How to Listen to Other People’s Stories My most important time as an elementary school teacher was spent kneeling beside children during Writing Workshop, making the simplest but deeply profound request, “Tell me your story.” As the plotlines unfolded, in pictures and in words, narratives fell atop the page - stories of police siren alarm clocks that abated sleep, and caregivers, who undoubtedly cared, but were unable to extricate themselves from their own trauma, so their children put down the baseball gloves and picked up the role of parent instead. Inside these tellings, I wasn’t able to alter the plotlines, but I was able to hold space for the story, and space holding creates room for people to breathe.
How to Listen to Other People’s Stories
How to Listen to Other People’s Stories
How to Listen to Other People’s Stories
How to Listen to Other People’s Stories My most important time as an elementary school teacher was spent kneeling beside children during Writing Workshop, making the simplest but deeply profound request, “Tell me your story.” As the plotlines unfolded, in pictures and in words, narratives fell atop the page - stories of police siren alarm clocks that abated sleep, and caregivers, who undoubtedly cared, but were unable to extricate themselves from their own trauma, so their children put down the baseball gloves and picked up the role of parent instead. Inside these tellings, I wasn’t able to alter the plotlines, but I was able to hold space for the story, and space holding creates room for people to breathe.