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Shari Nguyen Huynh (left) and Marisol Leal work on laptop computers as they document their cultural history. A Teaching Tolerance grant funded the project.
(Kim Craft/Gainesville Times) |
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GAINESVILLE, Ga. -- Students at Gainesville Middle School learned as much about themselves as they did their community when they created a book examining local cultural history with the help of a Teaching Tolerance grant.
The book, Gainesville Voices: Three Roads Converge, is a collection of student stories, poems, historical perspectives and photographs, along with family recipes and folk tales.
Students in Renee Morris' 8th grade English class produce a publication each year. Morris said the school's diverse racial and ethnic population and the city's rich history sparked her interest in this year's book project, and she sought funding from the Teaching Tolerance grants program to bring her ideas to fruition.
Gainesville Middle School students are 45 percent Latino, 28 percent African American, 23 percent European American and 4 percent Asian American.
"Our goal this year was to celebrate diversity by writing it down and showing that we are all important," Morris said.
Students recorded untold stories
The project offered students an opportunity to interview family or community members and record untold stories. The Teaching Tolerance grant enabled Morris to purchase film, disposable cameras and notebooks for students to use during interviews.
In conjunction with the 8th-grade Georgia history curriculum, students studied civil rights issues and wrote about the experiences of their family members.
One student shared the story of his grandmother, one of the first black students to integrate Gainesville Middle School. Two other students retold their family's journey on the Cherokee Trail of Tears.
"Our stories are important," said Morris. "It is something I want my students to record before it is lost."
Shari Nguyen, an 8th grader, understands Morris' concept. "Sometimes people don't cherish things right in front of them," she said.
Project is teaching tool
Rayanna Jones, the student who suggested to Morris that students should write individual books, sees the project as a teaching tool. "In life, there are always problems. Maybe people in similar situations can learn from it," she said.
Other students have highly praised the publication and its capacity to help them learn new things about each other.
Student Nancy Sanchez views the project as a way to promote unity. "We have to respect the feelings of other people so that we don't make fun of them," she said.
The project has been a group effort with students collaborating on writing and editing their stories.
The students conducted original research, documented family stories and preserved a part of their own culture and history during the process. In doing so, they found a voice that will be heard for years to come.
"We have learned from each other," Morris said. "Perhaps we can learn that, with all our differences, we are still more alike than different."
Since its inception in 1997, Teaching Tolerance has awarded more than 900 grants to educators nationwide.
SPLC Report
June 2004
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