Note: this is a reflection of a reading that was assigned in class.
Reading: “Lived Realities and Formula Stories of “Battered Women” by Donileen Loseke
The stories teachers tell.
This article serves to confirm my suspicions about ‘teacher talk’ or the discussions among teachers about students. Often times, teachers will chat with one another in September about a student who has a ‘reputation’, be it good or bad. This conversation can have a significant impact on how other teachers view a child. Much like reading through a child’s school file, teachers can often be given preconceived notions of what a child might be like in the classroom. Often times, children who struggle with behavior in school are discussed openly with other teachers. This isn’t necessarily wrong. Sometimes you need a place to vent frustrations or you are seeking a listening ear and some helpful suggestions for combating whatever problems you’re encountering. However, as I read this article I discovered that often times the opinions of others and stories of others can lead us to form very biased opinions about our students and cause us to reflect differently on our own situations.
I’ve often heard teachers talk about reading their cumulative files, files about students’ schooling, at the end of September as they wanted to get a feel for the children and their characters, work-abilities and behaviors before reading what previous teachers had written about the child. This practice, while it can be prohibitive in that you may go into your classroom knowing very little, may also be very helpful as it can enable you to form your own opinions about your students.
Each summer we ask returning staff not to tell stories or discuss previous campers with new counselors. For any number of reasons a child may return to camp much different than the summer before. Maybe they have matured, gone through a difficult family event, had a hard year in school or simply had been placed with the wrong group of campers and counselors the previous summer. Whatever it may be, we remind our returning staff to give the new staff an opportunity to form their own unbiased opinions and make connections with campers. In this way, we give each child a fresh slate when the buses pull in to camp in June.
Another interesting thing I noted about the stories were the responses from the facilitator. Often she chose to lead them in the direction she wanted in her questioning. She didn’t focus on what they were saying between the lines but rather, emphasized the ‘battered’ and ‘abused’ notion of their stories. Often in chatting in students, teachers can do this as well. We focus on what’s being said rather than what’s not being said and thus our stories are not always focused on the right theme. A student who hits another child may be experiencing any number of difficulties-frustration, not knowing how to share or abuse at home-but our questioning will enable the student to give us the full picture. Using open-ended questions prove to be more effectual in getting to the root of the problem rather than suggesting what has happened as many of us are apt to do.
My Story.
My story, that of camp, is a very personal one. My experience with many of the children and adults who have come to camp has been very different from others’. However, because the focus of this project is very personal I believe that it is acceptable to tell my biased version of my story of ‘camp’. I hope to tell my story of what ‘camp’ means to me. I hope to tell stories of relationships between myself and others. But this isn’t necessarily limited to those who experienced camp with me. In reflecting and researching the writing process, I’ve given some thought to having others’ provide stories for my project including those that I developed relationships with who did not attend summer camp with me but have experienced my ‘camp’ life thorough me. These include my friends, family and my husband. I think those stories are ones that deserve some attention as well and are a part of the full picture of what ‘camp’ has been for me.
We all know that story can be very powerful. It can elicit unbridled emotion, whether that be a laugh or a tear or otherwise. I look forward to telling my story. I’ll leave you with this quote that I find inspirational and very fitting for our artistic projects in this course:
“Artists should always think of themselves as cosmic instruments for storytelling” - Ted Lange
Krista
In the last paragraph of your response to Loseke you begin to get at a key point - that we often - either intentionally or subconsciously - direct and shape the stories of others in certain ways, and these ways have implications for practice. In Loseke's example, the reason the facilitators tried to get the women to present themselves as innocent victims and not to show agency was that the program they were involved with was for victims of abuse. It was publicly funded and the public might react negatively to the idea that the women who benefited were anything other than innocent and suffering victims. The problem with the approach, however, is that it did not allow the women to talk about fighting back or being proactive, or even to talk about things they may have done wrong themselves. Thus it shut down certain kinds of discussion that might have been very helpful.
ReplyDeleteAs you indicate, this is something important for teachers to keep in mind when listening to students' (or parents or colleagues) stories. Also, understanding the idea of discourse is helpful in thinking about how to tell our own stories. The article presents two different discourses about women who have experienced family violence: 1. they are innocent victims; 2. they might be able to take action in various ways that are excluded by discourse 1. Which discourse one takes up has important implications for how one understands the problem.
PS I really like the idea of including other peoples' stories about your camp. This will give it multiple layers. Really looking forward to reading!
ReplyDeletePPS Just read something that says what I was trying to say above: “we are not anything so much as what we have learned to call ourselves. Learning to read ourselves within and against how we have been written, too seems part of the educational project” (Willinsky, 1998, p. 264)
ReplyDelete