Narrative & Employability 1

UTILIZING PERSONAL NARRATIVE TO ENGAGE DISENGAGED LEARNERS TO INCREASE EMPLOYABILITY by Michael S. McCabe
A Field Project Submitted In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Master of Science in Education

Special Education at The University of Wisconsin Oshkosh Oshkosh WI 54901-8621 August 2009

COMMITTEE APPROVAL _______________________Advisor ______________Date Approved _______________________Member ______________Date Approved

PROVOST AND VICE CHANCELLOR ________________________ ________________Date Approved FORMAT APPROVAL ________________________ ___________ Date Approved

Narrative & Employability 2

Abstract This qualitative study investigates the use of personal narrative in the classroom. Narrative based environments increase applied skills and employability of disengaged learners at the 11th and 12th grade level. A sample of fifteen students in a public charter school participated in the action research intervention. Students with and without disabilities participated in the intervention. This study indicates student learning can be adequately assessed in a narrative environment when focusing on the learning processes rather than products traditionally yielded as a result of classroom activities. Student learning and expertise resembled work world situations instead of traditional learning outcomes. The five employability areas focused on during the intervention were: work ethic, good communication, collaboration, problem solving & critical thinking, and social responsibility.

Narrative & Employability 3

TABLE OF CONTENTS Page

LIST OF TABLES4 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION5 Definitions.5 CHAPTER II REVIEW OF LITERATURE..11 Employability11 Personal Narrative.19 CHAPTER III METHOD...24 Setting24 CHAPTER IV RESULTS...36 CHAPTER V DISCUSSION..68 Summary of Study.68 APPENDIXES...77 Appendix A.....77A Appendix B.77B REFERENCES..79

Narrative & Employability 4 LIST OF TABLES Page Table 1. Table 2. Table 3. Employability Intervention Topics9 Demographic Information of Student Participants26 Weekly Format..34

Narrative & Employability 5 Chapter I Introduction to the Problem Over the past few decades, the push towards measurable academic standards in K12 education has been increasingly apparent in many parts of the United States (Toepfer, 2002). A standards based curriculum aligns easily with standardized assessments. Since traditional American high school general education classrooms center around one teacher lecturing 20-30 students, the teacher is the person who affirms the right answer provided by students. Generally speaking, there is one right answer. This learning environment is based on Rationality, an environment in which there is one right answer. The right answer is affirmed by the teacher (Fisher & Caswell, 2003). Students who refuse or are unable to participate in the curriculum are disengaged from the learning environment. A problem many students leaving high school face is employment. Skills such as leadership, communication, honesty, and critical thinking are not a part of standards based curriculum systems in many states (Toepfer, 2002). Students leaving high school and entering college or the workforce are expected to have a skill set greater than what they have been instructed with in the academic classroom (McLester & McIntire, 2006; Spirito, Dalgin, & Bellini, 2008; Toepfer, 2002). Students with disabilities face increased deficits in their readiness for employment (Luecking & Gramlich, 2003; Rock, 2004; Allen, Ciano, & Rutowski, 2008), compounding this fact is that many Students with disabilities are also the same students who are disengaged from the curriculum, especially since these employment skills have not been directly taught (Overtoom, 2000). Definitions 1. Narrative

Narrative & Employability 6 According to Fisher (1997), there are five major presuppositions in the narrative paradigm: First, humans are storytellers. Secondly, human decisions and actions are based in good reasons, which vary greatly from situation to situation. Thirdly, good reasons vary across history and culture. The fourth major presupposition is specific constraints, which include time, place, and presentation. The fifth major presupposition is narrative coherence, meaning if a story fits together and narrative fidelity means if the story a human experiences rings true to the stories they know to believe to be true (Schneider & Caswell, 3). Finally, People live life as a series of different stories. These stories are told, retold, created, and recreated (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000; Fisher, 1997, p.314). 2. Personal Narrative/Storytelling Personal Narrative will focus on the telling, retelling of stories. Personal Narrative allows students to talk about space, place, and time; furthermore, retelling the story allows students to recreate situations and learn from past incidents (Clandinin & Connelly, 1998). 3. Rationality According to Walter Fisher, (1984) Rationality is determined by how much we know and how well we know it (Schneider & Caswell, 2003). In a Rationality based classroom, one right answer exists. The right answer is deduced logically. Schneider and Caswell (2003) state, The dominance of the rational paradigm means that knowledge that is based on logical argument is valued more highly than knowledge that is not (p. 2). Mott states, Narrative-centered learning

Narrative & Employability 7 environments could provide engaging worlds in which students are actively involved in motivating story building activities (Mott, 1999, Abstract) 4. Disengaged Learners Students cannot or do not want to complete the assigned task or work independently (Rock, 2004). 5. Employability Transferable core skills, knowledge, and attitudes required by the 21st century workplace (Overtoom, 2000; Toepfer, 2002). 6. Applied Skills Applied skills are commonly referred to as soft skills (Di Meglio, 2008). These skills include: communication, leadership, honesty, work ethic, collaboration, social responsibility, problem solving/critical thinking, and several other intangible human qualities (McLester & McIntire, 2006). Applied skills are difficult to measure. They differ from academic skills in the regard that applied skills are qualitative rather than quantitative. 7. Work Based Learning Work-based learning involves students working in the community. The students learn academic and applied skills. For the purposes of this research, work-based learning includes job shadowing, volunteer work, and paid employment, all of which are considered work-based learning (Luecking & Gramlich, 2003). Methods This study is qualitative and utilized single subject methods along with action research. The sample will consisted of fourteen 10th-12th grade students who attend a

Narrative & Employability 8 Charter School for credit deficient students. Methodology focused on measuring students ability to demonstrate the five employability traits. The participants were provided a survey assessment which examined the students understanding of their applied skill level. The treatment involved a seven-week narrative driven unit in the participants Literacy course. Following the intervention, students completed a personal narrative project. Student engagement levels were measured via participation in other students projects. The process required to create the personal narrative project was analyzed by the student and two staff members. Students had the opportunity to demonstrate the employability traits through the creation of a personal narrative project. Students were assessed by the process through which they created their narrative, and not the product. The researcher qualitatively analyzed the data through an open coding method in search for themes which arose from the intervention and personal narrative project. Limitations Limitations of this study included an unstable sample. The number of students whoe participated in this study were limited to student enrollments in a chartered school. The enrollment could fluctuate greatly per student dropout and early graduation. Other limitations include time provided for the treatment. Six weeks were not be enough time to measure significant change. The researcher was unable to utilize a staggered start in relation to presenting the employability traits. Multiple guest speakers were unable to participate in the intervention if required to speak on more than one occasion. Therefore, the researcher decided to align the AM and PM groups employability topics. Both groups received similar interventions and identical class activities on the same day.

Narrative & Employability 9 Work ethic, communication, collaboration, problem solving and critical thinking, and social responsibility were broken down into individual weeks. Prior to beginning the study, the employability topics were to be presented to the AM group in the order listed above. The PM group would receive the topics in a different order. However, the researcher was unable to deliver a staggered start method. Unanticipated scheduling conflicts did not allow several guest speakers to present to both focus groups on multiple days; therefore, the researcher chose to align the classroom activities with both groups. On the same day, the AM group received a similar intervention as the PM group. This was not intended in the research design. The groups were supposed to receive the Employability intervention topics as demonstrated in Table 1. Table 1 AM Group Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Collaboration Work Ethic Good Communication Social Responsibility Critical Thinking & Problems Solving PM Group Critical Thinking & Problem Solving Social Responsibility Work Ethic Good Communication Collaboration

The varying order of employability topics was intended to increase validity by presenting topics to groups in different orders to extrapolate the results from presenting employability topics at various stages. The intervention was unable to present employability topics in staggered start or different order. Work ethic was presented in week one. Good communication was presented in week two. Collaboration was presented

Narrative & Employability 10 in week in three. Critical thinking and problem solving were presented in week four. Social Responsibility was presented in week five. The AM and PM group worked on a cumulative project during week six and seven. The cumulative project will be discussed in greater detail in the section Personal Narrative Student Projects. One unanticipated benefit associated with having students aligned on the same schedule was that students in the AM and PM group were able to work together to complete their personal narrative projects. Research Question Employability A recent study by several agencies examined job readiness based on finding out what skills are most important for high school graduate to be successful on the job. The five most common categories recorded were: work ethic, collaboration, good communication, social responsibility, and critical thinking & problem solving (McLester & McIntire, 2006). These five employability skills demonstrated and acted out by students determine if an individual will gain employability. Students with disabilities have a more difficult time gaining employment (Spirito Dalgin & Bellini, 2008). Within the K-12 educational structure high school students do not have an opportunity to share their personal stories in the classroom. This researcher explored the question: did utilizing personal narrative in the classroom increase the applied skills and employability of disengaged learners at the 11th and 12th grade level? If students are allowed to share their story and learning activities are narrative based rather than Rationality based, will the aforementioned five employability skills increase?

