND GRADE WRITING

PROJECT

Mary M. Dekker

Dear Mark,

Are you glad the war is over? I hope you

don't have to stay in Saudi Arabia and clean up.
Here we had a dinosaur museum. It was Jun.. I
wish you could have come. Too bad.

Your .fri.end. ..
The idea of my students wrttlng letters to soldiers stationed in Saudi
Arabia came one night in September 1990 as I was reading a newspaper
article about the Persian Gulf crisis. The article Included an address to send
letters to MAny soldier." I thoughtwrtting letters to soldiers might prove to be
a meaningful wrtting experience for my students since they would be wrtting
for a real purpose and to a real audience.

The next day I talked about the problems in the Persian Gulfwtth my
second grade class. I told them what I understood about the lives of the
soldiers there. I explained that when people are far away from their homes
in a place that is strange to them, they like to receive mail that reminds them
of home. We composed a letter together and each student drew a picture to
send: some drew pictures of military planes or helicopters or the flag; others
drew pictures of Bart Simpson or one or more of the Teenage Mutant Ninja
Turtles. Many wrote messages like "We're thinking abou t you. I explained
M

to the class that we might not ever get a response since we were sending our
package to "Any soldier, and it was possible that the person who received It
M

would not want to wrtte back. I told them we would have to wait and see.

By the middle of October letters from soldiers began to arrive. Six

soldiers wrote to us that first month, one of whom sent a list of 25 other
soldiers as possible pen pals. All of them thanked the students for their

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 Volume 7, Number 2

pictures and asked them to write back. One soldier told us that everyone liked
our drawings. which were posted on the company bulletin board for all to see.
He said they brought a smile to everyone although Msome guys with kids
started crying." Many of the soldiers sent pictures they drew of helicopters
or the clothing they wore. They also sent sand. money, and a page ofArabic
writing. The commander of the unit sent a collection of postcards of places
in Saudi Arabia and encouraged us to continue writing.

The students were eager to write letters to their new pen pals. Afterwe
received letters from four soldiers, the students chose the soldier to whom
they wanted to write. As more and more letters arrived, I sometimes assigned
and at other times asked for volunteers to write to a new soldier. As It worked
out. most students were writing to two or more pen pals. We wrote ourletters
durlng our regular dailywriting time. Ourprlnc1pal supported the proJect and
offered to pay the postage.

The first time we wrote pen pal letters, we brainstormed ideas about
what to write. The students suggested writing abou t things they did at home
or In school. I explained some of the technical features of letter writing such
as the date. the greeting, the indenting of paragraphs in the body, and the
clOSing. Then the students wrote their first letters. Unfortunately, I did not
save copies of any of them. The following letters, written after the students
returned from Christmas vacation, are good examples, however, of how the
students told the soldiers about themselves:

Dear Dick,
How have you been? I have been fine. I like to play in the snow
and go snowmobiling, I like to go skiing on ice at home. Do you like
to go skiing? I might go to a friend's house Friday until Saturday but
my mom and dad have to think about it.

Dear Dick,
HI. I have written to you before. How are you? I had a Merry
Christmas. Did you? I was sick most of the time, And I stepped on
a nail. I have to go.

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LANGUAGE ARTS JOURNAL OF MICHIGAN
Dear Jerry.
I rode a snowmobile last night. My dad let me drlve the
snowmobile and I got stuck. My dad pulled me out. I got ahead ofhtm
and I jumped in the yard. The end.

Dear Jerry.
I like outer space. And I know all the planets: Mercury. Venus.
Earth. Mars. Jupiter. Saturn. Uranus. Neptune. Pluto. These are the
nine planets.

In addition to telltng the soldiers about themselves. some students

asked questions in their letters. One boy. for example. who wanted to know
tf there were guards around the camp. learned that guards watched the camp
around the clock. Another student asked tfthe soldiers had to do a lot ofdrllls.
He was told that they did practice drills for chemical attacks. And finally.
another student wanted to know if there were any snakes in the area. He
learned that there were king cobras, sand vipers. and also camel spiders.
which jumped 5-10 feet to bite camels.

