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The Power of Stories with Kora Moore
41 Plays1 year ago
In this episode, Kora shares the stories behind mementos she keeps at her desk in her classroom and we talk about the power of stories and how storytelling elevates the classroom experience.
Kora Moore teaches 6th, 7th, and 8th grade ELA at Lighthouse Middle School in Coos Bay Oregon. This is her second year leading a journalistic learning project in her classroom across the three grades she teaches. Last year, three of her students won an award for their published journalism piece.
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Transcript
Podcast Introduction
00:00:12
Speaker
Hello everyone and welcome to the Journalistic Learning Podcast where we talk with teachers who are leading journalistic learning projects in their classrooms.
00:00:20
Speaker
Hey there, I'm Beau Brusco, a former ELA teacher and multimedia journalist.
Classroom Items' Significance
00:00:24
Speaker
Today's episode I think is one of my favorites and it's about the power of stories.
00:00:29
Speaker
In continuing our chat with Oregon-based 6th, 7th, and 8th grade teacher Cora Moore, this time around I start asking Cora about the different sort of items I see in the background in her classroom and the stories behind them.
00:00:42
Speaker
And each one has a personal resonance with her and honestly, when I was listening back to this episode, it still feels special to
Transformative Power of Journalistic Learning
00:00:49
Speaker
me.
00:00:49
Speaker
We also touched on the transformative nature of the journalistic learning approach.
00:00:53
Speaker
You know, a lot of approaches out there might be considered transformative in different ways, but what's so, I think, unique and powerful about journalistic learning is the observable widening of student perspectives as they begin to grapple with the nuances of the stories they're researching and investigating.
00:01:09
Speaker
Anyways, let's jump back into it already.
A Personal Story's Influence on Teaching
00:01:22
Speaker
As we're talking, I can't help but notice we're talking about a journalistic approach in the ELA classroom.
00:01:29
Speaker
And you have, it looks like a news article framed in the corner of the classroom there.
00:01:34
Speaker
What is that?
00:01:35
Speaker
I do.
00:01:36
Speaker
So actually, that is a news article that was written about my dad.
00:01:42
Speaker
It says kids grieve for classroom volunteer.
00:01:45
Speaker
He died when I was 10 and he spent a lot, a lot of time in my classroom.
00:01:50
Speaker
And I was with my mom over the holidays last year and we found this clipping and he's just a really big part of why I'm a teacher in the classroom.
00:02:01
Speaker
And so it was just really special for me to get to put that on display.
00:02:06
Speaker
And yeah,
00:02:08
Speaker
I think nice for a few of the kids have asked about it and they're like, oh, that's really cool.
00:02:14
Speaker
Just to know a little bit about my motivation and why I'm here for them.
00:02:18
Speaker
Yeah, I think it's a very heartwarming piece to have.
00:02:22
Speaker
To me, it just seems like it's tying everything together.
00:02:25
Speaker
It's tying your sort of intrinsic identity in the classroom as well as journalism and news reporting, but also storytelling
Storytelling in Education
00:02:36
Speaker
and storytelling.
00:02:36
Speaker
And the way we can sort of honor people and their experiences through that medium.
00:02:43
Speaker
Yeah, I think that's beautiful.
00:02:45
Speaker
Ed asked earlier about the Waldorf tie-in.
00:02:48
Speaker
And now that you say that, a huge part of Waldorf philosophy is storytelling and learning through storytelling.
00:02:54
Speaker
And so I think that that is really a wonderful connection between our school's personal philosophy and my philosophy as a teacher and this journalistic learning and learning how to tell a story that's not just a fiction story, that's a real life story that's happening in our community and affects us personally.
00:03:13
Speaker
Yeah.
00:03:14
Speaker
I mean, not to get too philosophical, but I really think storytelling is everything when it comes to just being human.
00:03:23
Speaker
Because, I mean, when you think about it, I don't want to go off on a tangent, but, you know, even our own memories, our own capacity to remember things accurately is very limited.
00:03:34
Speaker
So even our memories really are just stories that we tell ourselves about the past that we didn't
00:03:41
Speaker
We can't be 100% certain that they're true.
00:03:43
Speaker
So we do have to realize that storytelling impacts us in ways that we're not even consciously aware of half the time.
00:03:50
Speaker
So being able to communicate effectively one story is an integral part of, I just think, success in so many arenas in life.
00:04:03
Speaker
Yeah.
Effective Storytelling in History Lessons
00:04:04
Speaker
And thinking back to teachers that I really connected with, they were the storytellers.
00:04:09
Speaker
You know, they're the ones I remember.
00:04:13
Speaker
Yeah, my history teacher, I remember junior year of high school, I wasn't a great student.
00:04:18
Speaker
We all know that teachers, people who become teachers either love school or hated school, and I was the latter.
00:04:24
Speaker
But I did have one teacher last period, my junior year of high school, that got me to come to class every day because he taught history.
00:04:34
Speaker
But it wasn't just like a history class reading from a textbook.
00:04:37
Speaker
It was the first half hour of the class was all just storytelling.
00:04:41
Speaker
You know, it's all just sharing stories of the past that I just found so gripping and enchanting, really.
00:04:48
Speaker
So,
Humorous Classroom Story
00:04:49
Speaker
yeah, storytelling.
00:04:49
Speaker
It's incredible.
00:04:52
Speaker
A funny story from last year.
00:04:54
Speaker
I had told this kids this story earlier in the year, and I have lived in Oregon my whole life, but my husband is in the Coast Guard.
00:05:02
Speaker
So over the last 10 years, we have lived also in Hawaii and New Orleans.
00:05:08
Speaker
Wow.