Narrative & Employability 11

Chapter II Review of Literature Employability Explaining Employability The National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) publish an annual report entitled Job Outlook. This publication attempts to predict the status and availability of future professions. In 2002, Job Outlook released a study entitled, Top 5 New-Hire Skills. The top five new hire skills were: communication skills, honsesty/integrity, teamwork Skills, interpersonal Skills, and strong work ethic (NACE, 2007). Another indicator of employability traits is The Workforce Readiness Report Card, which was released in September 2006 (McLester & McIntire, 2006). This study was commissioned by several corporate organizations focusing on employment skills. The Workforce Readiness Report Card calculated the results from The Workforce Readiness Survey. This survey was completed by more than 400 fortune 500 companies. The results of the survey indicate that employees need applied skills. Employers look for applied skills over academic skills when hiring a high school graduate (McLester & McIntire, 2006; Brewer, 2008). Academic skills measure an individuals abilities in areas such as: reading, writing, math, science, humanities, written language, etc. Whereas applied skills measure an individuals fluency in such areas as: critical thinking/problem-solving, oral communications, teamwork/collaboration, diversity, information technology application,

Narrative & Employability 12 leadership, creativity/innovation, lifelong learning/self-direction, professionalism/work ethic, and ethics/social responsibility (Brewer, 2008; McLester & McIntire, 2006). According to The Workforce Readiness Survey and Brewer, the five skills which are most important for job success when hiring a high school graduate are: work ethic, collaboration, good communication, social responsibility, and critical thinking/problem solving (Brewer, 2008; McLester & McIntire, 2006). In this paper, employability refers to the ability for students or individuals to demonstrate and execute the aforementioned applied skills. The research indicates high school graduates are lacking applied skills (Brewer, 2008; Knight, 2001; McLester & McIntire, 2006). Students with disabilities face much higher deficits in applied skills and employability than their peers (Allen, Butinini, & Rutkowski, 2008; Spirito Dalgin & Bellini, 2008). Need for Employability/Applied Skills As adults, todays students will undoubtedly need skills and knowledge beyond those achieved by past generations (Toepfer, 2002, p. 90). Another compiled assessment of needed applied skills is examined by McLester and McIntire. In their 2006 report, according to The Workforce Readiness Report Card the five applied skills required for job success when hiring a high school graduate are: work ethic, collaboration, good communication, social responsibility, and critical thinking/problem solving. Brewer presented similar findings (2008):

Narrative & Employability 13

(Brewer, personal communication, October 22, 2008). The recent peer reviewed literature and findings by researchers in the field stipulate consistent results- applied skills are important. Further, an individuals employment and job success are connected to their ability to demonstrate competent applied skills (Brewer, 2008; Di Meglio, 2008; Knight, 2001; McLester & McIntire). Applied skills vary from academic skills in measurability. Academic skills are assessed via tests, writings, and presentations. While applied skills are more difficult to assess. Leadership, critical thinking, and honesty are not easily measured or tested in the classroom setting. These skills are not a part of any traditional academic curriculum (Toepfer, 2002,), yet many teachers are expected to incorporate these applied skills into their lessons The University of Wisconsin-Madison is even considering a dual transcript. One transcript would measure academic skills, while another transcript would measure applied skills. The additional transcript measuring soft skills or applied skills is under

Narrative & Employability 14 examination by university officials. The academic institution feels that their graduates armed with an additional record of assessments or accomplishments may have an edge in the job market (Di Meglio, 2008). Personal Narrative History of Personal Narrative In its simplest form, personal narrative is storytelling. For the purpose of this study, personal narrative will focus on storytelling, student experiences, and student directed multiple answers. In 1987, Walter Fisher published his groundbreaking piece entitled Human Communication as Narration: Towards a Philosophy of Reason, Value, and Action. Fisher distinguishes narrative from rationality. Rationality is a thought process and curriculum model which implies that only one correct answer exists. The method for deducing the correct answer should come from deduction and debate (Schneider & Caswell, 2003). Fishers work is summarized by Schneider and Caswell (2003), they state: Fisher proposed the narrative paradigm as an alternative to the rational paradigm that he says has dominated western thought for several centuries. Central to the rational paradigm is the idea that people are basically rational beings who make decisions on the basis of logical arguments. The world consists of logical puzzles that can be solved through rational analysis and argumentative reasoning. Rationality is determined by how much we know and how well we argue This perspective underpins much of the thinking in many academic disciplines... The dominance of the rational paradigm means that knowledge that is based on logical argument is valued more highly than knowledge that is not. Fisher believes that the assumptions of the rational paradigm limit our understanding of reason and rationality by separating logic from everyday discourse. (p. 2)

Narrative & Employability 15 Throughout the late 1980s and into the early 1990s, Fishers study would lead to several other major academic inquiries into narrative. Narrative can be found in all areas of curriculum (Motts, 1999). This study will focus on personal narrative. Students will share their own stories. Students will have an opportunity to openly discuss their ability and deficits in employability and applied skills. Utilizing storytelling in the classroom could allow students to see where their employability skills are, and what applied skills they need to have. In their 1998 qualitative study Clandinin and Connelly connect narrative with school reform at the micro-level by examining the ways in which teachers initiate narrative in their classroom. Teachers can be knowers and knowledgeable. Teachers have experiences to share with their students (Clandinin & Connelly, 1998). Clandinin and Connelly propose a concept- professional knowledge concept, which they state as: We see the landscape as narratively constructed, as having a history with moral, emotional, and aesthetic dimensions. We see it as storied. To enter a professional knowledge landscape is to enter a place of story. The landscape is composed of two fundamentally different laces, the inclassroom place and the out-of-classroom place (p. 151). In-classroom space is where all of the knowledge is directly filtered to the students by the teacher. In-classroom space is a safe place. Students and teachers narratives can intertwine and is usually scrutiny free. In-classroom space is made up of teacher stories, stories of teachers, school stories, and stories of school. Whereas the out-of-classroom professional knowledge landscape is the knowledge funneled into the school system for the purpose of altering teachers and childrens classroom lives (p. 151). Teachers bring information and stories with them from the outside world and into the classroom. This information assists in the construction of narrative within the classroom because all

Narrative & Employability 16 events spoken of in-class must come from out of class unless speaking of previous inclass narratives. The professional knowledge landscape created through narrative is apparent in the living, telling, retelling, and reliving of stories by students and teachers (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000). Students and teachers create professional knowledge landscapes through their day to day interaction. A narrative driven classroom provides student engagement by establishing an arena where students share their thoughts freely (Schneider & Caswell, 2003). The Need for Narrative and Storytelling in the Secondary Classroom High school students often attempt to set themselves apart from their peers by shaping their own identity. Many young adults desperately try to gain independence from their parents, peers, and institutions, by separating themselves through exhibiting traits which will distinguish themselves. Young adults filled with uniquely varied ideas are fit into one curriculum model- chosen by a school district- typically driven by state and federal mandates. According to Hopkins (1994), skepticism about democracy is evident in the actual practices of educators, in the ways that schooling is organized and enacted (p. 5). The historical American model of teaching states: I as teacher will fill you as student with needed information. This model in and of itself is entirely undemocratic. Students are subjects, subjugated to learn from a being that has all of the answers. Students who set themselves apart from their peers by exhibiting behaviors which prohibit the delivery of instruction often risk being labeled as At Risk, Emotionally/Behaviorally Disturbed, or any other such label which will remove the student from the traditional classroom setting. Narrative provides a common dialogue for

Narrative & Employability 17 students who hale from diverse backgrounds and learning styles (Fisher & Caswell, 2003). Narratives Shaping Students Voices In personal narrative, students have an increased independence to form their own views and develop applied skills. Beatties (2007) qualitative study found the following: They spoke of value of classrooms which were informal and conversational; the smallness of a school where people got to know each other; and where they were encouraged to talk freely about their experiences, to let down their guard, and be themselves. They explained that as they felt listened to and respected, they became increasingly more willing to speak openly and honestly about the difficulties they were experiencing, and to feel supported in dealing with them. They also explained that this is especially important for all students, but particularly those who have had a series of negative experiences of schools and teachers, who have dropped out of several other schools (as most of these student had), and are trying again. (p. 13) Beattie performed a longitudinal study in which she traced the path of two young women through their remaining years of Corktown Community High School- an alternative high school near Ontario. Corktown Community High School focuses on providing an education centered on students experiences, in which, students are able to communicate through narrative, dialog, and storytelling their past and future educational experiences and desires. According to Beattie, emphasizing the students voice allows the students to share what they overcome. Thus, it allows students to remake their past, and deal with the present, and sort out future situations (Beattie, 2007). Several different authors have documented the impact narrative can have on struggling students academic experience (Beattie, 2007; Lester, 2000; Schneider & Caswell, 2003). Students ability to participate in discussions provides the individual learner with a voice. Rather than being in charge of capturing the right answers, students

Narrative & Employability 18 utilizing narrative ascertain the value of their experience and place their life events into the proper context within the classroom. Personal Narrative as an Engaging Curriculum Tool In Kieran Egans (1989) book entitled Teaching as Storytelling, she states: Because imagination is difficult to get any firm grasp on, there has been little educational research which focuses on it. Most educational research has difficulty enough dealing with things like knowledge, learning, or development. These are things our methods of research seem able to get some kind of hold on. So we have a great deal of research on the more easily grasped stuff and very little on imagination. (p. 5). Egans book is designed to transform the manner in which educators plan, implement, and execute curriculum. Egan provides rationale for shifting lesson and unit design; which is not easily attainable. Egans above quote mentions the great difficulty instructors bear in trying to measure imagination. According to Sunderman, Kim, and Harlow (2005). No Child Left Behind (NCLB) has placed significant pressure on teachers and administrators to increase scores on rationality based standardized tests. Students must be held accountable for each daily activity, lesson, or target (Suderman, Kim, & Harlow, 2005). Narrative allows students creativity in expression and multiple answers which the student does not gain from rationality pedagogy (Schneider & Caswell, 2003). In narrative, students are encouraged to utilize their imagination and explore possibilities. They are held accountable for their actions in the retelling of their stories. And shifting the lesson towards the student empowers students as learners. According to Hopkins, curriculum is not the chief issue, the process and mechanizations which students go through amongst one another in schools is of great consequence (Hopkins, 1994). Students derive meaning based on their role in a large institution. The contemporary educational structure does not provide students with an

Narrative & Employability 19 empowering or engaging role. Students compete against each other for such accolades as valedictorian. The individuals in position to impact students assessment are the authorizers of education. Thus, institutional processes and mechanizations encourage student buy-in in order to ensure academic success. Further, the current educational system encourages complacency and conformity- two elements that directly contrast democracy; therefore, the curriculum is not the problem, the system discouraging student narrative needs to be addressed. Current practice in thousands of classrooms across the United States models a process whereby the instructor passes on his or her knowledge to the student in a lecture based format; given this statement, teachers are the empowering agent and authorizer for knowledge. Hopkins writes, Many of the chronic problems of our society remain unaddressed and unsolved because change would require that we identify existing power relations in our society. To attend to the experience of people is to empower them (p. 8). The power relation of teacher as expert and student as pupil is deeply engrained in the American educational system. Narrative and storytelling are a dramatic paradigm shift in pedagogy. Utilizing narrative will provide the instructor with unique opportunities to address applied skills. Students working in small groups will have to communicate and collaborate in order for each student to share their personal story. The manner in which instruction is set up reflects the value of an individual student. Narrative implicitly empowers an individual student, and suggests that the student experience bears value which merits sharing with their peers. Student-to-student relationships are formed through narrative in a manner which relationships do not exist if the teacher is the sole authorizer of knowledge. When referring to students relationships

