"Literacy & Self-Expression Thru 4th Grade Personal Narratives" - The GIPS Cast, Ep. 063

"Learning how to tell your story — I shared with them that 'your stories matter'. Because maybe some kids think that their stories are too small or unimportant and it all matters how you tell it.  Your voice matters." 


Literacy is a gateway to, well, pretty much everything.


As we’ve shared on this podcast before, literacy is more than just reading.


And in 4th Grade at GIPS, students start the year by diving into writing Personal Narrative projects as part of their literacy curriculum. 


Mrs. Leah Starner, 4th Grade Teacher at Dodge Elementary, and Miss Katie Zuelow, 4th Grade Teacher at Wasmer Elementary, join the podcast to share as a veteran teacher and as a new teacher how they seek to unlock students' voices through crafting personal narratives.


Mrs. Starner & Miss Z unpack how students explore different storytelling devices, the topics kids like to share, and why writing personal stories connects to lifelong skills.


Along the way, a crew of 4th Grade students (two from Dodge; two from Wasmer) jump on the mic to read their own personal narratives that they crafted during the unit. 


Because it's about empowering every student to feel confident expressing themselves. 

Listen to the latest episode above or subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast platform.

(Transcript may be found below the episode player.)

#WeAreGIPS  
 

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EPISODE TRANSCRIPT: 

Podcast Intro  00:00

This is Grand Island Public Schools podcast, and these are our stories. We are learners. We are educators in teaching hearts as well as minds.  We are 10,000 diverse voices, and we're changing the world together, one classroom at a time. These are our stories.  We are GIPS. We are GIPS.  Somos que efe ese.  We are GIPS.  Somos GIPS.  We are GIPS, and this is 'The GIPS Cast'!

 

Mitchell Roush  00:31

Welcome back to the GIPS cast, a conversation based podcast exploring the voices of Grand Island Public Schools in Nebraska. I'm your host, Mitchell Roush, the Communications Director here at GIPS, and I'm grateful to bring to you stories from all corners of our district, because here we're driven by our mission of every student every day, a success.

 

Mitchell Roush  00:59

Literacy is a gateway to, well, pretty much everything. That's why our focus at GIPS is on developing literacy skills. As we've shared on this podcast before, literacy is more than just reading. Literacy is expression. It's comprehension, it's speaking, it's writing, it's unpacking texts, it's critical thinking. It is so many things, and that's why we want our students to be equipped with strong literacy skills. So part of our amplify C KLA literacy curriculum at elementary schools is to include different literacy based units for each grade level. I'm fascinated by the way literacy skills build on each other from year to year for our students across our 13 elementary schools, and that's where we enter today, specifically with fourth grade. You see in fourth grade at GIPS, students kick off their school year by diving into personal narrative projects. A personal narrative is a true story written by a student that utilizes different literary devices or storytelling methods to share about a moment in their life. It could be about a favorite pet or a trip they took, or a favorite family member, or all of it based on memory or a moment that means something to them. So why is this important? Well, for a multitude of reasons, notable among them learning how to confidently express themselves, both in voice and in writing. I had the opportunity to visit 2/4 grade classrooms at two of our elementary schools. Recently, I stopped by Mrs. Starners class at Dodge Elementary. She's a 19 year teaching veteran, and she understands how important the personal narrative unit is for students. I also stopped by Miss zulos fourth grade class at wasmer Elementary. Miss Zullo, or miss Z, as her students call her, is a first year teacher for us at wasmer She's also a proud product of GIPS. Now, both teachers shared incredible insights into the importance of learning skills that are found in the personal narrative projects. Both teachers also selected two of their students to share their personal narratives themselves on this podcast. So join me as we chat with Mrs. Starner and Miss Z and learn about sharpening literacy skills in fourth grade and hear four of our very own students share firsthand their personal narratives with enthusiasm. Give a listen.

 

Leah Starner  03:41

My name is Leah Starner. I have taught at Dodge for 19 years, and for most of those years it has been fourth grade.

 

Mitchell Roush  03:50

So what's your favorite thing about teaching fourth grade?

 

Leah Starner  03:53

My favorite thing about teaching fourth grade is the kids, of course, the fact that they know things. I'm not starting from scratch, but also that they're still sweet. They want to please, and they typically want to do their best.

