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Youngsters from Thirsk (North Yorkshire) were invited to create digital family stories as part of the My Family: My Story project, a digital storytelling project which promotes family learning and supports literacy in school.
Together with their parents, the Year 3 pupils from Thirsk Community Primary School have spent six sessions working with the World of James Herriot museum to record stories about their families and their special objects.
They have visited the museum to learn about museum collections and how the objects on display have stories to tell, as well as creating their own ‘All about You’ story-box filled with photographs and objects, that making up their own family collection.
“Using family objects as a starting point for creating digital stories has been really successful in encouraging families to share stories which recount their family, their interests and how they live,” said the Museum’s Education Officer, Jenny Wells.
“Through the creation of story-boxes and by visiting the museum, they have discovered that just like their own homes, The World of James Herriot has its own special collection of objects - and stories to share.”
Using oral storytelling and digital recording equipment, such as cameras, audio and video equipment, to create these stories, has proved a powerful way of eliciting stories from quieter children and encouraged the sharing of experience across generations. Children were able to listen carefully to the parents’ family stories and parents listened to the children’s stories, successfully creating speaking and listening opportunities for those involved.
The project is part of the M.L.A’s ‘Museums and Archives Alive’ project and worked in partnership with Thirsk Community Primary School (Head Teacher, Richard Wild), Extended School Co-ordinator (Carolyn Mullins) and Dr Kate Pahl, Senior Lecturer, Department of Educational Studies, University of Sheffield, who is researching the relationship between museums, objects in the home and stories and showing how these activities can support literacy in school.
World of James Herriot - Official Website
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