How Storytelling Can Change the Way Students Understand their Communities

May 14

A group of 7 grade 11 students at the ISF (Independent Schools Foundation) Academy in Hong Kong embarked on a deep learning journey that ended up spanning two years of academic inquiry and service as action.

ISF offers the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program for grade 11 and 12 students, and a core component of the program is CAS (Creativity, Activity, and Service) where students create and execute action plans that exemplify community engagement, inquiry and investigation, and sustainable, thoughtful action.

If you’re an IB teacher, you may have seen good and bad examples of CAS experiences. At their best, these experiences showcase student leadership, voice and choice, as well as principles of assets-based community development, deep listening, authentic reflection, and reciprocal collaboration with community partners. At their worst, CAS experiences can be done hastily and in ways that reinforce unequal power paradigms and mindsets rooted in saviourism. Like all work in the service learning/global citizenship/community engagement realm, success is defined by a slow, thoughtful approach rooted in humility, curiosity, careful research and dialogue, and respect for all community stakeholders.

This example from ISF Academy shows how a group of students noticed a local issue and decided to investigate it for their CAS experience. They had noticed older members of their community collecting cardboard to resale, and these individuals were known as “scavengers”. The students wanted to learn more about these individuals and their stories, and to understand the root causes of how and why these elders were engaged in gathering cardboard.

They were able to interview a local woman at a wet market in Hong Kong, and spend a significant amount of time with her. As well, they engaged in observing their local communities, both in the behaviours and activities of the elders who were gathering cardboard, and in the behaviours of others who were interacting with or responding to these elders.

The students learned a lot, and wanted to share their new-found understandings with the ISF community, so they took action by creating a documentary called “Scavendgers” that they shared at school and on YouTube. Their advocacy work was impactful, so much so that they went on to create a series of films to share, and they are now (at the end of their 12th grade year) working on a sustainability plan to engage younger students as leaders to continue this service experience.

While making their documentaries, the students also engaged in direct action by volunteering with a local NGO that operates a lunch program for community members in need of food, and they also raised funds for this organization, as well. They created multiple items to sell at a school market, and also conducted a donation drive for things like toiletries, clothing, and backpacks. Multiple layers of action emerged as the students became more connected to the community members and NGO representatives in Hong Kong connected to the collection of cardboard.

Below you can see a gallery of photos about these students and various aspects of their community engagement and service experiences, as well as watch the “Scavendgers” documentary created by this group of students for their CAS activity. You can also check out a series of clips where the students reflect on their experience and what they learned.

Digital storytelling is a key approach and strategy to engage students as: