MemoryWiki, launched by Marshall Poe of The Atlantic Monthly, is a collaborative storytelling project which aims to provide a forum for people to share their common stories and preserve them for future generations.
Students can use MemoryWiki to read first person accounts of the American Civil Rights Movement, like LaVon W. Bracy's memories of the desegregation of Florida schools. Or Dai Wang's story about her brother, Hu Wang, who died in the Tiananmen Square Massacre.
Why not have your students contribute to MemoryWiki as part of the curriculum? Let them share their memories of the 9/11 Attack, Hurricane Katrina, or the Iraq War as a way to practice their writing skills. Or have them interview their grandparents about life in the turbulent 1960s as part of a history project.
In his book, The Art of Possibility, Benjamin Zander defines the invisible threads that hold us together as "the we story."
As Zander explains:
"The we story defines a human being in a specific way: It says we are central selves seeking to contribute, naturally engaged, forever in a dance with each other. It points to relationship rather than to individuals, to communication patterns, gestures, and movement...By telling the WE story, an individual becomes a conduit for this new inclusive entity, wearing its eyes and ears, feeling its heart, thinking its thoughts..."
MemoryWiki provides a platform for students to participate and contribute to the telling of the "we story." Storytelling is an important social learning practice that strengthens cultural ties while also providing a context for shared memories to be carried forward to future generations.
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1 comment:
Hi Derek:
Thanks so much for the post about MemoryWiki. We had teachers and students in mind when we created the site. In fact, MemoryWiki began as a class project at American University. We are very interested in helping teachers use MemoryWiki in the classroom, and encourage them to join the project. Like Wikipedia, MemoryWiki is a community run site—if you join the community, you’ll have a hand in the site’s future (for example, right now we are deciding on a new name…). We have a program for site stewards and listserv for discussion.
If anyone would like to help out, or talk to me personally, just send me an email through the “Contact Us” button on the site.
Warmest Regards,
Marshall Poe
MemoryWiki
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