Building Bridges for Student Success

Traditional Oral Storytelling in the Classroom

Judy A. Madros

A Project Submitted to the
Graduate Reading Program
The School of Education
University of Alaska, Fairbanks

April 2010

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the
Degree of Master of Education

Master's Project (pdf)
Powerpoint of Defense

Abstract

Although traditional Indigenous stories are widely recognized for their artistic merits and their role in the linguistic and culturally continuity of Indigenous peoples, they are seldom used in schools. This project promoted the instructional use of Athabaskan oral stories in a story telling curriculum along with the creation of transitional readers (picture books) for younger children in a small rural school in Alaska.

This project was an exploration of the concept that culturally responsive instruction could bring students in a small rural school in Alaska to higher levels of literacy by promoting engagement in oral stories told by Elders in the community, that reflected the values, knowledge and some of the traditions of the community. Inviting Elders into the classroom to share their oral stories created an opportunity for Junior high students to listen to oral stories that later in the project were transformed into transitional readers (picture books) for younger readers in the school.