Stories of adorable children finding the books of their dreams. Inspirational anecdotes about librarians going above and beyond for their patrons. Beautiful tales of the perseverance of an urban library staff getting materials to those at the outer reaches of their county. With social media at hand, we are provided with an overwhelming deluge of amazing stories fed to us all day, and every day, by way of an algorithm designed for us and by us with lazy, nonchalant clicks, hovers, and shares.
But what of the invisible, the forgotten, the controversial, the dangerous, the accused, the convicted, the exonerated, the released? As future information professionals, we would be remiss if we did not explore and expose ourselves to the entire community’s stories. This includes the stories of the incarcerated and formerly incarcerated.
My local library in Sacramento, California has an inspiring speaker series called “See who enters the chat next”. While the stories offered here all warrant a deep listen, Ear Hustle tugged at my heart. Below you can watch a bit of the November 2023 chat presented by Sac Library, sharing Nigel Poor’s and Earlonne Woods’ podcast, Ear Hustle.
Ear Hustle was birthed in 2017 by artist Nigel Poor and two people who were incarcerated, Earlonne Woods and Antwan Williams. The podcast, the first to be started and produced in prison, simply allows those inside prison and those who were incarcerated to share their stories.
Stories of awaiting one’s sentence while bunking with someone about to give birth.
Stories of carving out a home in a Central California Women’s Facility.
Stories, that for those of us who are sheltered (through little fault of our own), have never had to consider. But here they are. Waiting for you to listen. Stories have the incredible power to foster our relation to one another as humans and the podcast revolution is making these stories accessible. “Story-based experiences of all kinds can increase listeners’ understanding of diverse groups, demonstrate the value of everyone’s experience, and remind listeners of their shared humanity,” shares Michael Stephens about a library conference presentation he participated in called, “The Power of Stories” (2020, April 9).
Ear Hustle’s “story based experiences” are not stories about the inmates’ crimes for the most part. If you are hoping for the gory details of the true crime ilk, listen elsewhere. Inmates are describing their daily life, wishes, and regrets. Woods started the project to highlight the Three Strikes Law and found his passion for storytelling. Woods was sentenced to 31-years-to-life in 1997. His sentence was commuted in 2018 and he began producing the podcast full time. The subject of episode eight, Curtis Roberts, was not so fortunate. “I’m a stupid idiot who stole some money,” said Roberts who was sentenced to 50-years-to-life for committing three non-violent crimes. His tale of hope can be discovered in, “Left behind.”
“The idea is to never talk about policy, but to tell stories that bring up policy and let people make up their own minds,” relays Poor when discussing the podcast focusing on the Three Strikes Law. As the stories unfold, legal issues arise and are discussed; and yet, they are not the focus.
In another Ear Hustle episode, “Home for Me is Really a Memory,” the hosts allow the subject to tell her story. Serving the most time of any interviewee on the show (50 years), Woods and Poor had to conduct the interview over the telephone. She committed a well-known crime, and still the crime was not the focus; the human was. “We didn’t want the story to be about her crime; we wanted it to be a story about what it is like to be in prison for 50 years. What is your life like?” asked Poor during the Sacramento Library chat.
This episode featured one of Charles Manson’s groomed killers in the seventies, Leslie Van Houten. She said “My favorite thing was to ride on dad’s shoulders. I’m trying not to cry.” She was 19 when she committed her crime. The hosts described, during the Sacramento Library chat, the juxtaposition of listening to a grandmotherly voice over a “tinny line” and then thinking about where she is and what she did so long ago.
Ear Hustle uses sound strategically to carry you along and place you as close as possible to the storyteller–as close as an earbud can bury itself into your ear.
Illustration by Damien Linnane https://www.earhustlesq.com/episodes/2023/12/20/bunkies
“Ear hustle has been like a window to the world for people,” says Woods in reference to the podcast opening the eyes (or dare I say ears) of a prison commissioner. The commissioner said that listening to the stories shared on the podcast changed how he viewed the prisoners, those of whom were his charge. The commissioner put their lives into context, some gritty and some clear, and gained a better understanding of their lives outside of prison and began to see them more as people.
People with stories.
Thank you to the Sacramento Public Library staff for “curating stories in their many forms,” (Stephens, 2019) for us all to hear.
It was during Michael Stephens’ lecture this semester on New Models for libraries that I had a flashback to the library of my youth. Seeing those kids in Copenhagen playing around atop bookshelves, I thought to myself, “They would not have allowed that in my day (198o whenever).” And then I thought, wait, yes “they” did.
Back in the long-ago days of being shushed and reprimanded for venturing into the “adult” section of the library, sat a small, brick library in Sacramento County.
