Listening is an Act of Love: 6 Animated Stories from StoryCorps
Channel: PBS
Listing: POV (also available for online viewing)
Host: StoryCorps founder, David Isay
Director: The Rauch Brothers
Original air date: November 28, 2013
StoryCorps is a program associated with National Public Radio. In this addition, six stories were converted into an animated, visual format and produced for PBS on the show, POV. The episode begins with a conversation between David Isay, founder of StoryCorps, and his nephew. Isay proceeds to explain the importance of asking questions to our loved ones. The six stories include:
1) Cousins James Ransom and Cherie Johnson--The cousins reminisce about their summer, childhood visits to their grandparents’ house in Florida. Their conversation revolves around a colorful neighbor named Miss Divine.
2) Noe Rueda and his high school teacher, Alex Fernandez--Noe tells the story about how he used to sell knickknacks to an attempt to relieve his mother of financial stress.
3) Guinevere Mann and her boyfriend, Yasir Salem--Guinevere suffers from short-term memory loss after she had a surgery to remove a brain tumor. She and Yasir share stories about how Guinevere’s memory loss has impacted their lives.
4) David Wright, a homeless alcoholic, shares his story with Eddie Lanier, a man who showed Wright kindness in his time of need.
5) Scott and Jackie Miller (son and mother)--Jackie tells her son about a hidden secret she has kept from him until this very moment. Scott, Jackie’s adopted son, reflects on the time he shared a big secret with his mother.
6) Cheng Wang and her father Chen Wang ask Kay Wang, Chen’s mother, about her childhood and how she met her husband, Chen’s father.
Quantitative: No Lexile Level or ATOS available
Qualitative: This animated episode of StoryCorps can be accessed by students in grade levels ranging from 5th grade to high school. Because of the animation, it could be assumed that this would be appropriate for a younger audience. However, due to some of the subject matter--specifically alcoholism, adoption, and homosexuality--it would be best to gear this towards a more mature, high school audience.
Content Area: English; Health; Psychology.
Curriculum Suggestions: The beauty of a resource such as this is that a teacher could show the whole episode to underscore an overall theme or show each story as needed depending on the topic. For example, a question students may need to answer is: How do these stories show that “listening is an act of love”? No matter what the approach, I see each story offering an example of how to interview a person, specifically developing open-ended questions. Due to some of the larger issues addressed by the stories, research could be conducted on poverty, brain injuries and memory loss, alcoholism, homelessness, adoption, homosexuality, and family origins. Teachers could also have students conduct their own interviews and even schedule their own StoryCorps recording.
Common Core Standards: RI.9/10.6-8; SL.9./10.1, 3; RH.9/10.7, 9; W.9/10.3-6
Additional/Digital Content:
- StoryCorps homepage--http://storycorps.org/
- Schedule a StoryCorps recording--https://storycorps.org/reservations/
Personal Thoughts: StoryCorps pieces are very short, yet very touching. These stories offer endless possibilities especially when getting students engaged and interested in learning. Additionally, they naturally lend themselves to work in the library whether it’s through research or producing digital media online.
*Meets the "Media Item" requirement
*Meets the "Media Item" requirement
No comments:
Post a Comment