Research Paper: Storytelling

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Macey Hand
Amy Wilson
Class
October 28, 2020
Storytelling for Education: A Critique
For as long as humanity has existed, storytelling has been, and will always be, a mainstay of imagination, morality and education. From visual depictions on caves to avatars and digital objects on screens, stories are still powerful to make a difference and spark creativity and imagination among people of different ages, genders, cultures and races. The unprecedented progress in IT innovations has introduced, however, shifts in ways stories are understood, shared and promoted. In contrast to more conventional forms of storytelling, where a storyteller presented and shared a story with an audience physically present, digital storytelling forms and contents are remodeling the storytelling practice in numerous innovative ways. Indeed, conventional ways of storytelling are increasingly giving way to digital, or digitized, stories: these once conventional forms are “repackaged” into new digital forms. To place digital storytelling in context, a close examination is required of current practices. To do so, a rigorous examination of current-state-of-practice-and research is necessary. For current purposes, sample stories are examined in order to explore ways such stories could be used in, and perhaps outside, classroom settings to inculcate certain values, lessons or principles in approachable, learner-friendly ways. This critique aims, accordingly, to examine “A Pair of Tickets” by Amy Tan and “The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara, using an educational/didactic storytelling approach, in order to explore ways to share embedded values, lessons or principles using modern, digital storytelling forms and methods in and out of classroom settings.
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Traditionally, literacy has had a deep-resonating effect in and beyond classrooms. For one, “literacy,” as a concept and practice, has many meanings and applications and, as such, has proven useful in several learning contexts. Today, literacy assumes whole new meanings beyond simple reading and numerical ones. Specifically, literacy in the 21st century means, in addition to conventional meanings, digital knowledge. That is, gaining knowledge and skills in using digital devices and applications is an essential competency students and learners must have in an age defined more by digital communication and constant interactions at a global scale. Unsurprisingly, a growing body of research emphasizes digital literacy development among learners in classroom settings, particularly during early childhood (Maureen, van der Meij and de Jong 374; Yuksel-Arslan, Yildirim and Robin 430). Moreover, digital knowledge could become a leverage to more conventional ways of storytelling in class. That is, by using appealing multimedia effects that are particularly appealing to younger learners in early childhood, in classroom settings, conventional, or older, forms of storytelling – and for that matter stories – could be repackaged in digital forms in order to share lessons and values 21st century children are more receptive to in more appealing, digitized ways. To put matters into perspective, a practical example is helpful.
In “The Lesson,” Bambara offers ingenious insights about African-American struggles for equality and social justice. Through a fairly “homely” setting in New York City featuring a group of African-American children, Bambara manipulates dialogues between children and a Miss Moore. Specifically, Bambara, pitting spontaneous and reckless child play (so common among African-American children) represented by all children characters and a more somber view of equality and social justice represented by Miss Moore, puts into play a historical African-American dilemma: maintaining ancestral links by emphasizing spontaneity
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and avoiding unaffectedness, or “la-de-da,” (Bambara 146) fighting for a more informed and just existence by having an “an equal crack at the dough” (151) The bickering and backstabbing, early in “The Lesson,” give way to a more rational view causing cracks in African-American solidarity as evidenced in Sylvia's, narrator's, and Sugar's split:
Then Sugar surprises me by sayin, “You know, Miss Moore, I don’t think all of us here put together eat in a year what that sailboat costs.” And Miss Moore lights up like somebody goosed her. “And?” she say, urging Sugar on. Only I’m standin on her foot so she don’t continue. (Bambara 151)
By expressing her actual feelings about prices of toys she sees, Sugar distances herself from Sylvia who, “standin on her foot so she don’t continue,” prefers to stay mum and even contemplates “white” inclinations to acquire overpriced toys for her birthday:
Me and Sugar at the back of the train watchin the tracks whizzin by large then small then gettin gobbled up in the dark. I’m thinkin about this tricky toy I saw in the store. A clown that somersaults on a bar then does chin-ups just cause you yank lightly at his leg. Cost $35. I could see me askin my mother for a $35 birthday clown. (Bambara 150)
In so doing, Sylvia shows a second major dilemm...