The great Hank Aaron. https://www.flickr.com/photos/btard/135636708/in/photolist
There, the Rancho Cordova library staff made available in the “children’s” section, a small little house made of fabric. I can still see the cloth, brick facade and painted windows framed in yellow. My family lived in a tiny house with three girls of varying size and two tired parents. When my father would drive us to the library and let us loose, that little brick house (that wasn’t pretend to me, by the way) was my first stop. Well, maybe my second stop after grabbing a book about baseball. I bounded in, hoping with all of my little heart that it was unoccupied. It was my little sanctuary. Our “real” house was lovingly cluttered and cramped and LOUD. To have a little time to myself to stretch my short, scabbed-up legs out and read about Hank Aaron meant the world to me. Just me and and the home-run king. Those were the days before I was told by fifth grade teacher to redo my “Dream Job” assignment, because it would be impossible for me to grow up to be a San Francisco Giants baseball player. Those were the days before my adolescent fears kept me from being “too sporty.” Those were the days when I still dreamed.
Very similar to my branch’s playhouse. https://www.flickr.com/photos/koalalady/16001449410/in/photolist-9zrTx6-qnZBqN
That little fabric house was my palace of dreams (and a place all my own). Eric Klinenberg explained his inspiration for studying and revisiting New York City libraries came partly from the thoughts of Andrew Carnegie who, he said, “thought libraries should be palaces for the people; places where people would go and make their lives a little more exalted for as long as they could be there” (Peet, 2018). Libraries were essentially designed to be, and for many still are, a place to escape one’s cramped quarters and a “space to create, to think, and to fulfill some dreams” describes Pam Smith in a Ted Talk about the future of 21st century libraries (2013).
https://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/gallery
When my daughters and I lived in a 900 square-foot apartment years ago (this time just two girls of varying size and one tired parent), we would go to the Vally-Hi North Laguna Branch library for a little escape. I had to drag those girls out of the library’s towering cylindrical room with paper butterflies hanging at different levels from the high ceiling, darting between the sun’s rays streaming in from the wall of windows. Talk about feeling exalted! Circled with comfy seating in bright blues and greens, the room is just off the area of the library housing books for young readers. Who knows what my girls with scabby knees were dreaming about?
I dearly hope no one ever told them their dreams were impossible.
DocsTeach is a free service offered by the National Archives to provide instructors with public domain images and activities for students to expand upon learned experiences and course instruction. Students using these tools will be provided the opportunity to contextualize historical events and instructors can help students see themselves, family members, and ancestors in these complicated and historically significant images.
DocsTeach provides structured age-appropriate activities, or the opportunity to create activities, that involve the student directly in making observations and document analysis. “These participatory spaces are where learning will occur. Understanding and empathy among cross-cultural partners in a technological environment is the key to success,” argues Michael Stephens (2016). Libraries (and schools) need to “change the way they craft their services and tools so that users (students) have a clear and open avenue on which to communicate and participate,” argues Casey and Savastinuk in Library 2.0 (2007).
This unique program would serve Sacramento City Unified School District well in that instructors can curate the activities to serve the diverse student population of SCUSD. In an effort to produce “globally competitive life-long learners” as the district’s mission statement purports, the district and its educators should make every effort to include the student in the learning process. Students are accustomed to participatory media such as TikTok and Instagram. Why not allow students to be more active participants in their lessons?
Goals and Objectives
Empower students to take control of their own learning in the social sciences
Tailor learning to meet the specific cultural and demographic needs of the class
Provide a welcoming and respectful environment by using images and documents that better represent the diversity of the SCUSD student body
Foster debate and engagement with thought-provoking digital images
Promote participation learning through visual and written student evaluations
Action Brief
Convince: Sacramento City Unified School District administrators, elementary school teachers, and social sciences teachers That by:including the National Archives DocsTeach program into their history and social science curriculum and/or part of their school library visits They will: encourage their students to ask questions, discover evidence, and participate in debates over the interpretation of what they see in the DocsTeach images Which will: promote engagement with history and encourage students to offer their own perspective of history, which will make history lessons easier to digest, especially if the instructor chooses an example that a majority of students will find relatable Because: the mission statement as a district aims for students to “graduate as globally competitive life-long learners, prepared to succeed in a career and higher education institution of their choice to secure gainful employment and contribute to society” (SCUSD, 2024) And because: Sac Unified students represent the diversity of the city with the student population being 40 percent Hispanic or Latino; 17 percent Asian; 14 percent African American; and 18 percent white. About 7 percent of students are of two or more races or ethnicities. Residents within SCUSD speak more than 51 languages (SCUSD, 2024). Instructors and administrators should have this diversity at the front of their minds as they develop lesson plans that are engaging and participatory.
Moton High School Classroom; ca. 1951; Civil Action No. 1333; Dorothy E. Davis, et al. v. County School Board of Prince Edward County et al.; Civil Case Files, 1938 – 12/31/1990; Records of District Courts of the United States, Record Group 21; National Archives at Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA. [Online Version, https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/moton-class, March 15, 2024]
Who will DocsTeach help?
