The power of story and words to reflect the world we live in as well as to provide the imagination and vision necessary to reshape that world is infinite. Stories enable us to understand ourselves and others; they give us the power to sway an audience, to force change, to build bridges across ethnic and gender lines. Each year that power sends me back into the classroom eager to meet new, diverse students with whom I begin again the process of storytelling and story making. As we read together the stories and poems of others, we also write our own, reaching into the experience of each individual for the rich tapestry of words waiting to be made visible.

Lois Carson

My task as a teacher, therefore, is to continuously look for productive ways to reaffirm the value of each student at the same time that I dare each to risk new challenges, to write new stories. The students that I encounter each year, however, appear less and less attuned to voices and active listening. In a world dominated by television remotes, boom boxes, and cell phones, they have become passive receivers—restless and easily bored. Thus, when Lucinda MacKethan invited Cary Academy's humanities teachers to take part in a two-day workshop on the radio plays produced by The Public Media Foundation, I jumped at the chance.

On the Friday morning of April 30, three of my colleagues and I met with other middle and secondary teachers from the Raleigh area; Professors Lucinda MacKethan and James Miller; and the Scribbling Women executive producer, Valerie Henderson. Sitting around a seminar table in the Student Union at North Carolina State University, we listened to the radio play, The Bones of Louella Brown, dramatized by Laura Harrington from Ann Petry's 1947 short story. Captivated by the dramatic pacing and effective sound effects, we were also caught by the tightly constructed plot and significant theme. Most of all we were entertained. The animated discussion that followed ranged from questions about the post WWII culture that produced the story, to interest in regional details of Boston itself, to critical analysis of the story as metaphor, to speculation about the earlier lives of the characters.

On Saturday, playwright Eliza Anderson, who dramatized Mary E. Wilkins Freeman's story, "Louisa" for the Scribbling Women series, joined us. Again, we began by listening to the radio play itself. This time, however, our discussion focused on writing radio plays and on activities for engaging students. Ms. Anderson led us in a fascinating and productive exploration of differences between the written story and the radio play. Later workshop leaders became counselors conducting a successful marriage workshop while participants had great fun assuming the roles of Mr. and Mrs. Britton, Jonathan Nye, his wife, Ida Mosely, Louisa, and the husband of her "girlish dreams."

I knew that this was the rich learning activity that my students needed to finish the school year.

The highlight of the workshop, however, came as participants worked together in small groups preparing production notes for adapting Nella Larsen's 1930 story, "Sanctuary" into a radio play. There were poignant moments of self recognition, laughter, disgust, and inordinate pride as Larsen's story forced us to confront both the best and the worst aspects of human nature. As I brainstormed with two colleagues from area public schools and listened to the rich melodious voice of one of them, Brenda Greene, singing the old spiritual, "I Don't Feel No Ways Tired," I realized how much fun creating a radio play could be. I knew that this was the rich learning activity that my students needed to finish the school year.

For two weeks now, school has been both fun and productive for the 47 juniors I teach in American Studies. In 10 small groups, they are constructing multi-media web sites representing the 10 decades of the 20th Century. Each group has chosen a literary selection to adapt as a radio play. Following the lessons of the workshop, I began by having the students listen to The Bones of Louella Brown. The expected groans at the idea of "listening" to a play came, but rather quickly died as students became engrossed in the drama of voices. The discussion that followed was so lively that none of us was aware that the class had officially ended.

Send inquiries to publicmedia@neu.edu

Copyright © 1999 The Public Media Foundation