Family Stories Matter: Critical Pedagogy of Storytelling in Elementary Classrooms

Abstract

Culturally responsive educators advocate for a greater emphasis on family and student voices that invoke their lived experiences, cultural knowledge, ancestral wisdom, and supportive familial relationships. However, few educators know how to bring these stories directly to K-12 classrooms. Using a participatory action research methodology, I incorporated the counter-stories of students and families in an elementary school curriculum. As we practiced storytelling in family wisdom circles and in teacher meetings, I listened for epiphany moments that demonstrated how storytelling as an act of critical literacy requires "listening to witness." As families, students, and teachers witnessed each other's stories, they redefined power relationships in classrooms and the school at large. By redefining how curriculum and instruction efforts can fully engage parents and students in its creation and implementation, the findings have implications for antiracism education and unmasking the role of privilege and subtle forms of oppression.