As the days and weeks of the school year passed. the letter exchange
continued with the students telltng the pen pals about their lJves. and the
soldiers descrlbingwhat theycould about their immediate situation. Our pen
pals. we learned. were called "1he Night Stalkers." Some were pilots and
others did maintenance or other jobs on the helicopters.

The students learned a great deal as they wrote to their pen pals. Not
only did they learn how to wrlte letters. but they learned about the Middle
East. They often talked about Iraq. Saudi Arabia. and Kuwait. Many ofthem
could locate these countrles on a world map. Because of this project. the
students had an awareness of parts of the world and current world events.
As time passed. and the threat of war became a reality. the students had a
personal connection with what was happening in the Persian Gulf. Many of
them watched the news and talked about it in class. The day after the war
broke out. we talked about how we hoped it would end soon. how we hoped
people would not get hurt. and how we hoped our pen pals would be safe.

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 Volwrut 7. Number 2

A few weeks after the war started the students had a surprise visit by
one of our pen pals. He was on leave and made arrangements to visit our
classroom. He talked to the students about hts job working on heltcopters.
He brought photographs to show them. He said he hoped the military action
in the Middle East would be over soon. Then he asked the students If they
had any questions. There were plenty: what was his rank? what were his
badges for? what was the food like? what was the desert like? what did he
think of Saddam Hussein? why were hts boots so shiny? He answered their
questions for a long while. Later. I arranged for the students to visit with him
in small groups. He used a globe to show the students various places around
the world where he had been stationed. Several students showed him stories
they had written; one girl read one ofher favorite books to him. His visit made
for a special day.

As the weeks of the war went on. the students did notrecetve any mail.
but we continued to write. In the letters below. the students tell the soldiers
what was happening in their lives in early March:

Dear Mark,
Howareyou? Iamftne. My birthday is March 7. Todaymymom
and my brothers are going to Meljers. And my mom will have me show
them what I want for my birthday. They might buy me a present.

DearP. J.
How are you? I'm fine. I had to get my tonsils out. It was not
fun. I did not like the food I had to eat. I had to stay home from school
for two weeks. I had lots of homework. The first week I had eleven
sheets and the second week I had thirteen sheets...

Dear Jeny,
We had a dinosaur museum. It was fun. Half the school came.
I did all the jobs there were. I did a few of them two times. My birthday
Is next week, March 10th, but I'm having two parties...

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LANGUAGE ARTS JOURNAL OF MICHIGAN
Dear Mark,
How are you? I'mftne. I'm hoping you don't get hurt. llikeyour
outfit. You are nice. I want to tell you my dinosaur museum puppet
act:
~Hi. I'm1)rrannosaurus Rex and I eat meat and my teeth are six

inches long. Don't get too close or I wtll eat you in one gulp. I am a vety
mean dinosaur. I ltved in the Late Cretaceous Period. That's almost
65 mlllion years ago. The End-...

By late March and early April our pen pals were again writing to us­
this time mostly from locations in the United States. Most of the letters were
the last oneswe received from our soldier pen pals. Many ofthem talked about
their good fortune to be back home. All of them thanked the students for
making the experience a little easier. Spectftcally, they said things like:
~ou'll never know how important you are to me. You kept me gOing.- and

·You've done far more than you know." One soldier requested that we
continue writing. We sent our last letters to him at the end of May.

As I look back over the project, three positive aspects linger. First, my
students perceived themselves as writers. They were not only engaged in
stoty, poetry, play, and informational writing and sharing within the class­
room, but they wrote and received letters from people outside the classroom.
Except for those weeks whUe the war was in progress, some matI arrived for
students evety week. It was a thr1I1 for students to find letters addressed to
them on their desks. They almost always shared these with the class.

Second. the students revealed how the project was meantngful to them
in many ways. Some students wrote letters to their pen pals at home in
addition to the letters they wrote in school. One boy acquired the addresses
of local soldiers stationed in Saudi Arabia and wrote to them from home.
Another student. who rarely opted for extra work, decided to send his letter
for Valentine's Day on hearts. This meant he had to cut and paste the entire
letter on eight small hearts, which took him most ofone morning to complete.
Late in the year the principal of our school asked the students in each
classroom to write down one or two projects ofwhich they were really proud.
Evetyone in our room agreed that writing letters to the soldiers was one of
those projects.

