Packing Slip 
item |
Illuminating Integrated Humanities Classes with Historical Storytelling (1999-2000 MIL Fellowship) |
contact |
LynnAnn Wojciechowicz (South Mountain Community College) lynnann.woj@smcmail.maricopa.edu |
college(s) |
South Mountain Community College |
discipline(s) |
Humanities, History, Storytelling, all |
summary |
I teach a two-semester integrated humanities class entitled "Ideas and Values in the Humanities." The first part of my fellowship project was to research and craft in-depth stories of five people from the cultures we study in the second semester of the course. The second part of my project was assessment. I gave students a pre-assessment inventory at the beginning of the semester to determine their knowledge of the five people. At the end of the semester, I conducted a post-assessment inventory and compared the results of the two. My goal was to show that storytelling is an effective teaching tool as evidenced by the details from the stories that students remembered. |
details |
1. Project Description I teach a two-semester integrated humanities class entitled "Ideas and Values in the Humanities." The first semester starts with Ancient River Valley Civilizations and proceeds chronologically to the European Renaissance. The second semester starts with the Renaissance and concludes with the Modern World. Civilizations in Asia, Africa, and the Americas are touched upon along with those in Europe. My project goal was to increase student learning through the use of historical stories in HUM 104, the second semester of Ideas & Values in the Humanities. In the past, I noticed that students always included details of literary stories I told in class as examples in their essay exams indicating to me that these stories were more memorable than those they read on their own. My hope was that if I told stories about people who were mentioned in each unit, students would remember these details and the cultural contexts surrounding them. My personal goal was to research and craft effective historical stories. The first part of my fellowship project was to research and craft in-depth stories of five people from the cultures we study in the second semester of the course. In addition to giving a glimpse into the life of each famous person, I have tried to embed into each story the important ideas and values of the people in this particular culture at this particular time. The people I have chosen are Sir Thomas More (1478 - 1535), a man born into a Medieval family during the Renaissance in England who could not accept the ideas of the Reformation; Sor Juana Inez de la Cruz (1648 - 1695), a brilliant Spanish Creole born in Mexico to unwed parents whose best opportunity to study and write was to become a nun; Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791), a child prodigy who became the most outstanding composer of the Classical age in music; Frida Kahlo (1904 - 1954), a Mexican artist in the early 1900's whose position in the art world was over-shadowed by her famous husband, Diego Rivera; and Jean-Paul Sartre (1905 - 1980), the French philosopher, whose existentialist philosophy was shaped by his experiences in Nazi-occupied France during the Second World War. The second part of my project was assessment. I gave students a pre-assessment inventory at the beginning of the semester to determine their knowledge of the five people. At the end of the semester, I conducted a post-assessment inventory and compared the results of the two. I had plans to monitor the details students mentioned about the people in my stories on their essay exams and in their semester projects, but I just did not have the time. My goal was to show that storytelling is an effective teaching tool as evidenced by the details from the stories that students remembered. 2. Project Implementation, Evaluation, and Documentation My first step was to find material for a story on Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz. I spent about two months researching and reading and another two months crafting the story. I told it publicly at the SMCC Storytelling Institute Fall Festival on October 16, 1999. I learned through this experience how incredibly difficult the crafting of an historical story is. Then, I began researching and reading about Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, followed by Sir Thomas More. At the end of Fall semester, I had one well-developed story, and two additional works-in-progress. During the Winter break, I chose the last two people-Frida Kahlo and Jean-Paul Sartre-and designed the pre- and post-assessment inventory I would administer to students the first week of Spring semester. During the spring semester, I was exceptionally busy with crafting and telling the stories of Sir Thomas More, Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart-while I was researching and reading material for stories on Frida Kahlo and Jean-Paul Sartre. I thoroughly enjoyed researching, crafting and telling the stories of all the people except one-Jean-Paul Sartre: the more I read about him, the more I discovered I could not relate to the way he lived his life and the philosophical questions he wrestled with. In order to be effective, a storyteller needs to be able to understand the subject on an emotional and spiritual level as well as on an intellectual level. I chose Sartre as a subject because students have such a difficult time understanding the philosophy of existentialism, and I thought if they had an understanding of the man they might understand his ideas better. Because of this project, I persevered and did tell a story about him in class, but I do not intend to tell a story about Jean-Paul Sartre in the future. However, I