Story as Witnessing: Creating Oral Histories During the Covid-19 Epidemic

The following activity is part of a series we’re creating to support students, teachers, and caregivers, during this unprecedented time. Read more about the project here. If you try this activity with your student(s), we’d love to see what you do. Share your journey via the #Inspired2Learn hashtag on your preferred social platform.

Created by: Susan K. Coti
Discipline: English Language Arts; Current Events
Age level: Grades 4-12
Time: Three to five days
Materials: Digital recording device

In this time of uncertainty, many people are fearful, anxious and alone. Many also feel a sense of solidarity with others from afar and a heightened creativity. Many feel despair at losing a loved one to Covid-19. Within this realm of darkness and light, there are stories to tell, stories to preserve, stories that will become part of an oral history that documents this unprecedented time in modern world history. The following activity can help to ease/express some of these feelings in a storytelling format. It can be done with your students or if you’re not teaching at the moment, with members of your family and others close to you.

What to do:

Take five minutes to write a list of things that have changed in your life since this period of self-isolation started. Include concrete things such as change of work venue or more abstract things like feelings/emotions. Write whatever comes to mind. These will be the fragments or story seeds that develop into full stories.
Look at your list and choose an item that calls to you the most.
Begin the process of telling. It is more than reciting words but imagining clearly. Focus on sensory details: sights, sounds, smells, feelings in the body, sensations of hot or cold, hunger, thirst etc. Remember emotions: excitement, anger, fear anxiety, freedom, delight.

Storytelling is a visual experience for both the teller and the listener. Whatever the teller imagines, the listener “sees,” and the story unfolds like a movie. Practice with a listener. This is the most natural way to develop a story. As you tell and retell the story, it will start to take shape. It is best to do this with a listener in the same room because you will automatically take in the listener’s unconscious cues (for example, if the listener looks puzzled, the teller will adjust the story for more clarity next time), but the most important thing is to keep practicing.

Speak clearly and pause at times – the places where the voice rests are just as important as the action.
Record your story when you feel it is finished. You don’t have to memorize it; in fact, please don’t even try! Your story will flow in an organic way as soon as you begin and will make its way to a satisfying conclusion. It helps to have “chunks” of the story laid out in the mind to follow as you tell and retell your story. You can think of it as a story map and it is something you can write down to help you keep your story on track.

If you do this with your students, there are lots of ways to present the stories. I can imagine a documentary of voices, images and music.

Inspired Teaching connection:

Students engaged in this activity are actively using their intellects and imaginations in authentic ways, using real-life experiences that also bring inquiry and integrity into their learning about themselves and the world.

See our instructional model here.

Micaiah Anderson

Community Outreach Specialist

As a Community Outreach Specialist, Micaiah is responsible for program promotion and outreach support for Inspired Teaching events and workshops. Micaiah has a passion for collaborating with community members to build-power and connect. She is an educator with a heart for youth and has experience supporting students fight injustices within their schools and communities. She has a BA in Political Science from, the real HU, Hampton University & anticipates graduating in May 2024 with a Masters of Arts degree in Educational Policy Transformation from Georgetown University.

AUTONOMY

"I want to have a say in what happens to me."

Autonomy is the need for independence; the ability to make choices, to create, to explore, and to express oneself freely; to have sufficient space, to move around, and to feel unrestricted with opportunities to exercise free will.

Brady Maiden

Outreach Coordinator

As the Outreach Coordinator, Brady helps maintain Inspired Teaching’s social media presence and supports the organization’s mission to connect with DC community leaders, educators, and parents. Brady has her Master’s in Public Policy from George Mason University and her BS in Political Science from Northern Arizona University. She is passionate about community, equity, and coalition building recognizing that learning and growing with the community at large is how we continue to be impactful.

What brings you joy in life?

I find joy in spending time with my friends and family and meeting new people. I like going to concerts and festivals, and finding new books to read.

The Learner’s Cycle, Wonder-Experiment-Learn, and the Teacher’s Cycle, Observe-Plan-Instigate, comprise Inspired Teaching’s approach to engaging students in inquiry-based learning.

When they are engaged in the Wonder-Experiment-Learn Cycle, students are immersed in learning. They take the lead in designing authentic learning experiences around their own interests and their school’s standards of learning. Each discovery leads to a new question which in turn leads to more wondering and more learning. In the Wonder-Experiment-Learn Cycle, Learn is not a destination or an endpoint; it is a deeper understanding, leading to a deeper wondering and new possibilities that create new entry points to further exploration. The cycle continues because what students have learned generates more wonderings that require more experiments that foster more learning – and on and on.

The Observe-Plan-Instigate Cycle is the work of an Inspired Teacher. While a student is expected to follow the Wonder-Experiment-Learn Cycle, the teacher joins them on the learning journey while following their own cycle of Observe-Plan-Instigate. This cycle ultimately serves to ensure an inquiry-based atmosphere is at play in the classroom.

Jaqueta Abbey

Teaching and Learning Specialist

Jaqueta is the Teaching and Learning Specialist for Inspired Teaching. In addition to her current role with Inspired Teaching, Jaqueta is a first-grade teaching assistant. Her background features a variety of traditional and non-traditional experiences in the field of education, including working as an adjunct professor, teaching summer reading programs to children and adults, and tutoring children in the foster care system. Jaqueta earned a B.A. in Communication Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and an M.A. in Interactive Media from Elon University.

What brings you joy in life?

Creative self-expression! In addition to my passion for storytelling, I love dancing of all kinds. I've studied belly dance, bachata, and Brazilian Zouk among other styles. I also enjoy glass fusing, crocheting, photography, and cross stitching. These art forms allow me to express myself and build connections with other people at the same time. I think life would be a lot less vibrant without artists and storytellers!

Michelle Welk

Communication & Marketing Specialist

As Communications and Marketing Specialist, Michelle is responsible for finding and creating new ways to highlight Inspired Teaching and promote its programs in order to expand and deepen the organization's impact. Michelle has worked in communications in an array of settings, from creative agencies to state politics to national nonprofits. She has a BA in Journalism from Temple University in Philadelphia and is passionate about education, access, and equity.

What brings you joy in life?

My son, the beach, making a persuasive argument and good food!

Max Peterson

Real World History Assistant Teacher

Max received his Bachelor’s degree in History and African American Studies from Boston University in May 2016. He has worked in museum curation at the Museum of the White Mountains in New Hampshire and the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. Max has worked with young people of varying ages from young children to young adults transitioning to college.

Feedback and Accountability

We grow through feedback and an understanding that the quality of our work is a reflection of what we are learning, but the shift to remote learning this spring disrupted a lot of the tools teachers were used to using to evaluate student growth. How might we do things differently this fall? Participants in this workshop will explore ways to bring meaningful assessment into the virtual and/or socially-distanced classroom and approaches to student feedback that strengthen motivation, and build relationships and achievement.