Narrative & Employability 20 acting not out of competitive merit based isolation, but in relation to one another, Beattie states: They provide insights into this process of creation and re-creation of the self, and the ways in which it has been influenced and shaped by good learning experiences, by the voices and lives of others, and their growing abilities to imagine and to create new narratives from their lives. (p. 2) Beatties statement is especially true for students who have been expelled from school, or dropped out. Through narrative, disenfranchised young adults have the ability to recreate themselves as students. This transformation from disengaged learner to engaged learner could address the specific employability skill of Social Responsibility. This is especially true for many individuals with disabilities; particularly, students with Emotional/Behavioral Disabilities, or Other Health Impairments. An individual who has been diagnosed with Oppositional Defiant Disorder is empowered to create their own curriculum through telling their own story, thereby, providing students with maladaptive behaviors opportunities to craft their own curriculum and be a part of a learning community. . A sustaining learning community provides students who exhibit maladaptive behaviors a flexible and predictable environment. Students who realize they will have an opportunity to be heard are more likely to cooperate with peers and staff. And this will lead to opportunities to address collaboration. Incorporating Narrative and Technology Computer programs provide a separate narrative connection which stimulates student learning (Lester, 2000). Several peer-reviewed journal articles focusing on narrative, computer gaming, and student engagement have been written. Many of the authors of these articles are from the Computer Science Department at North Carolina State University. James Lester, Bradford Mott, and their colleagues studied the impacts

Narrative & Employability 21 Crystal Island has had on student engagement level. Crystal Island is a single-player interactive video game and: a guided discovery learning environment for the domain of microbiology in which students play the role of a detective solving a science mystery (Mott, McQuiggan, Lee, et al. 2006, Abstract). Crystal Island increases student engagement by placing students directly into an alternate world in which the student can solve crime; while concurrently learning the fundamentals and finer points of microbiology. This is done through implementing four different phases directly to students. Challenge, curiosity, control, and fantasy, are carried out to the student by Crystal Island (Mott, 2006). The student discovers learning experiences based on the four aforementioned phases- the authors of the study state that affective scaffolding will take place (Mott, 2006, p.2). Meaning, as the students grow in their learning, they can increase the abilities of their video game character and adapt to more challenging environments. In essence, the students can associate applied skills with their character. Communication, work ethic, and problem solving/critical thinking; all take place within Crystal Island. The student connects the applied skills with their character in the program. Utilizing technology, and placing students characters within the narrative, provides high school students with countless opportunities to enhance the employability areas of Problem Solving and Critical Thinking (Mott, 1999). Todays high school students have access to technology in more ways than ever before. SmartBoards, iphones, and blogs have become a part of eleventh and twelfth graders vernacular. Each of the devices or forms of media is readily incorporated into narrative within the classroom. A SmartBoard is an, Interactive whiteboards shared over the Internet, video cameras and video monitors, combined with control systems and

Narrative & Employability 22 interfaces (Geelan, 2003, p. 1). SmartBoards, iphones, and blogs allow students to tell their story via devices which have become a part of their daily lives. Mott & Lester do not examine engaging disengaged learners. Their work focuses on Crystal Island fulfilling the constructivist model by allowing students to create and discover various learning objectives. Although the instructor may set specific objectives to align with particular curriculum requirements- their work does not focus on students who do not want protagonistic-level engagement. Another issue regarding technology and narrative is cost. Although Crystal Island is a relatively inexpensive program, computers are needed to run computer programs. The affordability of computers, programs, SmartBoards, and projectors complicate technology into narrative. Conclusion Employability and narrative are commonly used terms. For the purposes of this research, employability will refer to 21st century skills which are transferable from one job to the next and are required by todays workplace (Overtoom, 2000). The five employability skills in highest demand by employers are: work ethic, collaboration, good communication, social responsibility, and critical thinking & problem solving (Brewer, 2008). Although narrative has been widely referenced in all fields, including animated pedagogical agents (Lester, 2000); narrative will refer to personal narrative or storytelling (Egan, 1989). Recent journal articles and peer reviewed literature clearly state that Students with disabilities are struggling to gain competitive employment (Allen, Ciano, & Rutowski, 2008; Spirito Dalgin & Bellini, 2008; Rock 2004). Through the utilization of personal narrative, the researcher addressed the five major employability/applied skills. Storytelling provides students an opportunity to acknowledge and acquire applied

Narrative & Employability 23 skills in a manner which varies greatly from standards based academic instruction (Toepfer, 2002). In Chapter 3, the researcher will aim to explain how storytelling and employability can fit together.

Narrative & Employability 24

Chapter III Method Setting The community where the intervention takes place is located within the Midwest portion of the United States. The area includes a small city with several surrounding communities. The small city has a population of approximately 70,000 people. The communities surrounding the small city have a population of approximately 50,000 people. The charter school is located within the same building as the districts high school. The high school has a population of 1200 students. During the past ten years, the high school has increased by 50 students per year. The increase in students brought an increase in expulsion rates (peaked at 3%), dropout rates (peaked at 5%), and students with disabilities (peaked at 13%). Therefore, members of the community and staff of the school district founded a Charter School. The focus of the chartered school is to serve credit deficient students, students with disabilities, disengaged learners, and learners benefiting from an individualized education. The charter school offers a competencybased diploma. The graduation requirements within the charter school are consistent with the other high school in the same school district. In the high school, the number of students who qualify for subsidized lunch is 6.2% (out of 1,234 students). In the chartered school in the same district, 50% (8 out of 16) students qualify for subsidized lunch. Therefore, half of the student population in the charter school faces economic disadvantages. Students qualifying for subsidized lunch based on family income.

Narrative & Employability 25 Demographic Information Fifteen students participated in this study in the form of a classroom based intervention. The students were divided into two different groups, AM and PM. Eight students in the AM group began the study. Seven out of eight students finished the study. One student was unable to finish the narrative based intervention per family medical issues. In the PM group, seven students began the intervention, and all seven completed the intervention. AM students participated in the intervention from 10:00 AM to 10:55 AM on Monday through Friday for five weeks. The PM students participated in the intervention from 12:36 PM to 1:30 PM on Monday through Friday. From the AM group, five out of the eight students (62.5%) participating in the study were students with disabilities. Three of the individuals were students with specific learning disabilities, and two of the individuals were students with emotional/behavioral disabilities. Two of the eight students in the AM group have received services from the AtRisk department of the local school district. One out of eight of the AM students (12.5%) participating in intervention was from the regular education population. From the PM group, two out of the seven students (28%) participating in the study were Students with disabilities. Both of the individuals are Students with emotional/behavioral disabilities. Two out of the seven students (28%) in the PM group have received services from the At-Risk department of the local school district. Three out of the seven PM students (42.86%) participating in the intervention were from the regular education population.

Narrative & Employability 26 In regards to the participants, 14 of the students (93%) were Caucasian, and one student identified themselves as Caucasian and Pilipino. Five adults from the community were also a part of the intervention. These individuals agreed to share their personal narrative with the AM and/or PM groups. Three of the adults were school administrators. One of the adults was a professional athlete who became a Special Education teacher, and the fifth adult was a police officer. All five guest speakers were male. The average age of the speakers was 37.8 years old. Student and adult demographic information is presented in Table 2 below.

Table 2 Demographic Information of Student Participants Ethnicity Caucasian Asian/Pacific Islander Disability Label Specific Learning Disability Emotional/Behavioral Disability At-Risk Regular Education Percentage 93% 7% Percentage 13% 30% 26% 26% Gender Male Female Age 15 years old 16 years old 16 years old 17 years old 18 years old Percentage 86.67% 13.33% Percentage 6% 13% 47%% 33%

Participants Eight students attend the charter school from 8-11am (AM group). Eight students attend the charter school from 12-3pm (PM group). Both of these groups participate in a physical education class from 11:05-11:40am during the months of November through

Narrative & Employability 27 May. Both the AM group and PM group have Students with disabilities. Approximately half of the charter school (8 students) is made up of Students with a Specific Learning Disability, or Emotional/Behavioral Disability. The charter school also serves students who have been labeled At-Risk. Meaning, these individuals have an increased chance of experiencing academic struggles because of difficulties existing in the students life. The charter school also serves students from the general education population. Meaning, these students have not been labeled with a specific disability or at-risk. One expectation for students in the chartered school is employment. Students must have a job. If students do not have a job, they must be actively seeking employment. Students school day is three hours. They are expected to gain competitive employment to fill the rest of their day. Since students must have a job or actively be seeking employment, this research required any no specific parental permission other than a permission to conduct research. All research was under a classroom unit completed as a part of the students Literacy class. Students participate in a Literacy class for 45-60 minutes per day. Students participate in Independent Reading class for 30-40 minutes. Students have up to 90 minutes per day to complete independent work. Each students daily curriculum is designed specifically for the individual. Methodology This study utilized qualitative research methods. Participants entered a seven week intervention. The intervention was grounded in a narratively based environment. The focus of the intervention was on the students experiences and employer expectations. Each week covered one of the five major employability areas. Weeks six and seven consisted of a personal narrative project. Students created a project which