All SCUSD students will benefit from this participatory learning available through DocsTeach. Teachers will be able to use activities designed around a certain image or create their own activities using an outside source more relatable to their students. In this manner, teachers will be able to tailor the participatory lesson to that particular class. A social sciences teacher may have one period in which 70 percent of the class is Hmong and another period in which 60 percent is black. Instead of a “one-lesson-fits-all” approach, students can analyze, debate, and participate in activities provided by DocsTeach that are specific to their information needs and feel represented in the lesson of the day. Even if the image chosen for this activity is not reflective of all students in this class, all students and teachers will benefit from learning more about another culture’s traditions and history within the context of the course.
In a piece about the required teaching of our country’s founding documents, Jenny Sweeney writes, “The National Archives has a treasure trove of materials related to the Constitution and its amendments” (2019). She goes on to explain how these tools are especially handy for designing lesson plans and ideal for remote learning.
Inspiration
DocsTeach takes students out of the textbooks and into a world they can magnify and scrutinize. As free members, instructors will have access to more than 1,800 activities and 12,529 primary sources. The technology is here for students to engage with their teachers through the activities and give their opinions about what they see before them on the screen. These activities will make students feel important. Stephens writes in the Heart of Librarianship, “Technology extends human reach but participation requires engaged participants who feel welcome, comfortable, and valued” (2016).
With DocsTeach, teachers and students will have a new “textbook” every day if they so choose. “Implementing a model for constant change and user participation, both of which are multifaceted components of Library 2.0, will enable libraries to . . . reach those users they haven’t been able to reach,” explains Casey and Savastinuk (2007). DocsTeach will reach students who have challenges learning in a traditional school setting. “Overall, research has shown that access to digitized primary sources increases engagement in history by making the study of history more relevant and impactful to students” argues Rinder in his 2020 thesis in which he analyzes the effectiveness of DocsTeach. “(DocsTeach’s) integration of technology also has the means of engaging individuals and fostering a positive perception of history” (Rinder, 2020).
“Students can work on activities that support critical and higher-order thinking and complete them at school or home, anytime and anywhere,” explains Schantz in her review of the newly renovated program (2019).
Guidelines
School principals will verify that all SCUSD social science instruction will include some use of DocsTeach
Use of DocsTeach in the classroom should be implemented in the 2024/2025 school year and beyond
Demonstrate to school principals evidence of this implementation in lesson plans
Be prepared to evaluate the successes and challenges of this new learning tool at administrative meetings addressing social science programs
Timeline
Instructors and students can begin implementation of this resource immediately. It is free to use and all of the resources are in the public domain. There is no anticipated push back from the school district’s board or school administrators considering there will be no fiscal impact and also considering the activities and images are from a National Archives not-for-profit educational program.
Marketing
It will be important for school principals to share the DocsTeach website and require this tool be a part of the curriculum. To maintain consistency throughout the district, all SCUSD teachers should make every effort to include these activities in their lesson plans.
The most challenging part of any innovation in the classroom is convincing teachers who are stuck in their ways (“we’ve always done it this way”) to adopt a new lesson into their plans. After watching a few free webinars on the website and reviewing the dizzying array of documents, photographs, and maps, even the most grizzled and hardened social studies teacher should see the benefit of this newly revamped, interactive, and free curriculum.
Staff training
Teachers and administrators can begin watching the more than a dozen mini webinars immediately to begin training in DocsTeach. Teachers will learn during these 20-minute lessons how to find and share primary source documents, choose or modify activities to meet their students information needs, create their own activity, how to lead an activity remotely, and more. These lessons, designed with educators in mind, are easy to navigate on the website.
Evaluation or expansion
This program can be evaluated by instructors and administrators alike using the International Society for Technology in Education’s (ISTE) 2024 standards. These standards include the empowered learner (1.1), digital citizen (1.2), knowledge constructor (1.3), and creative communicator (1.6). According to the ITSE, an empowered learner “can choose how they will learn by selecting the documents they will analyze and sharing them with other students” and students become their own “knowledge constructor” when they “can use this tool to research and curate primary sources related to a given subject and select the documents that are more relevant to their own learning experience” (2024).
The possibilities for expansion would involve using DocsTeach in the school library, with a dedicated computer made available for students to use to explore the website on their own and learn about artifacts and documents outside of their prescribed lessons. A field trip to Washington, D.C. is a few clicks away as, ” Students from all around the globe can research and analyze primary sources from the National Archives without the financial burden of visiting this institution in Washington, DC.,” reports Ana Schantz when she analyzed DocsTeach for EdTech Books (n.d.).
DocsTeach is a free and easy way for all SCUSD students to adopt Michael Stephen’s mantra “Follow your curiosity” (2016).
Stories of adorable children finding the books of their dreams. Inspirational anecdotes about librarians going above and beyond for their patrons. Beautiful tales of the perseverance of an urban library staff getting materials to those at the outer reaches of their county. With social media at hand, we are provided with an overwhelming deluge of amazing stories fed to us all day, and every day, by way of an algorithm designed for us and by us with lazy, nonchalant clicks, hovers, and shares.
