Stories Matter

"Mommy, read me a story!"

I love a good story, don't you?

When I was a child, my favorite stories were Charlotte's Web and The Secret Garden.  I remember getting a copy of Charlotte's Web for my fourth birthday.  My mom, an avid reader and English teacher herself, read me a chapter a night - unless I successfully lobbied for more.  She chose The Secret Garden, and the bedtime routine was the same.  As I got older, I fell in love with the story of Scout Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird.  I connected with that story so personally - it was set in my home state, and I could connect characters to real people.    I have taught that novel, have seen several versions of the play - including a fascinating performance in Monroeville, Alabama, home of author Harper Lee.  That story has made me ever more conscious of the difficult history of the American South.  It taught me about the importance of ALL humans - and I still believe in this lesson Atticus teaches Scout:   “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.”  

It's still my favorite story.

But what about real life stories?

We grow up learning about Abraham Lincoln's lowly beginnings, Martin Luther King, Jr.'s quest for civil rights, and Anne Frank's account of life in an attic during World War II.   Today, we are fascinated by stories of icons such as Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and even  *gasp* Lindsay Lohan.  

One of my favorite celebrities growing up was Katie Couric.  I dreamed of anchoring the news desk at the Today Show.  I had an opportunity to see her from afar when I marched with the Scottsboro High School band in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in 1994.  I was perfectly giddy.  

In 2000, Katie Couric led the Today Show viewers through a series called "Confronting Colon Cancer."  As part of that series, she herself prepared for and had a colonoscopy - and millions were watching.

You see, colon cancer was part of her story.  It was important to her to share her story because colon cancer had changed her life.  It had changed the life of her children.  It had taken the life of her husband.  

Couric understood that people avoided that type of procedure, but she also knew that early detection was a key to survival - and that a colonoscopy was the best way to detect early signs of the deadly disease.  People were watching.  People were thinking.  People were acting.  Her story - her testimony -  raised awareness.  In a report published later, researchers noted this:

Katie Couric's televised colon cancer awareness campaign was temporally associated with an increase in colonoscopy use . . .These findings suggest that a celebrity spokesperson can have a substantial impact on public participation in preventive care programs . . .analysis indicated that there was a definitive increase in colonoscopy rates in March 2000, coinciding with Ms Couric's television campaign; the analysis calculated that the colonoscopy rate increased from 14.6 procedures per physician per month before the campaign to 18.6 procedures per physician after the campaign. 

                                                           - Cram P, Fendrick A, Inadomi J, Cowen ME, Carpenter D, Vijan S. The Impact of a Celebrity                                                                        Promotional Campaign on the Use of Colon Cancer Screening: The Katie Couric Effect. Arch 

                                                             Intern Med.2003;163(13):1601-1605. doi:10.1001/archinte.163.13.1601.

Her story made a difference.  Stories from the Holocaust make a difference, too.

This week, my students are viewing testimony as Auschwitz 70 approaches.  They are doing two different activities that expose them to testimony from Holocaust survivors.

The first is 70 Days of Testimony.  My students (and students from four other classes) are watching one of these (not necessarily in order) each day as their "bellringer."  I provide additional information on each survivor using the Visual History Archive at USC Shoah Foundation.  After watching each clip, students have time to write a written reflection about what they saw.  We then discuss that together.  They are learning that not everyone had the same experience, and they are also understanding how seeing  and hearing - in addition to reading - enhances their understanding of the Holocaust.  They hear the tremble in a survivor's voice, and they see survivors fight back tears.  Those are things that cannot easily be expressed in print.

Watching these small portions of testimony has allowed my students to make a personal connection with a survivor.  One of the tasks I have had to complete in preparation for the trip is watching a full testimony from a survivor who spent time at Auschwitz.  I watched the testimony of Erna Anolik.  A clip from her testimony has been included in the 70 Days of Testimony, and my classes watched it today.  

The second activity we are working on is called "My Story Matters"  - a lesson from iWitness - USC Shoah Foundation.  Their description of the activity is this:  

           We all have stories to tell. We all have experiences that connect us. Through sharing these stories, we find our humanity, and we discover that we are all different, but we have more in common than that which separates us. 

          This activity focuses on the importance of individuals sharing stories of survival for their own benefit, for the benefit of others, and for the collective benefit to the world.

Students have learned the definition of testimony and the importance of retaining first-hand accounts from the past.  They have considered what events in their life make up their own testimony.  Next week, they will be able to search through the testimony archive, find a person or topic with whom to connect, save clips from full length testimony, learn about ethical editing practices, and create their own video using clips.  They will share a brief biography of their person's life, and they will explain why they believe that particular story is important. Students will "publish" their videos through the site.  Then, classmates will have have a chance to view each other's videos through the iWitness site and comment on them. 

Stories, both fictional and real, can make deep and lasting impressions.  Stories can entertain.  Stories can inform.  Stories can persuade.  But, really, stories can change lives and change the future.

Students are learning valuable lessons about the Holocaust through the testimonies on iWitness.  The things they are seeing and hearing are so much more real because they are eyewitness accounts of people who lived through the atrocity.  They are real.  Their stories matter.  As Atticus Finch said in To Kill a Mockingbird, we don't really understand people until we walk around in their skin.  Personal stories - testimonies - help us come close.

What's your story?