“The Story That Binds Us” by Bruce Feiler is an article that I believe should be read by all educators and families. It emphasizes and proves the importance of developing a strong, open, and unified multigenerational family unit through a vital study. It encourages families to develop and share “family narratives”, which can incorporate a family’s history, struggles, triumphs, and etc. More importantly, the study found that students who have a strong and solid “intergenerational self” do better in school and have higher self confidence. Additionally, this “intergenerational self” assists students with overcoming challenges and decreasing the effects of stress. Furthermore, Feiler (2013) states, “Mr. Collins recommended that families create a mission statement similar to the ones companies and other organizations use to identify their core values” (p. 2).
Nevertheless, I believe it is imperative for all educators to be aware of and reflect upon the findings in this article. In my own second grade classroom, I plan to incorporate the findings in the article into various projects throughout the school year. First, I plan to send out monthly family newsletters, which will feature various ways parents can share their family history and develop their own unique “family narrative” with their children. Furthermore, I would discuss with my students who the members of an extended family are through a read aloud. Subsequently, vocabulary words such as determination, struggles, and etc. would be taught through a variety of activities. Then, I would have my students collect pictures of their family and extended family members with the ultimate goal of creating a collage. Lastly, I would have my students write a paragraph about what makes their extended or multigenerational family special and determined to them. Subsequently, twice a month, I would like to have an extended family member of each students to visit the class and share an appropriate aspect of their culture or special story as discussed with me.
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