Narrative & Employability 28 demonstrated their understanding of the employability traits. Students constructed a personal narrative for their project. They used what ever media preferred to construct their personal narrative. Through the entire seven week intervention, participants worked individually, in small groups, and in whole class activity based discussions. The intervention was be led by a licensed teacher and assisted by support staff. A school psychologist was in the building to assist with any mental health issues or other sensitive matter revealed during the intervention. The licensed teacher was a mandatory reporter, and followed all required local, state, and federal laws. The participants operated under the established presumption of teacher as a mandatory reporter; therefore, the instructor anticipated legal troubles would not occur during the intervention. Before each unit begins in the charter school, parents are updated about classroom occurrences via blog. Students parents were notified about the intervention through the regular channels of teacher-parent communication. Coding of Students There were two samples of participants. Eight students participated in the AM group and seven students participated in the PM group. Students were coded within their sample to protect their identity. For example if John Doe were a student in the AM group, he would be AM1. If Jane Doe were a student in the PM group she would be PM1. The students were coded relative to seating chart, which allowed researchers and staff to discuss students with ease in a consistent manner. The student sitting to the left of John Doe was AM2 and so on. Timeline

Narrative & Employability 29 The intervention was intended to last six weeks. The participants would spend one week going over each of the following topics: work ethic, good communication, collaboration, critical thinking & problem solving, and social responsibility. The participants would also have one week to complete a personal narrative project. However, the students were not able to finish their projects when provided five work days. Each work day was approximately 45-60 minutes long. Therefore, the researcher allowed the participants an extra week to finish putting together their projects. The participants and researcher invested thirty-seven days instead of thirty days to complete the intervention. The project presentations took two days to complete. Week 1 - Work Ethic Work ethic was the first employability topic covered in the Employability intervention. Students provided their definition of work ethic. Students journaled their definitions of positive work ethics and negative work ethics. The students were provided 17 different learning targets and various learning activities during the week. Learning targets were: students will identify work ethic in a perfect practice case, students will compare and contrast perfect practice with real life examples, students will reflect on their work ethic (See Appendix A, p. 1, slide 3). The guest speaker during this week for both AM and PM groups was a school administrator who competed in college athletics. His messaged focused on finding passion and taking advantage of opportunities. On Friday of the first week of the intervention, students were introduced to the requirements for their mini-project. Students produced slide shows, role playing skits, and digital narratives for their mini-project. Week 2 Communication

Narrative & Employability 30 Communication was the second employability topic covered in the Employability intervention. The book Dealing with People You Can't Stand: How to Bring Out the Best in People at Their Worst used as the cornerstone for the discussion (Brinkman & Kirschner, 2002). A police officer, formerly a gang banger, spoke to the students about the importance of communication. Students completed mini-projects in small groups which featured role playing activities (see Appendix A, p. 4-9). Week 3 - Collaboration Collaboration was the third employability topic covered in the employability intervention. Participants worked together in a series of activities which forced group participation. The high school principal came into the charter school and presented his personal narrative. Week 4 - Problem Solving and Critical Thinking Problem solving and critical thinking was the fourth topic covered in the employability intervention. The Superintendent of Schools came and talked to the class about the importance of problem solving and critical thinking- this individual also focused on the relevance of all of the employability traits. Students viewed the movie Coach Carter and analyzed how characters in the movie applied problem solving and critical thinking (see Appendix A, p. 10, slide 4; & p. 11, slide 1). Week 5 - Social Responsibility Social responsibility was the fifth topic in the employability intervention. A retired professional athlete who currently teaches special education presented his personal narrative. Students analyzed their honesty, integrity, and morals. Students processed several questions and responded via moodle, email, or verbal discussion.

Narrative & Employability 31 Weeks 6 & 7 Personal Narrative Project Students spent two weeks creating personal narrative projects. Students were assessed based on the process, meaning how they created their narratives. The final product- their personal narrative- was not assessed by the teacher. Rather, the demonstration of employability skills and learning was graded. Following the personal narrative project, participants completed an exit interview (Appendix B). The focus of the interview was to determine the impact narrative based storytelling activities had on participants employability. The questions were open ended and transcribed. Reliability & Validity/Rigor Although participants received an intervention, and participate in a postintervention personal narrative project, the samples were too small to derive any type of quantitative data worthy of drawing conclusions. The results of the intervention were collected by the researcher and analyzed qualitatively. The researcher was unable to utilize a staggered start during the intervention. The AM group will received similar intervention activities as the PM group. The AM and PM groups completed personal narrative projects individually and in small groups. They graded themselves on a 4-point scale relating to each employability trait, and were graded by teacher. Following the graded personal narrative project, and exit interview, both the student and instructor sat down and discussed the results. Results from the employability intervention, student personal narrative project, and exit interview, allowed the researcher to measure if utilizing storytelling in a narrative based environment among 10th, 11th, and 12th graders increased employability.

Narrative & Employability 32 Coding and Analysis The researcher used an open coding method (Strauss & Corbin, 2007) in which the transcribed data was examined to search for themes. All classroom activities were summarized each day. Students reflected on the messages shared by guest speakers, and the written reflections were analyzed using the open coding method. The method worked as follows: all primary documents were coded by the primary coder. The exit interviews were also transcribed verbatim by the primary coder. The primary coder examined each document and labeled with a single word or phrase. A secondary coder completed the same process with the transcriptions from the student exit interviews. A discussion and analysis by the primary and secondary coders led to the development of specific themes which will be discussed further. Unexpected Participant Requests At the end of the first week of the intervention, students needed to demonstrate an understanding of the employability topic of the week. Students were provided a PowerPoint type slide which asked them to create a narrative focusing on work ethic. As with all good stories, the students were prompted to use their imagination and create interesting characters. Students were allowed to choose the media format for creating their narrative (see Appendix A, p. 2, slide 4). The researcher wanted the participants to create a story, preferably a personal narrative which focused on work ethic. The researcher decided not to direct students to a particular format to share their story; rather, the students would decide the media in which their story would be told. Students worked in a small group randomly assigned during day one of the intervention. Participants needed to work with their small group in order to create a story. The researcher modeled

Narrative & Employability 33 putting together a slide which told a story of a famous musician who had outstanding work ethic. The researcher used a SmartBoard and the SmartNotebook software for all slides and presentations. Data Produced by Students Students produced work samples through several different formats. Students used journaling to define specific employability traits, explore their ability in specific employability traits, and analyze guest speakers. Student created mini-projects at the end of each week in order to demonstrate their understanding of the weekly employability topic. Students worked together in small groups and role played scenarios that featured the employability traits. Students created personal narrative projects. The projects were a cumulative assessment in which the researcher was able to determine the students understanding of all five employability areas. Defining Literacy Class The intervention took place during a high school Literacy class and was carried out by the participants classroom teacher. Students participated in the intervention for seven weeks during the third quarter of a school year in a public chartered high school. Literacy was a formal class lasting 50 minutes with expectations of appropriate student conduct and frequent participation. Literacy covers broad units and seeks to get students actively involved in the curriculum. Students earn credit in Literacy based on competencies rather than a pre-established value. After a student earns ten competencies, they earn .25 credits. This is unique to the charter school which the participants attend. If they attended any other school in the district, they would earn .5 after successfully completing a nine week course that meets daily for 90 minutes. Students in the charter

Narrative & Employability 34 school earn credits for completing units rather than courses. Previous units covered in Literacy during the 2008-09 school year were: Elections & Voting, The Messenger by Markus Zusak (read aloud), Addiction and a read aloud of A Million Little Pieces by James Frey. At the point in which the narrative intervention was going to be carried out by the researcher, the students/participants had already been together for over 120 school days and were very comfortable sharing opinions with their peers and teachers. Weekly Format Students participating in the intervention experienced the following format: Table 3 Monday -Employability topic introduced -Students received example of topic from teacher via personal narrative -Mini-projects from previous week presented Student small group work Guest speaker Guest speaker analysis and connect to employability topic Mini-projects

Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

During in class instructions, the researcher informed students explicitly: Your project will not be graded based on your narrative you present to the class. You will be graded based on how you demonstrate the five employability areas throughout the creation of your project. In order for you to tell your personal narrative you will need to demonstrate your work ethic. You will need to communicate with your peers and your teachers. You will need to collaborate with other peers in order to execute the projects you envision. You will need to use problem solving and critical thinking to organize your narrative. And you will use social responsibility by open up to your classmates and sharing an honest story (Appendix A, p. 11, slide 3).

Narrative & Employability 35

Narrative & Employability 36

Chapter IV Results Introduction This chapter discusses the results obtained through a seven week action research based intervention. Fifteen high school students in grades 10-12 were a part of a personal narrative study which examined the relationship between utilizing personal narrative and increasing employability. Personal Narrative Intervention Results One of the small groups chose to create a slide show. Another small group wanted to create a digital narrative. A digital narrative is a collection of video files captured via camcorder and edited with software or applications. A digital narrative is basically a movie. The charter school has several digital camcorders which are no bigger than a cell phone. The cameras arrived at the charter school a few weeks prior to the intervention. The students wanted to utilize the cameras to capture their role playing activity. The researcher did not anticipate students wanting to capture their role playing activities via digital camcorder. Although the researcher did not anticipate students using camcorders, the use of digital cameras and recording devices- both auditory and visual, have become common practice in high school classrooms (Brown, 2009). The students in the AM small group who chose to create a digital narrative wanted to share their role playing activity with their peers in the PM group. Whereby, participants in the PM group also wanted to use digital camcorders to film their role playing activities.