might research Simone de Beauvoire and develop a story on her in which I can mention Sartre and his philosophy and the way he and his philosophy affected her. To document my project, I took notes as I researched and I prepared a chronology of important milestones in each person's life, along with interesting anecdotes and quotes. I now have a folder of information on each of the five people that I focused on for this project. I also have a folder of materials and a shelf of books that I have collected on classroom research, assessment, learning, and the scholarship of teaching. I have another shelf of books on collected and individual biographies that will provide the raw material for future historical stories. Students seemed to enjoy each of the stories as I told them in class. The pre-assessment inventory showed that students knew nothing of Jean-Paul Sartre and very little about Sir Thomas More, Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, and Frida Kahlo when they entered the class. The only one they were generally familiar with was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The post-assessment inventory indicated that one person was still unfamiliar with Sir Thomas More and Sor Juana and another knew nothing about Sir Thomas More at the end of the semester. (It is possible that these two students were absent on the days I told these stories.) Every student could write something about the others, and the details they listed were most impressive. SEE ATTACHED REPORT: HUM 104 Pre & Post Assessments On Knowledge Of People For Whom Stories Were Told Spring Semester 2000. 3. Personal/Professional Reflection The MIL Fellowship experience has been fantastic! The opportunity to gather with faculty from other disciplines to discuss learning and the scholarship of teaching has been most rewarding. I have long been interested in brain research and how students learn, and I've attended workshops over the years on Optimalearning, Super Teaching, and Cooperative Learning. The resources we were given and the discussions we had last summer at the MIL Retreat in Prescott renewed my interest in discovering the latest information on student learning and classroom assessment techniques. The meetings we had with the Fellows during the year provided additional opportunities to discuss not only our individual projects but also topics related to teaching and learning and the scholarship of teaching. These discussions were stimulating, thought-provoking, and refreshing. The time provided by the MIL Fellowship has been the most valuable aspect of the experience: the time to read books about teaching and learning, the time to meet and discuss the ideas, the time to work on my project, the time to reflect on my teaching and how my students learn, the time to reflect on my project. Time was also my biggest problem: I did not have enough time during the spring semester to design and conduct all of the assessment strategies I had planned. Fortunately, I have received a Sabbatical for the academic year 2000 - 2001 to continue the work I started with the MIL Fellowship. This will give me the opportunity to learn from the mistakes I made this year as I carefully choose five people from HUM 103, the first semester of Ideas & Values in the Humanities, on whom to research and craft stories. Hindsight should help me in managing my time to assure that I accomplish the majority of my goals during the first semester, so I won't be so rushed during the second semester. The MIL Fellowship has laid the groundwork for me to continue working on assessing the value of using stories in humanities classes. Fall semester, I will be observing faculty throughout MCCCD who use stories in their humanities and composition classes, and Spring semester, I will be telling stories in various humanities classes district wide. I will conduct assessment surveys in all of these classes. One of my Sabbatical goals is to write a report on using historical stories in humanities classes for publication in the National Storytelling Magazine. I also plan to prepare materials for humanities faculty that I will be able to share in workshops after my Sabbatical is completed. I would say that my experience as an MIL Fellow has been successful because I completed my project and achieved my main goals. I have learned much about myself as a learner, as a storyteller, and as a teacher from my MIL Fellowship experiences. I have been teaching Ideas & Values in the Humanities for thirteen years; working on this project has revitalized and re-energized my teaching of this course. Working with the other Fellows and the administrative team from MCLI has been most stimulating. I am very grateful for this opportunity and would hope that ways will be found to keep this community together. I am really looking forward to the May 2000 retreat in Prescott and meeting the new MIL Fellows. Note! As a professional courtesy to the owner of this package, if you use some aspect of this package or have some thoughts about it, please share your feedback via the comments form below. |
web links |
http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/mil/ http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/mil/fellows.php?what=bio&yr=0&id=4 http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/labyforum/Spr00/forum4.html http://www.southmountaincc.edu/Programs/Faculty/Wojciechowicz.htm |
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extra |
Last modified: May-09-2004 Date created: Mar-09-2001 Visitor count: 2724 Dublin Core Metadata record  This package is included in the Maricopa Institute for Learning Final Reports special collection. |
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