00:05:11
Speaker
So moving to New Orleans, I saw for the first time in my life an armadillo.
00:05:18
Speaker
And
00:05:19
Speaker
They're really, really weird.
00:05:20
Speaker
Yeah.
00:05:22
Speaker
Very, very strange animals.
00:05:24
Speaker
And so I looked at my own children and I was like, I don't think that's real.
00:05:28
Speaker
I'm still not convinced.
00:05:29
Speaker
I'm looking at it and I'm still not convinced.
00:05:31
Speaker
I'm pretty sure they're robots.
00:05:33
Speaker
And so it just kind of became a joke in our family about the armadillos are robots.
00:05:39
Speaker
And I have a
00:05:41
Speaker
armadillo in my class oh yeah um and so he's kind of our class mascot and I had told the kids this story earlier in the year and they're like armadillos are real Mrs. Mora and I was like jokingly like no type in armadillos are robots and you'll find pictures of armadillos being robots and um and then we came to the lesson um
00:06:03
Speaker
in the sift method that I think birds aren't real comes up.
00:06:08
Speaker
And some of them kind of were like, oh, that's interesting.
00:06:11
Speaker
I kind of get it.
00:06:13
Speaker
And then somebody was like, that's kind of like your armadillos aren't real theory, Mrs. Moore.
00:06:18
Speaker
Oh, calling you out.
00:06:19
Speaker
Call me out.
00:06:21
Speaker
And so just that funny little story that I was able to share earlier in the year actually kind of made that moment in the curriculum come alive.
00:06:30
Speaker
And the next day I had a student show up with a bunch of armadillos aren't real stickers, which he passed out to everybody.
00:06:37
Speaker
And then, of course, we had to explain this to everybody who wasn't involved.
00:06:42
Speaker
And
00:06:44
Speaker
So they had to reiterate all their learning to their parents and their other teachers and, you know, friends and other grades.
00:06:51
Speaker
And so that was one of my one of my favorite moments.
00:06:56
Speaker
Yeah.
00:06:56
Speaker
Oh, I love that.
00:06:56
Speaker
It made it into the yearbook.
00:06:59
Speaker
Oh, did it really?
00:06:59
Speaker
For them, too.
00:07:00
Speaker
Yeah.
00:07:00
Speaker
Yeah.
00:07:01
Speaker
Yeah.
00:07:02
Speaker
Well, what a great way to bring personal application for the kids into the lesson.
School Motto vs Journalism Ethics
00:07:08
Speaker
And I also see behind you, you have be kind, be brave, be you.
00:07:13
Speaker
Yes.
00:07:14
Speaker
One of our school, our school motto.
00:07:16
Speaker
That's a school motto.
00:07:17
Speaker
You know what's interesting, and you don't have to run with this idea if you don't want to, but as we've been talking about journalistic learning, I've been reflecting on that sort of edict of the school.
00:07:30
Speaker
And to me, it does guide a lot of journalism ethics because being kind is considering the impact of your story, right?
00:07:40
Speaker
And trying to reduce harm, right?
00:07:42
Speaker
Being brave is being brave enough to tell the truth.
00:07:46
Speaker
even when it's inconvenient or not what everyone wants to hear.
00:07:52
Speaker
And then lastly, being you is so important because you're not just honoring you yourself and your authenticity, but honoring people's stories, like the story you have in the frame over there, and realizing that there are real people and real perspectives that matter in every story.
00:08:13
Speaker
Yeah, I think that was really one of the most powerful parts of the project was the connections that we made with people and the stories that we heard.
00:08:23
Speaker
And I do feel like it made my students kinder and more understanding students.
00:08:32
Speaker
And humans.
00:08:33
Speaker
Yeah.
Students Challenge Racism in Community
00:08:34
Speaker
Well, right.
00:08:34
Speaker
Because and I love because, you know, in this, I hope this doesn't come across as political because it's not at all.
00:08:41
Speaker
It's just it's very much a matter of fact that kids just regurgitate what they hear over the dinner table.
00:08:46
Speaker
Right.
00:08:46
Speaker
It doesn't matter what who you're.
00:08:49
Speaker
politically aligned with.
00:08:50
Speaker
That's just the case.
00:08:51
Speaker
On either side.
00:08:52
Speaker
And so when kids get to bring that into the classroom and they're so passionate about it because they've been hearing about it every night and that's how they've come to, they've sort of adapted that, assimilated that worldview of their parents, right?
00:09:05
Speaker
And when they get to come in and realize that, you know, I don't want to say realize that their parents are wrong or anything like that, but realize that there is more to the story.
00:09:13
Speaker
Realize that it is more nuanced than
00:09:16
Speaker
than what they may have previously anticipated.
00:09:20
Speaker
I know I had one group last year that looked at racism in our community.
00:09:26
Speaker
And I continually just, I kept hearing this,
00:09:34
Speaker
racism isn't a problem in our community, like from the people around them.
00:09:37
Speaker
So they're working on this project.
00:09:39
Speaker
And I kept hearing, Mrs. Moore, why are they doing that?
00:09:41
Speaker
It's not a problem in our community.
00:09:44
Speaker
And so for them to have somebody to come in and like, tell them about some of the problems with that in our community was really eye opening it for them.
00:09:55
Speaker
Wow.
Episode Wrap-up and Next Episode Teaser
00:09:56
Speaker
I bet.
00:09:56
Speaker
Yeah.
00:09:59
Speaker
And that's where we're going to end today's episode.
00:10:02
Speaker
We have one more episode with Cora where she'll share with us her main takeaways and tips from her experience with journalistic learning.
00:10:09
Speaker
Thanks so much for tuning in, and we'll see you next week.