STORIES CAN CHANGE THE WORLD

A brief overview of the theoretical underpinnings of the Illustrated Memoir Project

The growing population of new arrival students in classrooms throughout the US and around the world are no longer following the strict acculturation and assimilation regimes of the past (Van der Dussen Toukan, 2019). Widespread wireless communication technology and increasingly accessible international travel options allow for young immigrants and refugees to forge a truly transnational experience (Taira, 2019; Van der Dussen Toukan, 2019). Many new arrival youth can stay connected to their home culture and community and rely on the support and influence of family and friends while discovering their own place in their new settlement culture (Kumi-Yeboah, Brobbey, & Smith, 2020).

New arrival students possess a wealth of lived experience and diverse literacies but they continue to be viewed through a deficit lens in academic settings and beyond (Ghiso & Low, 2013; Handsfield & Valente, 2016; Rodriguez, 2018; Wiseman et al., 2019). Educational institutions need to prioritize making space for the voices of diverse students to enrich the learning of all students (Harvey & Mallman, 2019). Finding ways to center the lived experience and diverse ways of knowing of new arrival students can help shift perspectives from a deficit to an asset-based lens as well as fomenting their intellectual self-trust (Taira, 2019; Van der Dussen Toukan, 2011; El Kassar, 2020). In the traditional classroom new arrival students are rarely asked to contribute their lived experience, their ways of knowing are not reflected in the curriculum (Taira, 2019).

Traditionally marginalized individuals, like new arrival students, are routinely subjected to epistemic injustice (Medina, 2013). Centering their lived experience and unique funds of knowledge can help foment their intellectual self-trust and allow them to more capably resist this injustice (El Kassar, 2021). Incorporating illustrated memoir work into the ELL classroom curriculum positions new arrival students as authorities and knowledge producers in an academic setting. Future research should explore effective ways to build upon this experience to continue to foster the development of intellectual self-trust.

Purposeful, planned scaffolding of curricular activities following the creation of illustrated memoirs may help reinforce the intellectual self-trust developed through the memoir project. Several participants in the the first two years of the project found ways to utilize their illustrated memoirs to develop additional opportunities for themselves and their ELL classroom; they sought out means to share their work with others in diverse settings. Planned programming that creates opportunities for students to build upon their intellectual self-trust through the sharing of their illustrated memoirs is planned for the coming year.

Programming that positions new arrival student authors and illustrators as authorities in varied settings may also support their developing intellectual self-trust. Developing means for the students to engage younger cohorts with their stories may have benefits for all involved. Actively sharing their memoir stories as a means of teaching younger students about their culture of origin and their own lived experience could again position new arrival students as knowledge producers, reinforcing their growing epistemic authority. This work can also develop empathy and understanding of immigrant and refugee experience for elementary school children.

Several modes of peer-to-peer mentoring have surfaced during the illustrated memoir project. First year participants’ completed books served as mentoring texts for students the following year; project alumni were eager to visit and share their insights and advice with current participants; students working at a faster pace were able to share work and ideas with those working more slowly; and students with greater written language fluency have helped colleagues with translations. These instances of peer-to-peer mentoring occurred organically or in the course of the project without a great deal of pre-planning. Future programming will explore the impact of planned opportunities for mentoring. Several project participants have expressed an interest in taking an active role in future projects, they are eager to share what they have learned with future participants and help them create their own memoirs. Developing opportunities for students who have completed an illustrated memoir to actively mentor peers currently engaged in the project could benefit all involved.

Future iterations of this project will incorporate more hands-on visual art learning on the part of the students. Teaching the students to format and print the physical copies of their books can further strengthen their sense of themselves as producers of knowledge products. In addition to the creation of the physical copies of the books, some students are beginning to create animations of their stories, which can be easily and widely shared through on-line platforms. Learning to animate their words and images through either stop-motion animation or digital animation could develop additional skill sets and visual literacies as well as allow the students’ stories to be easily shared around the world.

The written narratives and original visual images created by the new arrival students combine to powerfully convey their stories. We plan to explore the impact of reading these stories on diverse audiences. How does hearing these stories and seeing these images influence younger students? Is the impact greater if the authors read their stories directly to younger students? What is the impact of reading these memoirs on educators? How might these books be used as part of an ELL teacher training? How could the memoirs be incorporated into the K-12 curriculum at various grade levels?

The intellectual self-trust seeded through the illustrated memoir project can serve as a scaffold for additional learning and self-efficacy. Finding the courage to share life stories in writing and original images and successfully completing the project and seeing that work in print can be the beginning of further academic bravery for students. Several project participants have found strength and confidence in their academic abilities from having successfully completed their illustrated memoir and used their books to propel themselves forward academically. Students have shared their memoirs as a means to educate others about their home country, about their lived experience, and to access additional learning opportunities. Students have also reported increased spoken and written English language fluency from participating in the project, both in the writing, translating, and revising process as well as the group and individual discussions throughout the project. Participants reported increased confidence in their ability to express their ideas in spoken and written language.

Creating and sharing illustrated memoirs in an ELL classroom is an opportunity to position new arrival students as knowledge producers in an academic setting. This positioning as well as the support, development of multimodal literacies, and mentoring opportunities available through the project can foster the development of intellectual self-trust in new arrival students. Increased intellectual self-trust can enable marginalized students to resist the epistemic injustices they are often subjected to and access the epistemic privilege available to them due to their diverse transnational experience and ways of knowing the world.

References:

El Kassar, N. (2020). The place of intellectual self-trust in theories of epistemic advantage. Journal of Social Philosophy, 51(1), 7-26.

El Kassar, N. (2021). The powers of individual and collective intellectual self-trust in dealing with epistemic injustice. Social Epistemology, 35(2), 197-209.

Ghiso, M.P., & Low, D.E. (2013). Students using multimodal literacies to surface micronarratives of United States immigration. Literacy, 47(1), 26-34.

Handsfield, L.J., &Valente, P. (2016). Momentos de cambio: Cultivating bilingual students’ epistemic privilege through memoir and testimonio. International Journal of Multicultural Education, 18(3), 138-158.

Harvey, A., & Mallman, M. (2019). Beyond cultural capital: Understanding the strengths of new migrants within higher education. Policy Futures in Education, 17(5), 657-673.

Kumi-Yeboah, A., Brobbey, G. & Smith, P. (2020). Exploring factors that facilitate acculturation strategies and academic success of West African immigrant youth in urban schools. Education and Urban Society, 52(1), 21-50.

Medina, J. (2013). The Epistemology of Resistance. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Rodriguez, S. (2018). “We’re building the community; it’s a hub for democracy.”: Lessons learned from a library-based, school-district partnership and program to increase belonging for newcomer immigrant and refugee youth. Children and Youth Services Review, 102(2019), 135-144.

Taira, B.W. (2019). (In)Visible literacies of transnational newcomer youth in a secondary English classroom. Global Education Review, 6(2), 74-93.

Van der Dussen Toukan, E. (2019). Refugee youth in settlement, schooling and social action: Reviewing current research through a transnational lens. Journal of Peace Education, 16(1), p. 1-20.

Wiseman, A.W., Damaschke-Deitrick, L., Galegher, E., & Park, M.F. (2019). The contested expectations of education as a panacea for refugee transitions. In Wiseman, A.W., Damaschke-Deitrick, L., Galegher, E., & Park, M.F. (Ed.) Comparative perspectives on refugee youth education: Dreams and realities in educational systems worldwide (pp. 1-25). New York, NY: Routledge.