 

Mitchell Roush  04:10

So we're talking specifically today about writing and the personal narrative projects that they work on as part of the curriculum and everything. So I just like to dive into that a little bit. And again, you've been doing this for a while, so you've gotten to see a lot with this project. What's maybe the most surprising or rewarding moment you've witnessed with students successfully using their writing tools and working on these personal narrative projects?

 

Leah Starner  04:34

I would say that's when we've spent a lot of time working on like using details in their writing, those sensory details, writing, similes and metaphors, and using dialog, all those really important things that I'm modeling and teaching them how to do, and when they actually turn around and do them, that's very rewarding, and it's. Awesome to see them take the instruction and actually put it into play and use it within their own writing.

 

Mitchell Roush  05:06

And why is it important to teach these students how to express themselves through writing?

 

Leah Starner  05:11

I think it also helps them be able to just communicate and express themselves amongst their peers and adults, and even going on into adulthood. By being able to have that written expression, you certainly are going to need to have that oral expression as well. And I think it just builds on top of each other.

 

Mitchell Roush  05:32

That's such a good way to frame it. It builds on top of each other, because this is just like, this isn't just for school. This is a life skill, how you think through things, how you process and how you can express that, how you can write, how you can spell, all of these things like you said, build, build on each other. So when you're teaching personal narratives to fourth graders, I imagine there can be challenges, maybe sometimes with confidence, like, what do I write about? Is this interesting enough? Well, I don't really know what to do. I get I get that sometimes students can have that issue. So what's one strategy you found to be effective when you're helping students overcome some of those hurdles on, "I don't know where to start, or I don't know if this is interesting or not"...

 

Leah Starner  06:10

One of the biggest strategies I do for that is, again, have them use the oral language, tell your story out loud. And so we practice. I give them time with their peers to talk about their story and explain it out loud, see if they can get a beginning, middle and end orally before they put it into writing.

 

Celene, 4th Grader @ Dodge  06:37

My name is Celine. I'm 10 years old, and I am in Mrs. Starner's class. I never, ever knew that this Mall of America could be so exciting and scary I want to go again. Hi. I'm the narrator. The characters are my mother, my father and me. This story is about my family going to Minnesota, the Mall of America. We parked in the parking lot and rushed in. I ran into the mall fast like a cheetah. First, when we walked inside, it was so loud that I could whisper and not even hear myself. After all that, we explored the mall. I heard my favorite song on the speakers. I started dancing a bit. We then went onto the roller coaster. I got I got onto the roller coaster, and of course, I put on my seat belt when it started to go up, I got super panicky when it started to go down. Swoosh. I went on this speediest roller coaster of this August. I screamed so loud the roller coaster stopped and I was heavily breathing. Are you okay? Dad said, trying to hold his laughter, yes, I replied. Then after a few minutes, we went to the decor shop. I laid my eyes on the soft pink carpet. I asked my mom if she could get it see. She said, okay, and bought it for me. I left the decor shop skipping with my mom and my dad. We were exploring for our kids and games when we heard the mall is closing in an hour, mom decided we should leave, but Mom, I want to stay for another hour. I whined, fine, but only for an hour. We went on the roller coasters and games for our last hour. We then heard the speaker say, the mall is closed, we then got into mom's car, and then we went somewhere else for my birthday.

 

Mitchell Roush  08:25

So you sit down with a student and they're struggling, and they say, I don't really know what to write about, and so you just have them tell you yes, and that helps them kind of wrap their mind around that a little bit, and then they're able to start writing right? That's really cool.

 

Leah Starner  08:44

Yeah, if they can tell their story out loud, chances are they might be able to tell it on paper.

 

Mitchell Roush  08:50

That seems obvious, but that's a very that's a very big light bulb moment, especially if, if a student hasn't really written about themselves very much before. So what are the types of things you see kids writing about?

 

Leah Starner  09:01

A lot of times. They'll write about a trip that they took, somewhere a vacation or somewhere that they went with their parents. They'll talk about maybe a time family came over to their fan or to their house and celebrated something. If I'm modeling something like I often model things about my dog, yeah, and so then I get lots of dog stories, sure? Why not? Luckily, it's something their experience was different. And so I do always make sure I'm talking to them about, okay, this is my story, right? You have a story on that topic, that's fine, but now you're gonna tell your story family, friends.

