Summary
Our class recently read the book All the Broken Pieces by Ann E. Burg. It’s about Matt, a young boy who was airlifted from a war torn Vietnam and adopted into a new family. His story is a collection of stories of his past, all the pieces that make up his life, and how he is learning to live with the young man he is destined to be. After reading this book, we were inspired to learn a little bit more about ourselves, and how our families have influenced and shaped us. We prepared by exploring the Story Corps site and reflected over the powerful questions and responses in the interviews of real people. We learned the art of asking good questions, and the value of listening closely. What follows is a series of interviews we conducted with our own family members as we considered the question,”How has your family’s story shaped who you are?”
TIPC Ratings
Students applied search techniques demonstrated by the teacher to select relevant questions. They used a checklist to guide their process and a Googleform to measure learning and growth. They responded to the class assignment by analyzing and evaluating the auditory information posted in the blog. The teacher introduced the Story Corps site to provide a model for the assignment.
Ideal/Target: Classroom teacher and librarians collaborated to select a novel, All the Broken Pieces, relevant touchstone samples (Story Corps interviews), and an authentic task (family interviews), to engage students in meaningful and real life communication so they could learn how their families shape who they are and who they will become as adults. Students used Audacity as their recording tool, and chose questions to interview each other as a rehearsal before they selected questions to interview family members. Students also completed entry and exit Slips on School Space to measure their growth as communicators and collaborators, reflect on their process, and set future goals. A blog was created from the students’ interviews and shared with the world. Families and teachers of the students were specifically invited to visit and interact with the blog. Comments were invited, moderated, and posted to the blog. A rubric was developed with the students to assist in self and peer-evaluation.
Students responded to higher order questions posed by the teacher and librarian and were asked to evaluate and select questions modeled in the Story Corps site to use for their interviews.
Students were required to synthesize their learning about family influences and origins in their study of the novel, then generate knowledge and new ideas about their personal families and origins through the innovative approach of personal interviews. They analyzed and selected questions that would be relevant and would generate a powerful story about their lives, often selecting questions that were difficult and complex to answer. Students reflected on their personal work and set goals for their future learning, as well as reflected on each other’s posts to evaluate for technique and overall story.
