Sharing Our Stories

We live at an amazing time. A time where we have many venues for our stories, whether we choose to tell them at a local coffee shop or share them online to a global audience. Our stories might only be told to our children or closest friends. Or through a blog post like this one, shared via Stories from the Stage, TED Talk, or shared in our classrooms to our students and colleagues. Everyone’s story is unique and important.

As the TED Talk “The Danger of the Single Story” highlights: It is critical that we tell our stories, that we don’t rely on any ‘single story’ to judge a people or place, and that our children see themselves in the stories they read. You see, everyone’s story is important to tell and to be heard.

Dr. Jennifer Williams (@JenWilliamsEdu) in her book Teach Boldly: Using Edtech for Social Good highlights this:

As educators, we have a responsibility to guide students as they become illustrators of the human experience–stewards of truth and accuracy– and to help them incorporate the new while preserving the aesthetic whole. We need to help students filter the sometimes noisy spaces of technology and innovation. We need to ensure that the richness of humanity is protected and that the stories that sit between purpose and perspective are told and contextualized.

We have the ability as educators to use Edtech as consumers (reading and hearing the stories of others) and as creators. With our students, we have the ability, and responsibility, to share multiple stories and to give them the power of their own stories. Giving them the power of their voice to tell their stories, so that the ‘richness of humanity’ is shared globally.

How do we support our students as storytellers? Ask yourself these three questions (Page 103-104 Teach Boldly):

  • With increased interdependence and globalization, how can I best bring stories of the world to my students, and my students’ stories to the world?
  • How can I extend the perspective of my students so they can address problems and issues through the lens of an integrated worldview as opposed to a collection of independent skills?
  • Are my classrooms isolated “docks,” or are we building bridges with other classrooms around the world?

Ready to open the door to hear stories and tell stories globally? Teach Boldly is a great book that will give you resources on how to do it, perspectives from educators around the world, and most importantly it will make you think.

How can we, and our students, use Edtech for social good?

  • Learn Boldly.
    • Tell your story.
      • Be heard and hear others.
        • See inside the richness of humanity and the common need we all have to be heard and to feel that we belong.

 

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