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[Community]
A Day Streetside:
Storytelling That Builds Community
Jaime Wright
IN A BASEMENT-LEVEL CLASSROOM
of the Ben Franklin Middle School in San Francisco, California,
the bell rings as the teacher makes sure kids are sitting upright
and attentive in their seats. Something special is happening today.
In front of long, tattered tables shoved into a U shape, facilitator
Anna Luera of Streetside Stories writes a list of what "Every
Story Needs" on a large sketchpad held up by an easel that
looks like it was borrowed from a game of Pictionary.
Streetside Stories
is a San Francisco nonprofit literary arts program that works with
seven different middle schools in the San Francisco School District.
Streetside conducts several two-week programs, both during and after
school, which help students with reading, writing, and oral communication
skills.
With only ten
students, Larkin's class is smaller than most of the classes that
facilitators Anna Luera and Mei-ying Ho encounter, so the women
are able to work one-on-one with the students each day throughout
their two-hour session. However, Larkin's class also provides Anna
and Mei-ying with some unique challenges.
Larkin's students
range from sixth to eighth grade, and their reading and writing
skills vary from pre-kindergarten to fifth grade. The wide range
in ability makes the experience "like teaching in an old-time
schoolhouse," says Larkin. Without a lot of one-on-one help,
she believes that these children will definitely get left behind.
Larkin holds
Governor Gray Davis' proposed cuts in education as partially responsible
for jeopardizing the opportunities of her students. These have caused
San Francisco school districts to freeze all money to extra programs
such as Streetside. This helps perpetuate an understaffed special
education program, which, in turn, compounds problems in poor neighborhoods
where many parents can't afford tutors for their kids, let alone
instructors with special education credentials.
It's a good
thing that Larkin feels emotionally drawn to this line of work.
Forced to conduct classes in a storage area filled with heavily
used equipment, Larkin understandably welcomes any help she is offered
from outside the school system. Today, Larkin receives more assistance
than usual. Along with Streetside's paid staff members Mei-ying
and Anna, three volunteers have joined the class: Diane Fraser,
a freelance technical writer; Thuy Ngo, an art school student; and
Larkin's roommate, Janice Matchek, who comes in every Wednesday
for an hour before going to work as a graphic designer.
Too bad every
day can't be like this. Between the volunteers, facilitators, and
Larkin, each student receives personal assistance. Even 12-year-old
Shiree, who missed class the day before, gets enough help to get
caught up to the other students.
Each year, Streetside
compiles an anthology of stories written around a central topic.
Past subjects have included changes, celebrations, travels, dreams,
and challenges. This year's theme involves choices and decisions.
Though each student writes about the same topic, the individual
outcomes are far from predictable.
In the 2001
anthology Hooray! Stories of Celebrations by San Francisco Youth,
Karen Torres, 12, describes the horrific shooting of her best friend
during the girl's Quinceanera. The murder was an act of revenge
by members of the friend's older sisters' rival gang.
Anna and Mei-ying
both praise the Streetside program for allowing students to speak
up and realize that they have a voice. "We give them tools
to express themselves," explains Mei-ying. Often, students
find writing stories to be a cathartic experience.
One shining
example of this is 12-year-old Travell Atkinson's "Bricks on
My Back," a story that appeared in the 2002 anthology Everything's
Different Now: Stories of Change by San Francisco Youth. Travell
recounts the arrest and incarceration of his older cousin. Mei-ying
says that in the beginning of the program Travell was acting out
a lot in class, getting in trouble, and getting sent out. On the
last day, when Travell was behind, Mei-ying worked with him to finish
his story.
"He wrote
about being angry and getting in a ton of fights at school. And
then one day his mom told him that it doesn't matter how many fights
you get in, it won't get your cousin out of jail," recalls
Anna. "A lot of kids are angry and I don't know if kids know
why they're angry." Anna and Mei-ying both describe Travell
as appearing relieved after this exercise; they claim that it helped
Travell to better understand his anger.
Not all stories
are as emotionally intense. One story in Everything's Different
Now recounts how getting a computer and being able to send instant
messages to friends changed a student's life. In Larkin's class,
a student named Dechocta chose to write about Furbies. Toward the
end of the class, his running title was "The Legend of the
Furbies."
The history
of Streetside began in 1989, when the brothers Levy-Seth and James-biked
from Maine to California. They stopped at schools along the way
and worked with kids to write stories. The brothers would then read
these stories to other students in different communities, offering
the kids a sense of what it was like to live in other places.
In 1991, the
brothers founded Streetside Stories. It began its program with 60
students in two San Francisco schools; the program now reaches 800
students in seven different middle schools in San Francisco.
Roughly 1/4
of the students' stories will be published. The decision process
varies from teacher to teacher. Some teachers pick the best work,
while others choose stories of students who have been struggling.
Some instructors base selections on the votes of their students.
Larkin's group is so small that, most likely, any student who brings
a signed permission slip from a parent will be automatically chosen.
But Larkin says that a discouraging lack of parent involvement means
that even this doesn't always happen.
Each participating
student receives a copy of the anthology, as does the school library.
Some San Francisco public libraries order the anthology. Anthologies
can be purchased on Streetside's website, at www.streetside.org.
Each copy sold helps the program stay alive and reach more children.
The last year
has been rough on the Streetside program. According to Program Director
Britt Aageson, much of the money schools usually set aside for the
Streetside program had to be used for basic supplies like paper
and books, due to the proposed budget cuts.
This did not
stop Streetside from offering its service. "We made the decision
to provide some of those schools with workshops for free because
ultimately, our mission is to serve the students who need it most,"
says Aageson. "The challenge will be in providing services
next year."
If the budgeting
for schools remains strained, difficult decisions will have to be
made by Streetside in balancing their mission to continue helping
those who need it the most with the measures required to keep their
doors open.
Economic difficulties
notwithstanding, Streetside has plans to expand its program. "I
think we are particularly interested in expanding the program so
that we can work with the students throughout their middle school
career," says Aageson. Until this year, Streetside only taught
sixth graders. "This year we added our after school programs
for seventh and eighth graders ... where we already do an in-school
program for sixth graders." Streetside started a teacher training
program two years ago to help provide instructors outside of the
San Francisco district with the tools to initiate the writing program
on their own.
For more
information on how to volunteer, purchase an anthology, or receive
teacher training, contact:
Streetside Stories
285 Ninth Street
San Francisco, CA 94103
Phone: 415-864-5221
Fax: 415-864-5628
contact@streetside.org
www.streetside.org
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