 

Mitchell Roush  09:39

And I imagine it's also a neat way to get more connected to your students, because you see what's important to them, even if it's really little, like I had a good day with my dog at the park the other day, like that matters to them, and now you're deepening that relationship with your student, correct? Yes, that's wonderful.

 

Sabriin, 4th Grader @ Dodge  10:00

Hi. My name is Sabriin, and I'm this is Mrs. Starner's class. One day, one of my tonsils got swollen, and I told my mom, who told my dad to take me to the ER. As I got ready to go, I had to wait for my dad, and he came. And we drove to the ER. We found a chair to sit in, and my dad went up to our receptionist and this, she said, this, Hi, welcome to the ER, I heard that your daughter needs surgery. The receptionist said, my dad talked with the receptionist, and we sat down and we wait and waited until it was our turn. We went into our room, and I sat down on the bed, and me and my dad saw a doctor, and she asked how I was feeling. I said, I'm feeling good. And she went talk to my dad, and took my heartbeat. I laid down after that, and they rolled my bed into the surgery area and told me to breathe into a balloon and close my eyes. And I did. After a while, I was done with it, and I saw how tiny my tonsils were. We drove home, and I had to stay home for two weeks and only ate soft food like ice cream and soda. After two weeks, I was able to eat hard food again and went to second grade Zn, this is, this was when I was, when I was seven.

 

Mitchell Roush  11:35

But beyond the curriculum standards. This is, you know, a skill that they're learning. And as you talked about so aptly, it builds on itself. So how do you see this project contributing to their growth as individuals and lifelong learners?

 

Leah Starner  11:49

Learning to write again helps students with their language skills using that rich language, yes, learning those new words and the ways to describe things again, like you said, that's just that's lifelong, that's within your career, within a family, having children growing up, you know, anything that they're going to be doing, they're going to need those strong communication skills, relationships that they have as adults. Any of those things, they need to have strong communication skills. So I think writing is a huge way to build that.

 

Mitchell Roush  12:24

I couldn't agree more. And it's so cool to see that even even at the elementary school levels, we're doing these things to help them build skills that they're going to continue to use, not just through school, but in their lives, everyday lives. So Mrs. Starner, what's one thing about public education you want people to know?

 

Leah Starner  12:41

The biggest thing about public education is the people you know. It's everybody that works within public education. It's the behind the scenes people. It's it's your classroom teachers, it's your leadership. They're all dedicated to the kids you know. We're here for one reason, and that's the kids. And I think in public school, you find so much dedication, no matter where you look around whatever corner you're at, whoever whatever job or position that is, that's somebody that's dedicated.

 

Mitchell Roush  13:15

That's a good word. And I as far as I'm concerned, a good evergreen reminder is we've got great people here showing up every day to help our kids grow and learn and discover new things. Yes, I love that absolutely.

 

Katie Zuelow  13:33

Hi. My name is Katie Zuelow, but you can call me "Miss Z". I am a fourth grade teacher here at Wasmer Elementary, and this is my first year teaching.

 

Mitchell Roush  13:41

So we're talking specifically about the personal narrative projects that fourth graders have been working on. But as with most curriculum, there's a lot that goes into that in order for setting these kids up to learn, grow and have lifelong skills, what has been the most surprising or rewarding moment you've witnessed with your students as they've been working on these writing tools and their own personal story.

 

Katie Zuelow  14:04

I would definitely say the most surprising and rewarding part of this experience was seeing how proud they were of themselves once they once they turned in their final copy, you could tell they were proud of themselves, because starting the year with a personal narrative like right off the bat, I could definitely tell some of the kids did not want to do it, but we talked a lot, and they were all excited to share their stories with me. And it was exciting to see them actually use those details in the writing after we talked about it so much, because details in writing are huge. It was, it was fun to see what words they chose to describe their feelings and the events that they experienced.

 

Mitchell Roush  14:47

This concept of helping students not only confidently tell about things that are important to them, but that sense of value and belonging, I've got to think, probably gets enhanced through this type of a project.

 

Katie Zuelow  15:00

Project, it definitely does. And they are able to tell me stories all the time with so much voice and like detail, and then it's kind of hard sometimes for them to translate that into writing. Yeah. So we worked really hard on that this time, some of them really got it, which made me very happy.