Third, this activity was more than a meaningful writing experience for
my students. Not only were the students writing for a particular purpose to

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 Volume 7, Number 2

an authentic audience. but they were affectlng the lives of other people, In
Uving Between the Lines. Lucy Calkins talks about thJs powerful aspect of
wrtting In thJs way: "Sending wrtting out into the world is important for what
it does to wrtters. But it is equally important for what it does to the world"
(112). In addition. Calkins suggests that a wrtter's empowerment means
more than having a final say In revision. Empowerment. she asserts, "must
also mean that children learn that their words can make a difference in the
world" (113).

This. then, was the final lesson of the pen pal project: the students
learned they could -make a difference In the world." They learned it from the
soldier who wrote, "The reason I wrote this letter is to let the chUdren know
what a great boost their letters and pictures were to me: and from other
soldiers who wrote along stmilar lines. In our efforts during this school year
we had affected the lives of soldiers. Perhaps In future years the students
might wrtte to student pen pals from other countries, or senior citizens. But
at this moment, an important lesson for my eight-year-old students was an
equally important lesson for me, a teacher for sixteen years: realiztng new
possibilities for our wrttlng. To paraphrase one ofour soldier friends, we had
done far more than we knewl

Works Cited

Calkins, Lucy M. Uving Between the Lines. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann

Educational80oks, Inc., 1991.

Mary Dekker is a second grade teacher at Morrice Elementary School In

Morrice, Michigan.

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LANGUAGE ARTS JOURNAL OF MICHIGAN

CAPrURlNG SfORIES:

ORAL IDSTORY IN WRITING ClASSES

PameJa Gates-DufBeld

My greatest challenge in establishing a community of learners has

always been how to capture my students, all of my students, and draw them
into a world of discovery that abounds with ideas and stories. It's not the
eager students that give me the greatest cause for concern; rather, it's the
marginal interest group that causes me to leave my classroom each day
reflecting on what more I could have done to reach those who come to class,
sit qUietly, take notes, but who never seem to catch fire with the enthusiasm
that touches the others. For that reason, I attempt to discover new ways of
reaching my students through reading journals. constantly talking to other
teachers about classroom successes and flops, and attending conferences. At
one such conference, I discovered an idea that has blossomed into a teaching
unit which has helped most of the writing students in my freshman
composition courses (even the most reluctant) to become enthusiastic about
their writing by discovering eXCiting stories that are waiting to be told.

Two years ago, I attended a session of the MSU IMCI'E Bright Ideas
Conference led by Dr. Jeff Charnley in which he explained how he required
his students to research a particular htstorical pertod through interviews. I
left his session fascinated but perplexed about how to use an oral history
assignment in the composition courses I taught. My students did experiment
with a variety of writing modes in assignments which encouraged outside
research, and I did expect them to practice some research techniques in at
least one formal paper, although I didn't require the extensive documentation
that Dr. Charnley demanded within his oral history project. I had, therefore,
frequently attempted to provide opportunities for them to research primary
sources by suggesting that they interview fellow students, friends, or instruc­
tors as a means of gathering information about their speciftc topiCS. I had
tried to move students out of their comfort zones and into the world of

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 Volwne 7. Number 2

personal Interactions by encouraging them to use the interviews as a way to

expand their knowledge abou t a particular topic.

Such experiences. however well-intended. often backfired. though,

leaving my students with pieces of writing which seemed contrived or half­
baked. They seemed to struggle with the questions and answers, finding it
difficult to move from the Interview process Into developing an imaginative
andlnformativepieceofwriting. Most paperswere filled with paragraphs that
merely restated the questions and answers given In the Interview without
providing any sense of the narrative context In which it was given. I was
searching for a means to change a contrived Interview/writing assignment
into an experience that would allow my students to discover the values of
research in a positive and natural way. Dr. Charnley's session provtded me
with the seeds for that change.