Narrative & Employability 37 The use of digital camcorders greatly impacted the results of the research. Students did not sit in a large group and share personal narratives in front of their peers; rather, the participants chose to use the latest technology to create their personal narratives. Students narrative fulfilled a role as an actor or director in the role playing activity. Since the activity could be viewed and reviewed by their peers, students provided maximum effort in creating the digital narratives. An 18-year old male participant wrote in his exit interview: I thought it was a great way for people to express themselves via video. Using work ethic and collaboration, making a storyline, communicating with the people around to help, all in all its a good way to get people to work together and it gives them responsibilities. Listening to someones story can make people feel like they are not alone in the world. In a way its a good lesson as well as a good setup. Im glad people listened to what I had to say (AM2, personal communication, May 20, 2009). Immediately following the role playing activities from week one of the intervention, students began talking about, their next film, and Ive got a great idea for a project. The digital narratives recorded by the students were not used to extrapolate any qualitative data regarding the students employability. The video was the narrative creation of the students. This would be true if it were a slideshow, spoken narrative or role playing activity. Personal Narrative Student Projects Students needed to create a personal narrative using any media of their choice. Their project was not graded based on what they produced but rather how they produced

Narrative & Employability 38 it. Students needed to successfully utilize their employability skills to create their project. Each student had to create a personal narrative which told a story about their life. The students were provided with the following assignment: Create a personal narrative which you can share with the entire class. You will need to use your classmates to help you tell your story. Students could use whatever media they wanted in order to create their personal narrative (Appendix A, p. 11, slides 3 & 4). Assessment Tools and Teacher/Researcher Instructions The rubric featured in Appendix B was used by the researcher, staff, and participant to assess the students employability skills. Work ethic, good communication, collaboration, problem solving & critical thinking, and social responsibility, were separate sections on the 4-point scale rubric. Students personal narrative projects were not graded directly; however, each employability area was analyzed by the student, staff, and researcher. The rubric was used throughout the process to support communication and accountability between the student and teacher. On the first day of the intervention, students filled out the rubric featured in Appendix B. The assessment used to measure personal narrative projects was the same rubric as Appendix B. Although the criterion for assessing students progress was largely subjective, the researcher clarified at least one employability area with each student daily. As previously stated, students were not graded on what they produced but how they produced their personal narrative. Students were directly informed through written instruction they need to follow three directions for the personal narrative project: 1.) Get an idea for a personal narrative,

Narrative & Employability 39 2.) Write the narrative and create roles for your classmates, 3.) Execute the story using any media of your choice (Appendix A, p. 11, slide 4). Increases in Employability through the Intervention Throughout the entire seven week intervention, students displayed clear increases in their understanding and utilization of the five employability traits. This is evident in their journals, role playing activities, and analysis of guest speakers. Work Ethic Prior to the intervention, AM4 had not written in his journal during the entire academic school year. AM4 is a Student with a Specific Learning Disability in the area of Written Expression. Also, the student strongly dislikes typing. By week three of the intervention, AM4 was journaling daily. The student began journaling through writing one to three sentences in his notebook. The featured employability topic during week three was collaboration. AM4 typed a 90 word paragraph about his experience as a hunter and working together with other hunters. The student wrote about becoming a welder so he would be able to have an apartment and storage shed to keep all of his hunting supplies. This was the first instance in which the student ever mentioned going to a technical college to learn a trade. After the personal narrative project was completed, AM4 applied for admission to the local technical college. Two students began working full days in order to finish their employability projects. AM1 and AM8 were required to attend school from 8-11AM; however, the students sought administrative approval to stay in school until 3 PM in order to get their projects completed. Not only did the students stay the entire school day until they finish their projects, but both individuals remained on the full day schedule until the end of the

Narrative & Employability 40 school year. AM1s attendance increased from 65% to 88% from the time the intervention began until the end of the school year. AM1 and AM8 increased their work ethic by staying at school an extra three hours per day. In his journal, A1 wrote, my work ethic increased. I got more done while I was at school because I got to say what I wanted to how I wanted to say it. Another student in the afternoon typed, I Have good work ethic most of the time. when i really need to get somthing done i do it. I work hard on things i enjoy. the only thing i feel i need inprovment on is my time managment, ima procrastinator (PM6, Personal Correspondence, Moodle Entry, 3/31/2009). Not only do these students acknowledge their own work ethic, but they also indicate which employability areas they need to increase. PM6 mentions he wants to get better at not procrastinating, and AM1 will work hard if the student is interested in the activity. Both of these pieces of information are valuable for a classroom teacher, and the narrative based environment allows students to share honestly and openly about what they need to improve. Increase in Credits Earned During Intervention The intervention lasted for seven weeks and consumed approximately one-third of the students school day. The employability intervention took place in Literacy class, which lasts approximately 45-60 minutes. Students had science class and physical education for 30 minutes each. Meaning, each student has one hour of independent work time to complete what ever they were working on. In a seven week period, a typical student would earn .5-.75 credits during their independent work time. During independent work time in the nine weeks prior to the intervention, the participants combined to earn 8.5 credits. There were fourteen participants in the

Narrative & Employability 41 intervention. Therefore, each student averaged .61 academic credits earned for a nine week period. During the seven week intervention, students who participated in the employability intervention earned a combined 11.5 credits. Each student averaged .82 credits. Further, if the credits are multiplied to align with a nine week cycle rather than a seven week cycle, then each student would have averaged a total of 1.05 credits earned. The increase from .61 credits earned to 1.05 credits earned is significant. Students can earn up to 10 credits per year in the chartered school which they attend. If students finish their graduation requirements prior to the end of their senior year, they are eligible for early graduation. The teacher of the charter school can now definitively tell students they can earn up to 1.0 credits per nine weeks of independent work time. This will increase the efficiency of student course scheduling in the school, and provide an accurate benchmark or baseline for future students credit accumulation during independent work time. The increases in credit accumulation present during intervention were not able to be measured post intervention per academic school year restrictions. When the intervention was completed, only two and half weeks of school were left before summer break. The researcher posits credit accumulation increased due to high student engagement levels. During several exit interviews, students expressed high interest and active involvement throughout the intervention. AM2 stated his interests were peeked because the student wanted to know what employers were looking for and needed money. Good Communication Brinkman and Kirschners (1992, 2007) work on communication and communication breakdown was used to deliver examples of good and bad communication. Brinkman and Kirschners work on communication allowed students to

Narrative & Employability 42 label difficult communication styles and analyze their own strengths and weaknesses regarding communication. If a student were misbehaving or acting inappropriately, other students would call out, sniper, or tank, both of which are labels used by Brinkman and Kirschner to describe different methods of poor communication. PM1 and PM6 were both new students to the charter school. They had only been at the school for a few weeks prior to the intervention. Both students were sophomores, and they were the only 10th graders in the charter school. Prior to the intervention, neither student participated in class discussions. During the fifth week of the intervention, students were broken down into randomly assigned small groups. Each day, students chose and analyzed a different aspect of social responsibility. Groups chose such topics as honesty, integrity, work place theft, drinking on the job, punctuality, and peer/coworker relationships. Each student within the group volunteered for a specific role. One such role was the reporter. Their job was to report out results from the small group to the whole class. Both PM1 and PM6 volunteered to be the reporter of their small group. PM6 was so successful that he worked with his small group for his personal narrative project. He took charge of the project and was the leader. Even though all of the other students working on the project team were either juniors or seniors, they responded to PM6 because he exhibited excellent communication and collaboration. Following the presentation by PM2, PM4, PM5, and PM6, the researcher asked the group to select one employability trait and tell the class how the trait was used in the creation of the project. PM5 informed the class that his communication skills improved because he had to state his opinion in way that would be easily understood by the other

Narrative & Employability 43 members in his group. PM6 nodded his head in agreement while PM5 spoke to the class about the importance of good communication in the construction of the personal narrative project. In his journal, PM5 wrote, I began speaking in complete sentences when I spoke to my dad. I told him exactly where I was taking the car and he let stay out later. So that was sweet. That way he wont blow up at me when I get home. PM7 told the class that he has made a conscious effort to quit swearing because through participating in this intervention, the student now associates swearing with angry communication. Previously, PM7, did not associate swearing with angry communication, but stated, I used to swear just to be cool and fit in. Now I could get fired for doing that (swearing). Collaboration Collaboration increases were most evident through the personal narrative projects. Students were assigned to work on project individually. PM5 and PM6 asked the researcher if they could work in a small group. The students informed the teacher that a small group was necessary because they needed a cohesive team in order to achieve their desired results for the personal narrative project. Students also started texting and calling other students to ensure they would be showing up for class. AM1 lived twenty minutes from school. AM8 consistently provided rides home to AM1 at the end of the school day. AM1 also became known as an expert for editing videos on the computer. So much so, that the afternoon groups consulted with him. Students in the afternoon actually made appointments to meet with AM1. AM1 provided assistance in 30 minute intervals to the PM students. Nothing like this had ever happened prior to the intervention. The AM students in the charter school are primarily

Narrative & Employability 44 seniors, and the PM students are made up of a combination of sophomores, juniors, and seniors. Prior to the intervention, both groups were largely isolated. Through the intervention and collaborative efforts by students such as AM1, the AM group and PM group became increasingly collaborative. The collaboration efforts mirrored a workplace collaborative environment. Students willingness to work together during other classes increased. About half way through the intervention, the Physical Education (PE) teacher stopped by the researchers classroom. The PE teacher informed the researcher that the students had been working increasingly well together. The PE teacher felt comfortable taking the students on a field trip to a gun range. The fact that a PE teacher noticed a difference in students getting along is one thing, but for the teacher to take students to a location where they would be handling and firing guns demonstrates student improvement. This was the first field trip for students in the charter school in which the Lead Teacher did not initiate the venture. The regular education teacher felt comfortable taking credit deficient students, Students in At-risk, and Students with Emotional/Behavioral Disabilities to a gun range. Needless to say, the students enjoyed their trip the gun range immensely. In fact, the PE teacher held gym class at the gun range three times during the last six weeks of school. AM4 demonstrated an increase in collaboration and good communication through sharing knowledge and experience of hunting. AM4 parlayed the experiences as hunter and gun aficionado into being a survivor. AM4 loved guns because they provide food. AM4 talked about hunting in groups. His method of hunting clearly points to the fact that AM4 is a collaborator and exercises good communication. AM4 did not have any of his

