When I began my work with Kaleidoscope here 8 years ago, I entered into the work thinking that writing was a solitary act. A person has an idea, or knowledge to share, and they go off and write a piece for publication. I knew about and had benefited from peer-review, often in the form of my then boyfriend, now husband, reading the occasional final paper for class to help me see flaws in my argument or find places where I needed better examples. But the piece of writing that I shared was mainly finished, just a product that needed a look over. This is certainly one approach to writing, and an approach I still use in some of the writing I do, just as I imagine others do as well.
But my experiences with Kaleidoscope have opened up a new version of how storytelling can be accomplished. Rather than a solitary act, writing can be a communal one, with conversation, sketches, revision, and re-iteration throughout the creation of a story. Rather than a solitary act, writing can be a communal one, with conversation, sketches, revision, and re-iteration throughout the creation of a story. I’ve had so many wonderful experiences being supported by someone from the initial idea to a finished story, where I was encouraged, questioned, prompted, reminded, and sometimes cajoled, to keep writing, to revise, to refine my ideas. And I hope that for the people I’ve supported, they found the experience rewarding. The stories we share in this issue come from the collective work of many teachers, collaborating across schools and states, to share their rich knowledge of practice.
In Gilden’s Hat Collection, Emily Gilden assesses the ways her various roles and experiences impact her as she moves though her day-to-day work. Bev Stuckwisch’s poem, Autopilot, brings us together with the shared experience of going through the motions of teaching. Catherine Sullivan explores what we do with the deeply personal stories we learn from students. Two of our articles present useful frameworks to support teachers as they provide ambitious, authentic, and robust learning experiences for their students. One, Science and Math Project-Based Learning, presents a framework for integrating project-based learning with storyline curriculum that supports practice skills. In Growing Climate Justice Education, the authors share a framework for building climate science experiences that center teacher and student well-being, local action, and maintaining hope and positivity. These two frameworks come from teachers and their collaborative work across school districts.
Our authors continue to share knowledge, generated through practice, that I hope will influence your thinking and your teaching. While I am formally leaving my position at Kaleidoscope, I leave with a better understanding of the profound impact of creating stories together, for our own well-being and for others. I am thankful to the authors of this issue and previous issues for sharing their knowledge and for being invited into the work of many others whose knowledge didn’t appear in a publication, but has impacted me and other teachers in many ways. Happy storytelling!
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