During the follOwing summer, while Iwas reading a text on storytelling,

it suddenly fell Into place: I could use Dr. Charnley's oral histOIY idea In my
writing course by modifYing the research requirements to meet the objectives
I sought to achieve In my own mini-research paper. In thinking about this
new assignment, I realized that I wanted many things for my students. First
of all, I wanted them to engage In research In a natural and self-motivated
way. Second. I wanted my students to use the data they collected to create
an tmaglnative and creative piece ofwriting. Third, I wanted my students to
think about researching as a personal act- one that Involved people, not just
libraries. Finally, I wanted my students to use their research to discover more
about themselves. their families. their friends, and what their connections to
history might be.

I realized that i.fI approached the writing project as an opportunity for

my students to record an oral history/storytelling session Instead of ap­
proaching it as a project In documentation, I could maintain the element of
research for my students by having them use a natural means (the open­
ended Interview) to gather material. I have also found that this approach to
researching offers them the opportunity to listen to someone's story. to
Wlderstand his or her experiences. and to record that story by creating a gift
of their wri ting. As a whole, the oral history/storytelling project provtdes a
new way for my students to be successful researchers and writers.

I usually begin introducing the MOral History-Storytelllng" paper early

In the semester, even though it is not due until the end of the term. I tell my

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LANGUAGE ARTS JOURNAL OF MICHIGAN

students that they will be given an opportunity to interview someone close to
them who lived during an era. or event which had historical sign!.ftcance. My
students initially react with some level of apathy, questioning what anyone
in their families could possibly say about an event that had historical
significance. I acknowledge their concerns but assure them that they will be
surprised at the kinds ofstories they might hear from parents, grandparents,
older friends, or teachers.

Throughout the semester, I remind them that they need to think about
whom they might want to interview and to find time to meet with someone.
(Generally these meetings take place over ThanksgMng weekend In the fall
or Easter break in the spring.l. As the time for actually doing the asSignment
grows closer, the students begin to have many questions about the upcoming
assignment. ~Who will I interview?" ~What ifthey don't have anything to say?"
~How should the paper be written?" At that time, I try to address their

concerns by discussing the historical eras their family members might have
experienced. For instance, most ofmy students were born in the early 1970's.
which means their parents were products ofthe 1960's, with the Beatles. rock
concerts, a variety of protests, and Vietnam. Their grandparents are usually
of the World War II or post-war eras, with the cold war, McCarthy, and the big
band sounds; some are possibly old enough to remember the Great Depres­
sion. I have also suggested to some of my students that they conSider
interviewtngsevera.l people over the age ofthirty-five and simply asking them,
"What were you doing the day JFK was assassinated?" or some similar
question.

Often theywill smile and nod, but it is not until I begin the oral histoxy I
storytelling unit and begin to share the stories that students from previous
semesters have written that they actually begin to understand their own
possibilities. The stories I read are about Vietnam, Woodstock, World War II,
the Great DepresSion, assassinations, and meeting people who have become
important; they are varied In type and subject matter, but they are always
personal pieces of someone's memoxy, pieces of the past that become
narrative gifts, gifts of writing for the storyteller and the writer.

One student interviewed an older friend about his experiences in

Vietnam, and with herpermlssion, I often share some ofthe friend's stoxywith
the class:

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 VolWNJ 7, Number 2

...In Vietnam, when you hear yourselfscream, the end is In sight. You
can almost count on it being the last sound anyone will ever hear from
you. Ifyou're not dead, you might as well be. because your life, as you
know it, is over.

There are many sounds I will never forget; the sound of bullets
as they pierce through my buddies' flesh. and then the immediate cry
of pain. Those cries enter my dreams and wake me up at night. My
nights are filled with images of death. fire, and screams.

I became immune to death; at least to seeing it.... Killing and

destruction was our -job". Serve our country; they really meant kill.
and save yourself. Your country had nothing to do with it. What ajoke,
they didn't even want us therel

The one inctdent that still is as vivid In my memory as the day

it happened is the day I got hit. The ground trembled. and so did I. The
far end of the trench was shelled. We ran to help survivors. Another
shell came in directly at us; people ran. I watched, frozen to the earth;
the shell came towards me. It was fifty feet away, then closer. closer.
Pain so Intense that I saw myself from outside my own body. I was
watching. crying, as the bomb hit my legs. I didn't scream.