Narrative & Employability 45 peers work with him on his project. Before presenting his narrative, he had not demonstrated any clear aptitude for either good communication or collaboration. Through sharing his personal narrative with his peers, AM4 clearly demonstrated that he understands good communication and collaboration relating to hunting. One activity focused on students proving they had increased in at least one employability area. Students had to bring in proof from a source outside the school that they had increased an employability skill as a result of the intervention. PM2 brought in a handwritten note from his rugby coach. The note stated that PM2 had become a more selfless player over the past few weeks. When the coach asked why the player was suddenly more willing to make sacrifices for the team, the student athlete told his coach that he clearly understood the expectations of his role and the importance of being a team player. PM2 presented the note to the entire class and told a personal narrative about how he received assistance with a computer issue from another peer. When PM2 thanked his peer for the help, the student helper said, Thats my role, Im the PowerPoint guy. This statement, along with the message shared by the guest speaker who was a professional athlete, changed how PM2 viewed teamwork and getting along with people. Problem Solving & Critical Thinking Assessing an increase in problem solving and critical thinking is difficult because several external factors effect a students ability to problem solve. One clear example of an increase in problem solving and critical thinking was AM3. AM3 dropped out of high school early in their senior year. The student enrolled into the charter school in late February. This student needed to attend school everyday in order to graduate. The students father became gravely ill during the sixth week of the intervention and the

Narrative & Employability 46 student was not able to finish their project. Rather than dropping out from the charter school, the student approached the teacher and requested to complete school work at home. The student had to spend several hours a day in the hospital by her fathers bedside. The teacher informed AM3 they would be able to finish their graduation requirements over the summer or next fall. AM3 insisted on completing her graduation requirements by the end of the school year. The student said she had made a promise to her father to complete high school on time. The student demonstrated increases in problem solving and social responsibility. When previously faced with school frustrations, the student dropped out. AM3 completed her graduation requirements and graduated on time. The student completed work from home and also met with charter school staff before or after school to gain assistance with math. Although external factors such as parental requests had a large impact on the students problem solving and social responsibility, the intervention constantly reinforced the value of a high school diploma and the skill sets required for employee success. During his presentation, PM3 told the class that his problem solving and critical thinking were at an all-time high when he worked with other people online to create a story. PM3 had great difficulty capturing his story and had to find a software program that would record the actions of his computer characters. The student had to consult with several different individuals to find a proper program. PM3 stated, I learned that I needed to talk with specific people to get stuff done. I didnt know that before we started any of this (the intervention). The narrative based environment allowed students to think critically. Students became experts in their personal narrative area. The role of expert allowed students to

Narrative & Employability 47 think critically and espouse an opinion on a matter. AM8 journaled that before the intervention took place, he was not able to ask for help when he didnt know how to solve a problem. He went onto write, It really helps me to see other people dont know what the hell is going on with anything either. Then I dont mind asking for help and getting advice on how to solve things. It helps to know that others need to get problems fixed by other people. That really took me a while to get, but Im glad I do now (personal correspondence, April 20, 2009). Social Responsibility When the intervention began, students were reluctant to admit any short comings in the area of social responsibility. Dishonesty, thievery, and drug/alcohol use are not topics openly shared in the school setting. As the intervention got into weeks four, five, and six, students began reflecting honestly and openly about their own social responsibility. Nowhere is this more present than the personal narrative projects. AM1, AM8, and AM2, all shared regrets with their peers. These students voluntarily shared their most dishonest moments in order for their peers to see the consequences associated with inappropriate decision making. What began as reluctance, transformed into an opportunity for students to become mentors. The honest dialog allowed peers to ask pertinent questions relating to real life issues teens encounter. The guest speakers who openly shared their narratives laid the foundation for students to openly share their strengths and faults. Participants were surprised to find out that the superintendent of the school district was not a good student in high school. Students who had broken the law and were punished heard from a police officer who had been a former gang member. The guest speakers were professionals who shared their

Narrative & Employability 48 message. These professionals modeled openness, which led to an increase in students social responsibility because they were able to label and analyze their strengths and weaknesses. AM1 and AM8 created a personal narrative which spoke about their past regrets and poor decisions. The students showed courage by presenting their personal flaws. The students also took responsibility for past decisions. In their personal narrative project, both students indicated they tended to blame their mothers for poor decisions made by the students. The shift from blaming other to taking responsibility for poor decisions is clear increase in social responsibility. Another student in the PM group, who will be referred to as PM7 wanted to complete a similar project to PM3. PM7 did not collaborate or communicate with PM3 regarding his project. Rather, PM7 overheard several conversations between the teacher and PM3, and PM7 chose to replicate PM3s narrative. PM7 played video games against his girlfriends brother. His girlfriend taped her brother and boyfriend playing a game entitled Left 4 Dead. The game features graphic violence and multiple players working together to kill zombies. The video was approximately four minutes long. There was no evident dialog between players playing the game. When PM3 finished presenting his project, his classmates clapped and asked several questions. When PM7s video was over, the applause that accompanied PM3s project was absent. The researcher asked PM7 how he utilized the five employability skills through creating the project. PM7 stated, Like when I got killed by a zombie, I didnt swear in front of my girlfriends brother. So theres social responsibility (PM7, personal correspondence, May 15, 2009). Instead of completing his project during the allotted 60-90 minutes of class time, PM7

Narrative & Employability 49 chose to read Harry Potter novels. PM7 refused assistance from the researcher and did not actively participate with peers. Employability & Personal Narrative Projects Students were required to create a personal narrative project. They were provided ten work days to demonstrate an understanding of the five employability traits. Seven of the fourteen students created a digital narrative (movie). Two students created a slide show, one student used PowerPoint, and the other student used the SmartNotebook software to tell their story. One of the fifteen students chose to create a photo story to share their personal narrative. Two of the fifteen students embedded video clips within a PowerPoint presentation to share their narrative. One of the fifteen students utilized recording software to capture their personal narrative in a Massive Multiplayer Online Role playing Game (MMORPG). Three of the fifteen students did not complete the project. A student in the PM Group decided to create a personal narrative by using characters in the game World of Warcraft. World of Warcraft (WOW) is an MMORPG in which three dimensional animated objects exist in a real time online world. If a character runs across the computer screen, there is an actual person in some part of the world that is controlling the actions of the character. This student will be referred to as PM3. In order for PM3 to create their personal narrative, the student had to elicit the assistance of people with from different parts of the world. PM3s story centered on the adventures of his character in the video game. The student role played several different scenarios in which animated characters acted out examples of the different employability traits.

Narrative & Employability 50 During the third week of the employability intervention, students personal experience with collaboration was examined in a whole group discussion. PM3 stated the following, I dont really collaborate with anybody except when I play (World of Warcraft online). I dont have a job, I dont like to be around people and school is too damn boring (PM3, personal correspondence, April 16, 2009). The researcher asked, If you dont have a job, what do you do in your free time? PM3 responded by saying, What free time? I play World of Warcraft at least eight hours a day. I have raids scheduled on Tuesday mornings and Saturday nights. And if Im not at those (raids) then I lose credibility and wont have the same status within my guild. The researcher stated, What I hear you saying, is that you see playing World of Warcraft as your job? Several other students took PM3s side and insisted the student had a valid point. However, at least three students in the class did not believe that playing an online video game could facilitate an increase in any of the employability levels. The topic waned, and several students told PM3 that he had a problem. One student referred to PM3 as an addict controlled by a dumb video game. PM3 insisted that an individuals problem solving and critical thinking, communication, and collaboration all increase per frequent participation in WOW. When the time came to develop a personal narrative as part of a major project, PM3 informed the researcher that he planned to tell a story using characters from World of Warcraft. The researcher associated WOW with violence and was skeptical about the

Narrative & Employability 51 validity of the students request. The researcher did not reveal any of his skepticism to the student. The student insisted their project would accentuate the social aspect of online gaming. In order for the student to complete their personal narrative project, they had to use several different software applications. The student used their personal computer and created the narrative from their home. The student downloaded software which allowed him to record actions performed on the computer. The student used a microphone to speak into and acted as the voice of the protagonist in his/her narrative. While the student controlled the animated object and presented their character in several different scenarios, other animated characters presented themselves within the World of Warcraft realm. The student presented her narrative to the AM and PM groups. The students peers were very impressed with the personal narrative PM3 was able to tell through animated characters. PM3 was manipulating the characters in the video games to become animated pedagogical agents (Lester, 2000). PM3s narrative was approximately eight minutes long. The characters were transformed from mere objects in a video game to tools for teaching, reinforcing, and enhancing employability skills. After the participants peer group finished viewing the narrative PM3 presented, the student answered questions from peers. PM3 had roughly ten hours of work time invested in his project. She had a loose script which she and other characters would execute character actions. PM3 had to recruit other individuals to act as characters in the online video game. The student also had to learn about appropriate software and applications to record the actions of his characters. The researcher asked PM3, How did you utilize problem solving and critical thinking to complete your project?

