Teaching for Joy – Sharing Stories and Humanity in the Classroom

Stories help us keep our humanity. As we listen to others’ stories, our lives are enriched. Stories humanize our experience, connect us to other humans, and allow us to learn from each other. I have been a teacher for twenty-eight years. As I look back over that span of time, I don’t remember exactly what I taught, I don’t remember the structure of the class, I don’t remember specific dates. I remember the stories of my students and the stories of my colleagues. In a world that is increasingly standardized and polarized, stories become the way that we can connect with each other. The joy of teaching comes from the relationships we have made with our students and our colleagues and how these stories connect us to each other.

Teaching sometimes feels like robotic attempts to ensure students pass standardized tests. Standards dictate the skills deemed most important for our students and standardization provides the method to teach them. In addition, politicians, parents, and others who have no real knowledge of the teaching profession weigh in on curricular decisions. Their often-harmful opinions sometimes feel like denigration of the teaching profession. Teachers are often not seen as professionals but rather cogs in the wheels of public education. This harmful environment can limit a teacher’s ability to see herself/himself as a caring professional educator. Because success is often measured by only achieving adequate test scores or skill acquisition, teachers can become discouraged. While skills are important, and standards help teachers develop curriculum that will match those skills, the primacy of standardized tests and the acquisition of skills denigrates the personal connection that teachers have to their students. It also disavows a teacher’s intuitive knowledge in the classroom and the ability each teacher possesses to make curricular decisions, based on student needs. The stories and connections between students and teachers are lost in frantic attempts to make sure students pass standardized tests and demonstrate that school buildings are fulfilling all elements of accreditation.

In the book Supporting the Whole Child, Gerald Campano asserts that “sharing stories…signals to students both the human and academic value of personal experience” (250). The stories of our students and our own stories humanize the learning process. Students can connect with other students and teachers on a personal level changes the classroom environment. Students are drawn to the humanity of the classroom and the ability to learn from and with each other. This safe, caring, and comfortable environment allows a student to feel part of something and allows them to risk and explore learning.

One way I attempt to create this environment is to share with my students on the first day of class four things that make me unique. I share that I have four children with mental illness (including two suicide attempts, that I have lived in Japan for two years, that I have worked at an alternative high school, and that I struggle with self-confidence). I am vulnerable for my students and share parts of my story with them. As I share parts of my story, I give my students permission to share their stories with me and other students. I also require them to introduce themselves to the class with four things that make them unique over the first three weeks of class. I have had students share very personal things in front of the class. Some have cried while sharing these stories of themselves. As each student shares something personal with the class, they see themselves as both unique, but also not alone. Many students share similar experiences with mental illness.  Suzanne D. Knight asserts, students’ own narrative hold the power to represent more than content, as students come to realize that producing and sharing those texts represent a process through which they can examine… (and) experience a greater sense of agency as they work to meet the challenges they will inevitably face (56).  I have found this to be true in my classroom. Students are able to see connections between themselves and other students. As students move from our classrooms into the world, they take with them the stories and connection they feel in our classrooms. In addition, they can relate to each other and find hope and support through other students’ experiences. Sharing my stories with students allows them permission to share their stories with others, uniting us in a web of connectedness.

This connectedness can be interrupted by well-meaning parents and community members with the intent of ridding our schools of questionable books. Censorship, however, limits access to stories. Students’ ability to find characters like themselves is being limited by censorship. LGBTQ students, African American students, and any student who doesn’t fit within the censors’ list of acceptable books will not find themselves in literature. Carmen Lugo Llerena, an early child education teacher, posted a question on her blog, “Will my students, whom I have yet to meet, see themselves and their lived experiences in the books I have meticulously sorted by reading levels, genres, authors, topics, and themes?” (2105). What a powerful question, one that we should always ask ourselves. Students may not have a voice in their lives, but they will have a voice through the characters they read about. Teachers become the conduit to these stories. As teachers, we must boldly advocate for our students’ rights to access stories and characters that speak to them. 

I teach a young adult literature class for secondary teachers. I often wonder how can I speak to the experience of the minority groups that are not represented in my classroom? I have realized that I can’t. The joy of teaching has been the lessons that my students and I have learned through the experiences that have been shared with us. As we have read Does My Head Look Big in This? by Randal Abdel-Fattah we attended a local mosque where we learned about the Muslim faith and the tenets of Islam from a Muslim Imam. Students were amazed at the similarities between their own religion and Islam. In another course, we read Maus. None of us are Jewish. We went to Shabbat and sat down with a rabbi, who answered our questions and explained Judaism in terms we could understand. Her ability to connect the events of the Holocaust and her story powerfully demonstrates Jewish stories. We read the book Firekeeper’s Daughter, but none of us are Indigenous. The Northwest Band of the Shoshone Nations zoomed into my classroom and talked about Indigenous peoples and their specific experiences. The stories they related of their resilience in surviving the Bear River Massacre, of keeping their culture alive were powerful. My students and I were amazed by their honesty as they told their stories. What I learned is that these stories outside of my own experience enriched my life and the lives of my students.

Teaching joy comes from watching students discover themselves and their interconnectedness. When I stand aside and allow my students to share their stories with each other and allow other stories from experts, students are connected in a powerful learning culture.  Over my 28-year teaching career, I have heard so many stories and learned so much. It has been a highlight of my teaching career. Reminiscing on these has made me realize the importance of the joy of teaching. The joy of teaching and the joy of learning are connected in this wonderful way. Humanity keeps hope alive in all of us and brings us joy. When I create a classroom environment that welcomes all, we become human together, we learn together. Class, race, gender don’t matter as much as our shared humanity. Getting to know my students, allowing them to get to know each other are key principles of establishing a joyful classroom environment.

Works Cited
Knight, Suzanne D. “The Power of Students’ Stories: Narrative Inquiry in English Education. Journal of Language and Literacy Education. (Online), 5(1), 48-58.
Llerena, Carmen Lugo. Blog post: “The Stories My Students Need to Hear” (9/27/2028).
Scherer, Marge. Supporting the Whole Child: Refections on Best Practices in Learning, Teaching, and Leadership. Alexandria, VA: ASCD, 2009.