storytelling as resistance
An image from Coffey's intro lesson with 12th graders
"I wanted [students] to understand that everything we read, watch, or hear is a construct with underlying power dynamics [...] I wanted them to think about what happens when you are a people who do not control your own story, and how that changes when you take up the responsibility, as writers, to honor the legacies of struggle and resistance in your community" (Coffey 301).
The article I chose to review and read from Rethinking Popular Culture and Media was Jerica Coffey's "Storytelling as Resistance." In it, Coffey describes how she encouraged her students through a unit on "writing the untold histories of our community" (300) to unpack and combat the myths surrounding their neighborhood of Watts, CA by inviting community members 30+ years of age to share their histories. Combining their study of a nonfiction text, Random Family, and their practice of nonfiction narrative writing, Coffey's students "demystified" the Watts community through interviews, photographs, and other recordings and media which culminated in digital storytelling projects. The school and community were invited to listen to the stories, where the interviewees were guests of honor. Afterwards, one student who wrote about "the story of her mother's migration to the United States and life as an undocumented worker with disabilities" reflected on how the project impacted her mother: "She said she was astonished. She felt like she was finally heard..." (309)
Coffey leads us through the process, from asking students to reflect on what other people think of their neighborhood, what they personally think, and then reading a book that, while well-written, is not without its problems concerning representation and voice in another community the author (a journalist) observed and interacted with. While analyzing the text for writing practice purposes and for content, Coffey also introduced her students to Tara Yosso's concept of Community Cultural Wealth. By using these as guides, students designed interview questions to pinpoint different aspects of the stories in their community that go unheard and recognize the ways community members resisted and survived oppression.
The goal in the end is for students to see how the stories we tell matter, and why it's equally as important to see why somebody else's version of the story is taken as truth, whereas the true story can be, and often is, ignored. To be honest, this is a unit I would have LOVED to teach while I was student teaching, since we did all sorts of work with writing for community, stories, and what power looks like.
Hi Jessica! Thank you for allowing me to read your blog.
ReplyDeleteIt was an absolute pleasure getting to read your post. I think you did a wonderful job of telling a story about the way that Coffey teaches about stories. I think that the way that Coffey set up her lesson with her students is brilliant. In a time where information is passed around and ingested in a matter of seconds, it is important to really be critical of points of views. I would too like to teach a unit about this, especially since I teach computer science, and can relate it to digital media and the news that we as 21st century citizens an thinkers receive. Thanks again for sharing!
What an amazing lesson. And what better way to get students writing is through their personal experience?
ReplyDeleteI checked out the Community Cultural Wealth link and I really like how each aspect could be and should be incorporated into the lesson. The interviews conducted and hearing from the people who have stories that usually go untold and unheard is super important and crucial to help them understand their community. I agree that it would be a great lesson to all students and also would have wanted to incorporate it as well!
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