Dr. Lee Anne Bell, Principal Investigator

The Storytelling Project (STP) links research to practice through the development of a curriculum to teach about race, racism, and social justice using storytelling and the arts. In 2005, Barnard College was awarded a grant of $100,000 from the Third Millennium Foundation to support the first year of a two-year collaboration with the International Center for Tolerance Education (ICTE). With this support, the STP model was developed by an interdisciplinary creative team of artists, public school teachers, university faculty and Barnard students.

During 2004-2005, the STP Creative Team developed a storytelling model and curriculum to teach about race, racism and social justice for middle and high school students. As a model program, the STP model and curriculum was designed to be flexible; the program can be incorporated into existing school curricula such as English/Language Arts and Social Studies as well as in targeted after-school programs.

In Summer 2005, the STP Project convened an intensive one-week Storytelling, Social Justice and the Arts Institute for New York City public school teachers. The Institute introduced the STP model and curriculum and engaged teachers in testing and refining activities and materials enabling participating teachers to experience the curriculum as “students” and devised strategies for teaching it in their own classrooms during the following school year.

During 2005-2006, two teachers from the Summer Institute implemented the STP curriculum in their own classrooms with the support of our team. As their students wrote, told, and performed stories drawn from historical and literary sources and their own lives, they began to see new possibilities for gaining perspective on issues of racism, tolerance and social justice in their own communities. They built critical thinking and communication skills through a range of artistic, writing and performance activities that also helped them develop heightened awareness of social justice issues.

As active participants, students and teachers not only developed a significant stake in the process but also contributed to research on tolerance education and understanding race and racism as well. As the STP model and curriculum were introduced into the classroom, teachers and students provided feedback, and in collaboration with the creative team, made necessary curricular revisions. The STP Creative Team assessed the initial year of implementation, tracking student/teacher responses and measuring results of student learning, in order to refine and modify the lessons and activities for wider dissemination to other teachers and schools in New York City and beyond.