Life Lessons through Storytelling: Children's Exploration of Ethics

Appendix A: A Multimethod Approach to Storytelling

A Multimethod Approach to Storytelling • 143 143 Appendix A: A Multimethod Approach to Storytelling Interviewing Navajo and Kenyan Storytellers and Educators Because of the range of school programs in the Navajo Nation, I interviewed storytellers and educators in each of the three states of the Navajo Nation (New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah) as well as those at all levels of the school system (elementary, high school, and college.) The main requirements of those I interviewed were that they reside in the Navajo Nation and consider themselves to be familiar with traditional Navajo culture. (The term “traditional” was used by several of the respondents as well as by Regina Holyan. It refers to knowledge of the language, of Navajo values, and familiarity with some Navajo stories , songs, and ceremonies.) I conducted the interviews during three separate visits to the Navajo Nation over a three-year period. Three people who initially expressed interest in the study declined to participate . The eight respondents included four males and four females. They reflected an age range from late twenties to mid-sixties. They also reflected a range of occupations including college professor, high school curriculum developer, middle school teacher, and seamstress. Many of them spoke of having relatives who were medicine people. I did not have the financial resources to travel to Kenya, so I was only able to interview Kenyans who were studying to be college educators . However, all of them had been educators at some level previ- 144 • Appendix A ous to graduate training. The main requirements of the Kenyans I interviewed were that they had grown up in Kenya and considered themselves to be familiar with traditional Kenyan culture. I conducted the interviews over a one-year period. The respondents (one male and two females) ranged in age from late twenties to mid-forties. They reflected a range of academic study including social science, humanities, and education. I began each interview by asking people to share stories used to teach children about Navajo/Kenyan ways of living. If people were willing to share one or more stories, I recorded them. I then asked questions about situations when stories were told in the past and situations when they are told today, exploring various aspects of context such as setting, time of year, etc. I next asked them about whether the stories have different meanings when told to children as compared to adults. I followed this by asking, “How are stories changed when they are written down as compared to told orally? Do you feel that stories should only be shared at certain times of the year? How do you feel about having your culture’s stories written down for children to read in schools?” This was followed by questions regarding the types of stories told in school and how they felt about having stories from their culture shared with children from other cultures. As the research process went forward and new themes emerged, some were included in future interviews, such as why it is important to maintain the Navajo or Kenyan ways. The interviews ranged from one hour to three hours in length. In three cases, multiple interviews were conducted (two of these were Navajo respondents and one a Kenyan respondent). Pseudonyms were selected by Regina Holyan and Naanyu Yebei, both of whom served as mentors for this study. Selection of Schools I visited four schools within an hour’s drive of Indiana University with the goal of selecting an urban school and a rural school in which to conduct focus group interviews with children. I believed that children’s interpretations of stories might vary depending on their school and community environments, and I was particularly interested in comparing classrooms that were homogenous by race with those that were more diverse. One school I visited did not want to release children for interviews during school time and another would only allow academically strong students to be released. The two schools that agreed to allow all children to participate during school time both used project-based learning as part of the curricu- A Multimethod Approach to Storytelling • 145 lum. This meant that the storytelling event and focus interview could serve as their project for that learning period. (I include more information about the nature of the two schools in chapter 3.) I selected two classrooms from each of the two schools and gave them the opportunity to participate in...