We and Stories

We and Stories. Atul G Unfortunately, I began reading stories very late i.e. in my graduation. Before that there was no access to story books at my home. Even I do not remember going in school library for borrowing books. Though my mother like reading, I do not remember her reading something during my childhood. Thus, there was no-one at home who used to tell me stories of prince, princes, jataka tales etc. It is ery true that the pro ess of riti g u folds the truths hi h the i d the lear s. Writi g i for s the i d, it is ot the other ay rou d . (Wells, 1986). Now, when I am telling you (writing) my story about the story, interesting thing from my childhood experience unfolded in front of me for the first time. At that time my brother wrote an interesting story of a little prince who fought with a devil whose life is entrenched in a pendant and saved his people. I read that story, obviously I read such story for the first time, and for so many years after, when I decide to write something, I was confined to that story written by my brother. As Chimamanda Adichie said i her talk the si gle story reates stereotype , the u a aila ility of other stories of that sort ade the story ritte y y rother as the o ly story for e. E e though I ha e t had access to written stories, I heard a lot of stories from the kitchen, corridors, from our maid, my friends, my cousins etc. Those were the narrative accounts of experiences of different people. One can say there is a difference between those stories and fictions; but for me, now with the enhanced understanding of stories, they are similar. And I believe that these heard stories were what that helped me to go through a long duration of my life without reading stories. Stories and storying has an exceptional role in the life of a children. In fact when we observe a hild, his a li g, his first uttera e of a ord, e e though it s just a ord, has loads of stories built into it. Research says that storying helps student learning read and write. In fact availability of books and print-rich environment is an important component in language acquisition and learning to read and write. Actually stories have a greater role than just helping to achieve the reading and writing skills. There is a need to look at reading-writing as a process, which is, will always be and should be, evolving continuously. We have been working with grade 4 to 7 students who were lagging behind in their grade-appropriate state suggested competencies. We are using stories as an important tool to transact the reading writing skill for those who are struggling in basic abilities. As a common practise, while teachers are teaching these skills, students are continuously asked to write their stories, reflect on the stories read to them. In our program, after an input of around three months I changed teachers of each group. Students from three classrooms wrote letters to me asking me to stop my decision. Those letters were nothing but their stories of why they want their teacher back. There was a girl amongst these students who was struggling to write; she asked the other girl for help and dictated the letter. She ended the letter in her own writing. She wanted to end that letter with her feelings to be conveyed in her own writing and she took a good time to write, as close as to the formal writing, why she want her teacher and what would happen if she will not be there in the classroom. These students actually used their stories and the skills imparted with the help of other stories to control the environment in which they were learning. Some of our students in Ashram schools are olle ti g hildre s riti g for pu lishi g a students handwritten agazi e. Whe I go through so e of the riti gs o y fa ily a y students wrote about the problems of their poor background, hardship faced by their parents and their aspirations. Some students write fictional stories in such a way that their personal stories mix with their narration. While working with a community who is deprived of conducing environment for the germination of reading-writing, this opportunity of writing stories matters a lot to students. When read their stories, Tushar, the teacher who facilitates the ha d ritte agazi e proje t says that, Though I talk to these stude ts daily, looking at their smiling faces, it never occurred to me that there is such an intensity of problems in their life. Their stories help us to u dersta d the as a perso . Knowing someone cannot be possible just by meeting that person and knowing his name, work, residential address and some other details. Stories are the binding agent which holds our relations together. We know a person through his stories – stories which he told us, stories which we share with him. We ha e a a ti e li rary progra through hi h e try to e gage stude ts ith hildre s literature. Generally, we have a background activity before reading out the storybook to children. After that we conduct some post activity based on the book. The objective of the pre-book-reading activity is to build the background of the story, to engage student in the plot, idea of the story and that of the post-book-reading activity is to connect the story to self or consolidate the idea in the story. When we read Kapilene ghetala jhoka, Marathi translation of famous book Mama Moo on a swing, which talks about the story of a cow who rush out of her mundane or stereotypical activities and persuade her dream to be on a swing, we give story writing exercise as a post-reading-activity. In this activity we ask students to write a story of a girl who want to learn to ride a bullock cart. In many cases students have understood the idea of breaking the stereotypical expectations and tried to build the story around that idea. While reading a very well written book by Swati Raje, Paus (Rain), Shalini, one of my colleague, discuss the issue of religion, our biases, beliefs, assumptions about the concept of religion with the students. Such good-read hildre s ooks ot o ly provide concepts, narratives to students for their future storying but also help them expand their understanding of the world around them. It is an experience that a proficient reader tend to choose good books with intricate ideas. The stories impact the world-view and the world view impacts the stories of children. Though I ha e talked a out hildre , it is appli a le to all hu a s. As the fo us o the stories de li es after the pri ary grades (Wells, 1986) the meaning from the classroom activities and learning process start diminishing. The story is important for not only learning but for living. It is being placed, parked, hanged, shared, breathed everywhere around us. Be it education or any other occupation, stories are what that make us. So we have to build upon them and let them build upon us. References Adichie, C. (2009, Jul). Talk on 'The danger of a single story'. TED. TEDGlobal. Engel, S. (1995). The world of children's stories. In The stories children tell: Making sense of the narratives of childhood (pp. 1-10). New York: W. H. Freeman & Comapny. Wells, G. (1986). Ch 10. The sense of story. In The meaning makers (pp. 193-213). Portsmouth, New Hampshire: Heinemann.