 

Mitchell Roush  15:16

You get to learn something more about your kids, which is great, but they're also learning about that value of like. Well, if this is important to me, then it matters, and it deserves to be represented in a way that is meaningful. So I know that sometimes there can be challenges, especially as you said, you started off the school year with this, right? So you're diving off the deep end. So sometimes I imagine some of your students could be struggling with what do I want to write about? Or is this, quote, unquote Interesting enough, that sort of thing. So how do you help your students? Kind of get started through this process.

 

Katie Zuelow  15:49

I started this process with doing a lot of like modeling and thinking out loud. So I also wrote a personal narrative this year. Oh, cool with the kids. What did you write about? I wrote about my trip to Florida with my family. Awesome. So I brainstormed with the kids. I kind of showed them my process out loud, and I found that to be very helpful. I think it also helped them see that writing is not something that you can just your boom, done, yeah, that there is a lot of steps, a lot of thinking, a lot of like processing with it, and that it's a it's a lot to go through.

 

Sophia, 4th Grader @ Wasmer  16:26

I'm Sophia, and I'm a fourth grader at Wasmer Elementary. "My Idol In Action". Oh, hi. I didn't see you there. I'm Sophia, and I'm going to tell you about the time I went to a Taylor Swift concert. First, my mom got me tickets for the concert for Christmas. She was gonna give them to me for my birthday, but she couldn't wait. Second, my mom, dad and sister Lucy came on the trip, but only me and my mom went to the concert. Lucy and my dad stayed at my grandma's house. On the way to my grandma's house, I felt so happy and excited. I couldn't believe that I was going to see a Taylor Swift Live at concert. When we got to my grandma's house, we spent the night because the concert was in Arlington, Texas, and my grandma lives in Texas. When it was time to go to the concert, my dad took us to dinner. We caught pizookies. Pizukis are a dessert with ice cream. When we were done, my dad dropped us off at the venue. We had to wait in line forever. It was boring, but we passed the time, and it was so worth the wait. I was so excited when the line finally passed. We got inside, and me and my mom, we got matching T shirts. Gail and Muna opened for Taylor Swift. I don't like Gail, do you? I like Muna, so we decided to watch her. It was finally time for the main event, Taylor Swift, it was so fun. We partied hard for two whole hours. Then a man came by and gave me earplugs. It was so loud. Then we partied for two more hours. I almost fell asleep. I know what you're thinking. What are your favorite songs and sets? Don't worry, I'm going to tell you about that right now. Favorite Songs that she performed are Bejeweled. Willow, tolerate it and look what you made me do in the set. Willow, the dancers and her all had light up globes that they were holding and wearing dark green cloaks with hoods. When it was done, my dad picked us up. We had to go hike down the parking lot. I was super tired. What I'm going to say next, you won't believe I slept till noon. I came out to the couch, and guess what? You guessed it. I slept even more sadly, it was time to go home, so we loaded up in the car and drove the six hours home. I could not believe it. I saw Taylor Swift Live in Concert in Arlington, Texas. I can check that off my bucket list. Have you ever been to a concert?

 

Mitchell Roush  19:23

What's another strategy that you use to help the students feel more confident in their writing?

 

Katie Zuelow  19:28

I would always tell them this kind of goes back to what I told you earlier, that they can tell me all about their stories, yeah, and like their expression on their face, like you could tell they were excited about it. I'm like, when you're writing, pretend you're talking to me. I'm like, pretend you're telling me a story, but you're just putting it in words. And I think that really helped some of them, because writing is hard. It is hard, yeah, and I think that me telling them like you're just talking to me like I wasn't there. I want it to feel like I was there by the time I'm done reading your story.

 

Mitchell Roush  19:57

That's a good way to capture it. I wasn't there. How? Me feel like I was through this story. That's, that's, I would imagine, that's probably a little bit of an easier way for the kids to wrap their brains around it.

 

Katie Zuelow  20:07

Yep, because there's a lot of components to writing. And if you can make me feel like I was there, you're telling a good story.

 

Mitchell Roush  20:13

I love that. That's, that's a really so you modeled it, you shared your own you're helping them understand the concept of Take me there, and now they feel more confident in writing. So I mentioned this a little bit earlier, but you're a first year teacher, which is great. Love having you here in the district. You're also a product of GIPS, which is really cool. So full circle moment. You're teaching this for the very first time too. So are you able to make those connections with those kids in terms of helping them understand like, this matters now today, because we're working on it in class, but they're also working on lifelong skills. What's that like teaching through that as a first year teacher?

