From Teacher to Teller: How Applied Storytelling Informs Autobiographical Instruction.

This thesis uses autobiographical inquiry to re-member how I came to understand that applied storytelling was a valid teaching tool in facilitating autobiographical expression in mature learners. It is an examination of how story sharing and story listening can transform a continuing education classroom into a learning community. Applied storytelling can help elders reframe their negative mental models about the value of their stories, memory, and mythology and create opportunities for positive story sharing experiences. I selected highlights of my journey that best represented my experience and use of applied storytelling techniques. Each chapter includes an exercise and reflection as well as a story and commentary. In the appendices, I include stories written by the elders

#41 - A preliminary assessment of native pollinator attraction to bee hotels in northeast Georgia

Native pollinators are an essential component of ecosystems as they ensure a stable and diverse vegetation community. However, populations at local, regional and global scales are currently threatened and will potentially undergo a large-scale extinction. One of the primary challenges is the constant threat of nesting habitat degradation. These structures are especially important in well-manicured areas where there is a lack of natural debris (e.g., decaying logs, leaves). In this study, we created “Bee Hotels” to serve as pre-constructed native pollinator habitats at UNG’s Appalachian Studies Center in The Historic Vickery House gardens. We placed these structures near an open-air garden as well as an enclosed hoop house garden. Pollinators were assessed using the method established in partnership with University of Georgia Extension Great Pollinator Census. We found that pollinator species occupied both structures to an equal degree and inhabited them within three to four days following their construction. These preliminary data indicate that 1) there is a need for increased pollinator habitats across the UNG Dahlonega Campus, and 2) pollinators in open-air as well as enclosed settings utilize these structures. In the future, we will compare pollinator usage of the hotels in manicured versus unmanicured areas. Comparison of data collected prior to and after the establishment of bee hotels will indicate the effectiveness of bee hotels as a native pollinator habitat and inform conservation practices at UNG and more broadly

Cultivating Community: Helping rural libraries develop heirloom seed and story repositories

The Southern Appalachians have a rich and diverse agricultural heritage, yet heirloom seeds and the elders who save them are rapidly disappearing. Students minoring in Appalachian Studies at the University of North Georgia preserve this agro-biodiversity and cultural tradition though collecting, growing, banking, and sharing local heirloom seeds as well as the related ethno cultural knowledge. From this “memory banking,” students create visual and performance art based on the stories of the seed keepers, thus blurring the edges of science and art. Although this initiative, Saving Appalachian Gardens and Stories, has collected almost 150 heirloom seed varieties, there is no consistent distribution mechanism. Therefore, as part of its Appalachian Teaching Project, the Center partnered with the local library system to explore how public access to heirloom seeds can be increased. Learn about the successes and pitfalls of this seed and story depository and share your experience about community access to heirloom seeds

Scrolling through history: A moving panoramic shadow box theater as Foxfire interpretative mo

For their 2016 Appalachian Teaching Project (ATP), students in the Appalachian Studies Minor at the University of North Georgia wanted to help The Foxfire Museum to increase its interpretive capacity to reach a new generation, both in Rabun County, Georgia and beyond. As the central focus, students located transcripts from early Foxfire’s interviews about agricultural traditions, e.g. planting by the signs. Then, they wrote a script, created and digitized a crankie – a moving panoramic shadow box theater. This 19th century entertainment medium, which is making a comeback in Appalachian performance realms, features a long illustrated scroll wound onto two spools that are loaded into a box with a viewing screen. The scroll is hand-cranked while the story is told. The crankie, which will be given to The Foxfire Museum after ATP ends, will serve as an innovative model that high school students, alumni and volunteers can use to present many of the other subject headings in the museum’s voluminous collection of archival materials. This poster session will feature scenes and stories from the crankie as well as the narrative inquiry methodology that accompanied its construction

Potluck Pedagogy: Growing old-timey seeds – and community -- in new ways

At the University of North Georgia’s Appalachian Studies Center, we teach undergraduates in a disrupted landscape: Our county, along with seven neighboring ones, is among the 100 fastest growing counties in the U.S. as Atlanta creeps ever northward. Such unmanaged economic development means a rapid loss of farms and gardens in the Appalachian Upland South, the very area with the highest documented levels of agrobiodiversity. We felt an urgency to save these disappearing heirloom seeds and stories by connecting our classroom to tradition bearers. We wanted to create a space where community is not only welcome but also where elders, students, and faculty are the teachers as well as the taught. We found this space in gathering around a table, sharing food, sharing seeds, sharing stories in what we’ve come to call “potluck pedagogy.” We began as three women who went in search of seeds and stories buried in a rapidly changing landscape and cultural demographic. We emerged with a potluck pedagogy, bountiful and diverse, where everyone leaves with their hunger satisfied by good food and a growing understanding of our common purpose. Potluck pedagogy works in times of scarcity, when resources are limited, and when age, economics, and institutions of power create barriers. Potluck pedagogy belongs to everyone, is created by everyone. Everybody brings, everybody shares, and everybody is fed. The foundation of community is built on common purpose. We invite you to gather. (Get there early for a sample of Baby Ray’s Black Cookies.

\u27Tater Eyes and \u27Possum Houses: A New Role for Storytelling in Place-based Pedagogy

The storytelling tradition is as ancient as these mountains. Whether it’s folktales about trickster animals, ghost stories, or personal narratives, tellers and listeners mutually create a story space, a shared internal world that exists only in the memory of the teller and mind of the listener. How can we, as educators in Appalachia, use storytelling in place-based pedagogy? This reader\u27s theater, co-created by undergraduate researchers who participated in the 2013 Appalachian Teaching Project, transcended the bounds of the traditional classroom and took students to the fields, gardens, and homes of local elders. Students not only preserved heirloom seeds and documented dying foodways practices but also listened deeply and intentionally. They came to view the storytellers as valuable, respected individuals instead of uneducated, powerless, poverty-stricken old folks. Such is the power of story

What does Appalachia mean to me? Investigating elementary and middle grades students’ perceptions of Appalachian culture during Camp Appalachia

Camp Appalachia is a week long summer camp that exposes students to the rich and vibrant culture of Appalachia by engaging in hands-on activities focused on science and engineering practices, historical significance of arts, crafts, and music, and storytelling to preserve history. This research study explored Camp Appalachia elementary and middle grades students\u27 (n = 13) perceptions of Appalachian culture. Two methods of data sources documented students’ perceptions before and after the events of Camp Appalachia: 1) Appalachian Perception and Interest Survey (collected student demographic, perception, and interest information) and 2) Draw Appalachia (students were instructed to draw what they knew about the people who lived in Appalachia – this was based on the Draw-the-Scientist protocol developed by Chambers (1983)). Student responses of the Appalachian Perception and Interest Survey (Likert scale 1-5) were compared pre and post using the Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test (two-tailed, alpha = .05). While there was an increase in overall ranks of each item on the survey, there was a significant change in student response of the item, I enjoy learning about Appalachian culture. Draw Appalachia student drawings (pre and post) were reviewed, coded, and compared (e.g., gender, race, outdoor features, farming and hunting actions, and living areas). Four student Draw Appalachia case studies will be featured detailing assumed stereotypes, perceptions of Appalachia, self-identification with Appalachia, and depictions of gender and family. This information could inform best practices in the development and implementation of informal educational programs designed to create awareness of Appalachian culture for students