Narrative & Employability 52 PM3s response was, Well among other things, I ran into a huge problem. The video wouldnt render right, so I wasnt able to extract the video and copy it onto a disc. Thats why I wrote you that email last night to see if I could bring in the computer. So I had to bring in my computer and hook it up to the projector (PM3, personal correspondence via email, May 14, 2009). The night before PM3s project was due, he was trying to copy the entire file onto a disc and there was a conflict with two different programs. PM3 brought in his entire computer to school. He built the computer himself and other students had several questions about how he built his own computer. PM3 stated, I dont really like to work with people in school because I dont care bout the subjects, but if Im interested in something, then Ill really get into it. Over the next few weeks, several of the students started asking PM3 specific questions relating to computers. PM3 did not participate in any projects. She did not have a role in any of the other movies, slide shows, or role playing activities; however, she suddenly possessed credibility with her peers based on the project- and this credibility led to future collaboration, communication, and problem solving with peers. PM3 worked diligently on writing their script for their personal narrative while other groups were preparing their projects. Although the student completed all of the filming and World of Warcraft role playing from home, the participant put in almost nine hours of class time on their project. Therefore, the student spent more than nineteen hours of preparing their project. The student was able to tell a story through the use of animated pedagogical agents. AM4 choose to create a slide show. AM4 is a senior in high school. The student is a Student with a Learning Disability in the area of Reading and Written Expression. The

Narrative & Employability 53 individual is also a Student with an Emotional/Behavioral Disability. Before beginning the project, AM4 had already completed all of their credit requirements for graduation. The student did not need to participate in the intervention or complete the project, yet they chose to do both. AM4s personal narrative focused on their gun collection. The student incorporated picture files and video clips of their gun collection into their slide presentation. Before beginning the employability intervention, AM4s computer skills associated with PowerPoint were limited. The student voiced concern and discontent with learning a new software. When asked if the student preferred to use PowerPoint or Microsoft word instead of SmartNotebook, AM4 informed the researcher they preferred SmartNotebook because the student wanted to be use the SmartBoard for their project. AM4 worked more than six hours on their project. The student presented the results from his project to his peers. This is significant because AM4 had not presented a project or any work to the entire class during the course of the year. AM4s presentation featured the student as the protagonist. Portraying their increasing passion for guns will continue to manifest positive results. The student displayed picture files within her presentation which displayed all of their guns. Due to a district wide zero tolerance policy, AM4 was not allowed to bring any weapons into school. The student checked out a Flip camcorder and recorded their different guns. Peers view multiple slides and clips of how the guns were used. Hunting and survival were two themes which arose from AM4s presentation. He hunts with his guns often. The student hunts small animals such as squirrels, raccoons, and pheasants. They also hunt larger animals such as deer. During the presentation, AM4 informed peers the animals hunted

Narrative & Employability 54 are used for sustenance. The student went onto to say their family has little money and the meat gathered from using guns provides food for AM4 and family. AM4 demonstrated courage by sharing issues related to his familys socioeconomic status. AM4 was a student who struggles with writing. Students were not required to write at length for this project. The student shared a story utilizing a media which allowed connection with the audience to hunting as a passion. AM4 demonstrated the employability traits successfully by completing the project and executing required learning targets needed to have an organized presentation. AM4 also collaborated with one other group by filming AM1 & AM8s digital narrative. AM1 & AM8 choose to create a slideshow. They used PowerPoint. Their slideshow was titled, Dont do what we did. The slideshow was primarily created by AM1. AM8 had input into the general ideas for the slides; however, AM1 possessed a greater skill set for utilizing PowerPoint. AM1 is a Student with a Learning Disability in the area of Reading. AM8 is a general education student who has performed well on several standardized assessments. These two individuals worked together to create a movie and shared their personal narrative by incorporating the movie into a slideshow. Six of their classmates worked with them to create and produce their project. AM1 approached the researcher on the first project work day and excitedly reported their vision of a complex digital narrative. The student expressed anxiety about getting the project accomplished. On the first project work day, AM1 spoke to several classmates about assisting with the creation of a documentary. AM1 and AM8 had their classmates work as the directors of their movie filming their scenes. The individuals who filmed their project provided instant feedback about what they had just witnessed. AM1

Narrative & Employability 55 edited the clips that were captured from the camcorder. The student had to learn a new software program to complete the video. AM1 and AM8 went to a local park and filmed their digital narrative over a two week period. Their story focused on life lessons learned. The film was ten minutes long. It featured AM1 and AM8 in front of the camera telling about their life experiences. Regret was a reoccurring theme throughout their entire digital narrative and slideshow. AM1 and AM8 shared openly about experiences involving police, rehab, and other poor decisions. They spoke about having troubled relationships with their parents and being selfish. However, they also talked about having steady employment and working up to thirty hours per weeks during the school year. AM8 has worked at a local restaurant since the age of fourteen. The student worked their way up from a dishwasher to a cook. AM1 has had several different jobs. For both students, the workplace and not home or school was s a safe refuge whereby provided structure insured their success. Following the presentation, AM1 and AM8 told the class they would not have been able to share such a vivid story in person. AM1 said the ability to edit the film was a crucial aspect of the creation process. This allowed the student a sense of being in control of their narrative. AM1 told the students and staff (AM1, personal correspondence, May 15, 2009): I feel like I was able to tell the story how I wanted to. I didnt have to worry about you judging me because I had already judged myself so many times by breaking down the video clips. Its like, I know what I want you see but I cant always explain it when were sitting in class. The movie gave me a chance to tell my story- and if I want to put a rap song over it (the movie) then I can do that. AM1 was able to tell the story without having people judge him/her. The student felt it was important to present the story, rather than tell it. The students statement regarding

Narrative & Employability 56 perceived judgment illustrates a conscious awareness about the actions of AM1 and AM8. In the students digital narrative, they tell their audience several times, Dont do the same thing I did. They are reinforcing a concept: we have learned from our poor decisions, and do not want other students to fall into similar perils. This is a clear demonstration of students demonstrating social responsibility, and critical thinking. AM1 and AM8 were able to reflect on their past decisions and deliver a message to their peers. Inappropriate life decisions were combated by a mature personal narrative which featured regrets about past decisions, and hope for the future. One of the students viewing the digital narrative told AM1 and AM8 they should put their movie on the internet site www.youtube.com. AM8 immediately informed their peers they would never want to post their digital narrative on any website. AM8 said the topics discussed were way too personal for everyone to see and hear. They worried future employers knowledge of past mistakes could jeopardize employment. AM1 interjected concerns about their mothers discovering the contents of the video. Their personal narrative makes several references to the fact that their parents were not around to properly raise them. Both AM1 and AM8 were primarily raised by older siblings because their mothers were working multiple jobs to support their families. Neither student wanted their mothers to discover they had been critical of parenting. In this sense, although the student created a movie which could be watched multiple times, their intention was to create a digital narrative which would be shared once with their peers. AM1 and AM8 began their presentation by presenting a few PowerPoint slides to the rest of the class. The slides were a comparison of lives each student had lived. The slides featured themes such as: being raised by a single mother, drugs & partying,

Narrative & Employability 57 jails/rehab, school problems, and employment. Immediately, their classmates were hooked into their presentation because the students had honestly shared something never previously discussed in a formal school setting. What impressed the researcher about the students presentation was the lack of braggadocios language and tone serious. AM1 and AM8 seemed genuinely regretful for their past poor decisions. After displaying a few slides, the students showed their digital narrative. Following the digital narrative, the students answered peer questions for ten minutes. After questions, AM1 and AM8 finished presenting their slideshow. Their presentation was thirty minutes in length. AM1 and AM8 inspired A2 to create a digital narrative. This student told the entire class that he created an autobiographical documentary. The student wrote an entire script, and rehearsed it several times. The student recorded a personal narrative which was eleven minutes long. AM2 worked for several days videotaping AM1 and AM8. During AM2s presentation, they stated a movie could be made because they witnessed someone else do it. AM2 is a Student with an Emotional/Behavioral Disability. The student attended four different high schools in three years. AM2 is a student who has over a dozen homemade tattoos on their body. The student dressed in all black. During the course of their digital narrative, the student explained why he went to four schools. Heexplained why he have so many tattoos. The student filmed their digital narrative at her parents garage. The students presentation featured a similar style to AM1 and AM8s presentation. AM2 shared their regrets. They provided a detailed description about incidences which led to trouble. Similarly with his peers presentation, this student

Narrative & Employability 58 exhibited caution when speaking of their regretful behavior. This student did not glorify their past behavior; on the contrary, they spoke about being a good athlete but denied participation in sports per behavior issues. This student credited the relationship with a member of the opposite sex for turning their life around. The student had earned several credits over the past academic year, and at the time of the presentation they were on track to graduate on time. One considerable difference between the presentation of AM2 and AM1/AM8s was that AM2 finished their digital narrative with a tremendous amount of hope. AM1 and AM8s digital narrative ended with both students walking out of the park and telling their audience not to repeat the similar mistakes because poor decisions lead to trouble, turmoil, and pain. AM2 ended their digital narrative by telling the audience that he would be attending a technical college in the fall. The past decisions made by the student would not define or hold back their life. In fact, this student shared they had recently gained competitive employment for the first time. The message of hope was direct in AM2s presentation; whereas hope was implicitly demonstrated by the perseverance which AM1 and AM8 exhibited. AM1 assisted AM2 with editing his video. Since AM2 completed most of the filming outside of project work time, the student was able to participate in several other student projects. AM2 helped with filming, and edited other students slides. Two students in the PM group led four of their peers in creating a digital role playing activity. Whereas AM1, AM8, and AM2 created non-fictional narratives, PM5 and PM6 set out to create a fictional story. PM5 and PM6 wrote over a dozen different scenes which spanned several different locations. They created a narrative in which one

Narrative & Employability 59 student had a drug problem and friends had to perform an intervention. Their role playing activity footage included: a car crash, a convenience store shoplifting incident, an employee being firing at work, and an appearance on the Dr. Phil Show. All scenes were filmed with costumes and believable sets. Many of the scenes took place outside of school. Their narrative told of a basketball star brought down by drugs and alcohol. The scenes were all under a minute and contained intense action with little dialog. PM5 and PM6 were conscious about creating a believable narrative and not a skit filmed in school, which is apparent by realistic details present in the physical surroundings. PM1, PM2, PM4, and AM5 (the contributors) all played roles in the film. They were contributors to the narrative. They followed along with directions provided by PM5 and PM6. The four contributors provided little leadership or creative direction associated with the narrative. They provided little input compared to PM5 and PM6. Although the contributors identified the movie as their project, they did not provide the same creative authorship as PM5 and PM6. PM5 and PM6 did an excellent job of demonstrating the employability skills. Their work ethic was exemplary. Each day they focused on creating a single scene, writing it, and filming it. They used communication skills and collaboration to get all of the actors in line. They exhibited problem solving, critical thinking, and social responsibility by getting permission to film at locations within the community. The shoplifting incident at the convenience store and firing at work took place in real world settings. In PM6s exit interview, the student stated, What I really enjoyed about the last six weeks was making the final video. That was really fun. Using the flip cameras is