 

Katie Zuelow  20:51

I think it's hard to get kids to really understand that because, like, I feel like a lot of kids, they think like, right now, yeah, you know, especially in elementary school. But I have, I've been pretty honest with them. I'm like, we use writing all the time, like you will use it the rest of your life. And I'm like, it's just something you have to work on. I think with one of this life skills from this it's more like learning how to tell your story, yeah, and that kind of goes back to what you said earlier, that I kind of shared with them that like your stories matter, because maybe some kids think that their stories are too small or unimportant, and it all matters how you tell it. Yeah, absolutely and like your voice matters.

 

Galvin, 4th Grader @ Wasmer  21:40

Hello. My name is Galvin. I am in fourth grade. I go to was more Elementary. My never narrative is going to be about my trip to Kansas City. My story takes place in Nebraska and Kansas City. First we had to decide what, as a family, where we wanted to go for vacation. I went with step mom, dad and friend, Jaden, Chelsea and ally. I was feeling very happy because it was my first time going on scary rides with them. This was also my first trip with Brie dad, brie and dad to Kansas City. When we got there, we decided we had to find parking, and we seen a lot of people in the entrance. Then we got our tickets. We walked in and one, when one, we sail, save a lot of rides. Then we went on a high ride. When we got down at the high ride, we went to an upside down ride. In the end of our trip, we had to load the car up and pack up and leave to Lincoln. I still remember this moment because it was the best day ever. The most important part was having fun with friends and family. Also we all were sad to leave Worlds of Fun. And in conclusion, this was the best day ever.

 

Mitchell Roush  23:45

Every student deserves to feel confident in expressing themselves. Now, maybe writing is not their favorite way to do it, but they're certainly going to learn how to do that more effectively. But if there is a way through the learning and the life skills and the benchmarks and all the things that they're going to be doing in class. If there's a way for them to feel like they belong at school and feel more comfortable in their own skin and sharing their voice, I've got to think that matters, yeah?

 

Katie Zuelow  24:11

And then to know that people care, yeah, to listen to like, I had a lot of kids, like, just the different backgrounds too, like the variety of stories we had in here. They were so cool. And I'm like, Oh my gosh, like, that happened to you? That is so cool. I cannot wait to read this. And like, they would just smile about I'm like, that's a good story. It'll be a good story. And like, I just wanted them to know that even the smallest things they're worth sharing.

 

Mitchell Roush  24:35

That's a good reminder for, I mean, everybody. I mean that's ever that's evergreen, that is true all the adults listening, little things matter. So and for our kids, little things matter Absolutely. I'm a big believer on that. That's wonderful. So Ms Z I ask everybody on this podcast the same question. I'd love to hear your answer. So what is one thing about public education? You want people to know?

 

Katie Zuelow  24:58

One thing I want everyone to know. Is that there's a lot of small victories in a day here that don't make the headlines, but they are worth celebrating here in our in public school, and they just make our days truly special. I love that like, such as, like, maybe a shy kid, they finally raise their hand and they want to share or like, you see new kids making new friends, building relationships with all the kids. It's it goes back to the small things again, like that for me that like, makes my day special.

 

Mitchell Roush  25:26

The small things make a big difference.

 

Katie Zuelow  25:30

They do. They absolutely do.

 

Mitchell Roush  25:38

Thank you so much, listeners for joining us here on 'The GIPS Cast' and shout out to Mrs. Starner, Miss Zuelow and their students, Sabriin, Celine, Sophia, and Galvin for sharing the personal narrative experience with us. It's always cool to see and to hear how our students are learning and finding their voice. Of course, listeners, if you enjoy this podcast, we would love it if you gave us a rating or a review on your favorite podcast platform, so you can rate us on Apple podcast, Spotify, iHeartRadio, wherever it is you listen, it will help other people discover us along the way, and don't forget to explore www.gips.org.  That's gips.org our district website that is your hub for resources, information, news, articles, this podcast, and so much more from Grand Island Public Schools. Thank you so much for joining us here on 'The GIPS Cast'. We will be coming back at you soon, listeners with some more stories from our district.

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