The world grew dim. I didn't know if I would escape the

darkness I had fallen into. It wasn't scary; it was serene and almost
calming, nothing like the nightmare I woke up to. I was paralyzed from
the waist down. I guess I should have been grateful that I had my legs.
my life- I wasn't. It·s not just being confined to a wheelchair for the
rest of my life. it's the constant reminder ofhow I got here that is hard
to live with,

This excerpt is just one of the several Vietnam stories that have been
shared in class. Although many are not as graphic as this one. they each have
their own sense of horror, of tragedy. Some stories seem almost technical in
their reporting, eliciting an aura of routineness. as the following excerpt
shows:

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LANGUAGE ARTS JOURNAL OF MICHIGAN
Weeks later we were back In Ben Cat as part ofa blocking force.
We pushed the V. C. past the Bong Song river where the 10 1 statrborne
division was waiting for them. The V. C. were pinned between
Cambodia and the 101st, while artilleI)' and arc Utes were used to
destroy them. Arc lites are air strikes by B-52 bombers. When the B­
52s were flying, we never saw them, but we could always feel them.

Finally. in another stoI)', a young soldier tells about the chaos and
confusion he felt about the jungle warfare both In Vietnam and when he
arrived back in the States. His stoI)' ends with the follOwing:

When my year term was finally over and I arrived back In the
United States, people were waiting for us at the airport. I walked to the
gate and a pregnant woman walked up to me. "You are not killing my
baby!" she yelled, and threw a cup ofblood on me. I ran to the barracks
and cried, literally cried for hours. I had no idea what was going on at
home or over there.

As I read the Vietnam stories In class. my students sit, silenced by the

horror. Many have seen the Vietnam movies. but that is Hollywood; these
stories are real, stories about the lives of men their fathers' ages. Usually. I
will ask them to think about the stories they have just heard by writing a
journal response. Often. I will ask if any of their fathers or uncles served in
Vietnam. Sometimes they never thought about it or have never thought to
ask. The honesty of their answers strikes a chord in many-illuminating
just how little they may know about their own families and initiating a desire
to know more.

After the initial sharing of stories. I discuss the actual assignment in

more detail. The assignment centers on listening to and writing abou t stories,
both in and out of the class. The gUidelines for the assignment balance the
student's time between hearing some of the stones created by former
students with the project ofcreating their own stories from the interviews they
will conduct. Since this is the last assignment of the semester. my students
realize that I expect a well-developed, well-written piece that generally falls
between five to seven pages. I usually allow about three weeks for the

32
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completion of this unit. which provides time for the interview process, small
group discussions. student/teacher conferences. peer editing. and. fmally.
whole class sharing of the final piece. The students are expected to make
decisions about all aspects of the process. from whom and when they will
interview to how they ultimately retell the story effectively and accurately. As
examples of successful literacy experiences. the stories I read in class serve
as models of successful researching and writing.

Also. the incentive to discover more about the history of the era and
how it might have affected or influenced an interviewee is inherent in the
writing process the students go through for this assignment. I never "require"
them to do library research about the era; however. probably 900/0 of them
choose to study the era simply because they have discovered an interest. a
need to know more about the time period their interviewees discuss so freely
and knowledgeably.

As part of their preparation for doing this assignment, I provide

boundaries for my students. First of all. to help them make choices about
whom they mtghtinterview and when they will conduct the interview. I insist
that they allow a minimum oftwo hours for the interview, since these sessions
are not structured interviews with questions and answers. Instead. I
encourage my students to select a comfortable setting that will function as an
atmosphere that will promote a lengthy talk. I suggest that, if possible. they
tape record the session instead of taking notes; this allows them to become
active listeners, not simply note takers. Since most students are conducting
the interviews away from the school setting, their parents. grandparents, and
friends generally allow the audio taping, I also firmly suggest that once they
have written the story, they offer to return the audio tape along with a copy
of the finished paper- the story gift.

While explaining the interview aspect of the assignment, I stress

several points which I want them to remember as they interview their parents,
grandparents. and older friends about the historical points in their lives.
• Allow enough time to interview the person you have
chosen; don't rush.
• Be attentive. active listeners; don't distract the
stoxytelling by interrupting the speaker or fOCUSing on
taldng notes. Use a tape recorder if at all possible.
• Be respectful; don't push. Many of these memories are
accompanied by pain and sorrow.

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LANGUAGE ARTS JOURNAL OF MICHIGAN
• When developing the written text. be accurate about the
facts and sensitive to the issues.
• Write a note of thanks to your storyteller for his or her
time and enclose a copy of your finished work.

Throughout the next several classes (we usually spend the last three
weeks of the semester working formally on thts p~ect). I continue to share the
story gifts written by former students. Agatn and again, they are surprised by
the stories-stories about World War II, stortes about the depression. stories
about the assassinations of JFK and Martin Luther King. stories about the
TItanic, the riots of the 1960's, Vietnam, the IRA. and even Woodstock. These
stortes are stories about people, about patn, about insight, and about honesty.
The stories explode from the memories of their parents. their grandparents, and
their older friends. and my students listen and respond through in-class
writings and small group talks.

One student interested in the question "What were you doing the day
JFK was assassinated?" was astounded that people could remember exactly
what they were doing at the moment they heard the news. even a quarter of
a century later. She explained to me that she felt compelled to read as much
as she could about John Kennedy's assassination. Another student was
surprised when she asked an older friend about the assassination and was
shown the newspaper clippings. clippings which had been packed away
twenty-seven years. Still another stUdent asked several people about the
event and received one detailed account after another. She was so interested
in hearing the stories that she even managed to contact James Blanchard,
then Governor of Michigan. He. like each of her other interviewees. remem­
bered the day clearly:

James Blanchard. Governor ofMtchtgan , was attending Michi­

gan State University. where he was president of his senior class. He
was walking to his political science class when he heard the news
about Kennedy. His class was canceled. so he walked back to his
fraternity house where he watched the news with his fraternity
brothers.

As my students begin the process of creating their own stories. they

finish their interviews. review their notes and tapes of those interviews. and

34
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begin to wrtte. I encourage them to frame the stories they have heard by
explaining them in terms of the era in which they occurred. Many students
preface their story by introducing the person interviewed and by providing
enough historical information to ground the story in time. After the preface.
most students choose to become a ghost writer by telling the story first­
person- through the eyes of the storyteller. By doing this, they are able to
escape the pitfalls normally associated with traditional question and answer
type interviews. One student chose to tell his father's story about attending
Woodstock in 1969:

The traffic was really getting bad and we were still several mUes
from the concert site. People were stopping, pulling over to the edge
ofthe road. getting outand walking. I looked at my buddy and he shook
his head. so I pull the bus (VW van) off as much as I could and we
grabbed our gear. People were jamming the road. smiling. laughing.
smoking. We all knew this was history in the making and we were part
of it.

As my students develop their stories further. we share the work in

progress. We discuss the problems that arise when one trles to tell someone
else's story. We look at different voices and how they can affect the style and
tone of the story. Within smaIl groups, we share challenges. concerns. and
successes, working together to create a piece that best reflects the experi­
ences of the storyteller.

Most of my students find that listening to the stories people tell can
create learning experiences that extend far beyond the initial assignment.
Many of my students have created extraordinary pieces of wrttlng through
this particular assignment, while many more have discovered pieces of their
own history. They have discovered that people do indeed have stories to tell
and wish to share them if given the opportunity.

Storytelling provides a natural interview experience for my students,

allowing them to develop their skills in gathering information by listening.
Understanding. and recording that information in ways that are both creative
and informative. Students are able to focus their energies on retelling.
creating a text that best represents the story they have heard. The Oral
History/Storytelling paper always represents some of my students' best

35
LANGUAGE ARTS JOURNAL OF MICHIGAN
wrtting, and their reactions to this assignment are best captured in a
comment used by one of my students as she introduced the story about her
grandmother, a World War II navy nurse:

To me, K. S. was just MGrandma. She does things most

M

grandmas do. I never expected her to have a past.

Pamela Gates-Duffield teaches In the EngUsh Department at Central

Michigan University.

36