Narrative & Employability 60 something everyone looks forward to using next year. They were such a neat tool to use. Creating the videos was my favorite project (PM5, personal correspondence, exit interview response via email, question #2, May 22, 2009). The students quote illustrates a high level of engagement and enjoyment associated with the narrative projects. The student also exercised excellent work ethic by staying on task each day. However, the contributors involved in the same project did not demonstrate equally high engagement levels with the narrative projects. PM5 demonstrated good communication by leading a project. There was some confusion amongst this group regarding the assessment of the projects. PM5 and PM6 took the lead on the project, and the contributors waited to be told what they needed to do. PM2 and PM4 were assessed a 1 out of 4 by the researcher on the employability rubric (see Appendix B). PM2 wrote an email to the teacher asking why he and PM4 received a 1 out of 4 for Work Ethic. They thought the video turned out well. Upon receiving the email, the teacher sat down with PM2 and PM4. The teacher brought out the rubric from Appendix B and asked both students to write a list detailing the effort put into the project. Neither student could list a single action they initiated. Both students admitted to solely following directions given by PM5 and PM6. PM2 and PM4 both admitted to the teacher they had put forth minimal effort towards the project. PM2 told the researcher they the project was going to be an easy A if the movie turned out well. PM2s point of view regarding the movie as a final product illustrates the difficulty some students have with thinking and working beyond a grade. PM2 insisted they were unaware grades were provided based on how they worked. However, PM4

Narrative & Employability 61 stated, I knew what you wanted but I figured wed still get a good grade (PM4, personal correspondence, May 26, 2009). Both students stated they placed little effort into the project because they saw other peers doing most of the work. Both students also informed the teacher they had allowed PM5 and PM6 to takeover duties which were previously assigned to PM2 and PM4. PM2 and PM4 are both regular education students. PM5 is a Student with an Emotional/Behavioral Disability and PM6 is a regular education student. One student who understood the project expectations quite clearly was AM7. This student had a passion for photography, and they plan on attending the local technical college to gain training in graphic arts. AM7 is a Student with a Specific Learning Disability in the area of math. AM7 created a personal narrative using their photography captured over the last several years. The student brought in hundreds of photos for their presentation. They told a personal narrative about their life and used the photos taken to paint a vivid picture of their hobbies, interests, and passions. The student used photos of their family to provide the audience historical background knowledge consistent with the genre of personal narrative. AM7 then showed several different photos of concerts and behind the scenes photography of local bands. AM7 informed her classmates she hopes to become a photojournalist. The student wants to capture the personal lives of musicians. Three students who began the intervention did not turn in a project. AM3 did not finish a project per family medical issues. She completed alternate assignments participated in two other projects. The student filmed for AM1 and AM8. AM3 also began a project with AM5. AM5 did not finish their project due to extended unexcused absences. AM5 did not attend school on eight out of the ten project work days.

Narrative & Employability 62 AM6 did not turn in a project. This student insisted on using their own equipment to capture their narrative. AM6 informed the staff and researcher they were finished filming and would be bring the tape to school; however, a finished project was never turned in by AM6. AM6 participated in AM1 and AM8s project. He assisted with filming. All fifteen students who participated in the intervention participated in at least one project. Twelve out of the fifteen students that received the employability intervention turned in a completed project. Regrets and Ambitions One of two themes were present in each completed project. Students expressed either personal regret or ambition for the future. Multiple projects featured a mixture of regret and ambition. Students with minimal employment experience such as PM3, used their projects as a tool to explain their future profession of choice. PM3 wants to be a video game developer/designer. He wants to attend a post-secondary institution which will provide him with the necessary tools to succeed in his chosen field. The personal narrative projects allowed students to measure their own level of employability. Even if students had very poor employability in areas such as work ethic, collaboration, or communication; the project allowed students to justify their poor employability. The personal narrative project also allowed students to tie together their aspirations, hopes, and future ambitions, with their past mistakes. AM1 and AM8 expressed regrets about their past inappropriate, and illegal decisions which limited their academic, athletic, and employment opportunities. Their regrets were narrated in a personal manner and reflected an attitude of if I could do it all over again; I would have lived my life very differently. Even with their past indiscretions,

Narrative & Employability 63 both AM1 and AM8 bluntly instruct their audience they will not be defined by their past failures. AM1 and AM8 tell the audience graduation from high school and attendance at post-secondary institutions remain in their near future. Immediately following narrative projects, five students completed applications for entrance into a college or technical school. All but one of the seniors who participated in the intervention chose to fill out an application for either a 2-year or 4-year school. Interestingly, their teacher had taken all of the students on a field trip to a technical college earlier in the school year. The students could have registered for college while on the field trip and had their admission fee waived. None of the students chose to do so. Following the completion of their project, AM1 and AM8 brought in their mothers debit cards and registered to attend the local technical college. Over the next two weeks, three other students followed the lead of AM1 and AM8. All of the students registered to attend the same technical college they had previously visited. All of these students paid a $30 application fee. Ninety days prior to the intervention, none of the students chose to register when the free option was presented. The intervention possibly motivated students to apply for college; however, may have applied college because the end of the school year was rapidly approaching. The college applications were filled out with teacher assistance but with little prompting from staff or researcher. Several positive outcomes were associated with allowing students an opportunity to create or examine a part of their life in a narrative based environment. Students displayed their talents in a format they found comfortable. They were provided a safe environment to share ambitions, retell regrets, and display talents. Students were active

Narrative & Employability 64 participants in their self assessment; resulting in identifiable ownership or authorship with created personal narratives. The Student as Expert Through projects created in a narrative environment, students became experts in specialized areas. The student as expert was a clear demonstration of specific employability traits. For example, PM3 began answering specific computer questions for peers and even teachers. Although the student already possessed specific skills before the intervention, neither peers nor teachers were aware of PM3s level of expertise, knowledge, or passion. Through his expertise, PM3 was able to utilize good communication and problem solving/critical thinking at the highest level. PM3 articulated his knowledge which led to other students being able to increase their skill set. AM1 became known as ideas person. When peers were looking for ways to tie together subplots or connect other areas of the narrative, they sought out the advice of AM1. The student also found out they had a passion for editing video and fusing it with sound. AM1 admitted knowledge of specific programs such as PowerPoint increased during the intervention, which provided the student with a coherent method for organizing thoughts. Through assisting his peers with projects and PowerPoint presentations, AM1 was able to clearly demonstrate and increase in collaboration, good communication, and problem solving/critical thinking. Exit Interviews Two out of the fifteen students answered the questions from the exit interview via email. Five of the fifteen students participated in the exit interview through a verbal dialog with the researcher. Their dialog was analyzed by a primary and secondary coder.

Narrative & Employability 65 Eight students made the choice to not participate in the exit interview process. Feedback from the exit interviews can be extrapolated into three main areas: guest speakers, technology problems, and working in a group versus working individually for the project. Guest Speakers According to exit interviews completed by the participants, the guest speakers who shared their personal narratives with the class left a positive impression. In their email directed towards the researcher, AM2 stated, As far as (the Superintendent), and (the Police Officer) now those people have a truly inspirational stories to tell. It gets you to think about what you have and working with it (AM2, personal correspondence via email, May 20, 2009). The guest speakers allowed participants to view employability skills as a life long skill set rather than something necessary to gain a job after high school. Most of the guest speakers spoke about personal tribulations overcame to get into their chosen profession. Two of the guest speakers were poor students in high school, which motivated them to get involved in the K-12 educational business. The police officer was a former gang banger who dealt drugs. The credit deficient participants identified with each guest speakers message. This is apparent in the exit interviews and work samples produced by students. Participants successfully analyzed each guest speakers personal narrative. Through emailing the teacher, working in small groups, and updating their daily journal; students demonstrated a clear understanding of each guest speakers message. Individual Projects Versus Small Group Projects Although each individual was supposed to create their own project, many student projects were incredibly ambitious. If an individual wanted to work in a group, they

Narrative & Employability 66 needed teacher permission. Permission was granted in every instance requested. In order for individuals to create a project in a group, then detailed duty list were created and handed in to the teacher. A duty list was a written description detailing each students responsibilities. The number of group projects limited the amount of collaboration individuals could complete. The researcher intended for each individual to have a project; thereby, forcing students to be a part of each others narrative. Students either worked solely on their own narrative, or worked diligently in their small groups. But there was a high level of collaboration because students had to rely on the expertise of others in order to get their narratives produced. This type of collaboration mirrored workplace collaboration and not the school place collaboration the researcher had intended. In this regard, the outcome produced a better result than what the researcher had intended. The researcher had not been able to envision how to create workplace collaboration because the researcher as teacher was used to creating school place collaborations. During the course of this project, students went to other students for help in the areas requiring assistance. The student needing help would go to the student who possessed the expertise; this mirrors real world work situations. Rather than having a teacher assign a collaborative exercise, and telling students how to collaborate- the students needed to work together in order to achieve their desired result. Conclusion Fifteen students in grades 10-12 participated in a seven week intervention to determine if story telling would increase employability skills. Employability was broken down into five different areas: work ethic, good communication, collaboration, problem

Narrative & Employability 67 solving and critical thinking, and social responsibility. Students analyzed each of the employability areas at a rate of one topic per week. Students participated in classroom activities, guest speakers, personal narratives shared by the researcher, role playing activities, small group assignments, and weekly mini-projects. Participants also completed a personal narrative project which spanned the course of two weeks. The baseline for each students employability skills is insufficient to make qualitative claims regarding an increase in each students employability skills. However, students exhibited the employability skills through the creation of a personal narrative projects completed by participants that received the employability intervention.

Narrative & Employability 68 Chapter V Discussion This chapter provides a summary of the study detailed in the previous chapters. Reviewed in this chapter is the rationale for the study, procedures used in the study and outcomes of the study. Implications of the findings are discussed while taking into consideration the limitations of the study. Recommendations are provided based on insight gained through the research. Summary of the Study Rationale for Study Previous research has not focused on utilizing personal narrative to increase employability skills. Recent studies list five employability areas employers look for when hiring high school graduates (Brown 2008, McLester & McIntire, 2006). The five employment areas are: work ethic, good communication, collaboration, problem solving & critical thinking, and social responsibility. With a greater emphasis on increasing performance on standardized tests, these five skills are not directly taught as a part of many high school curriculums. A proficient ability level in the aforementioned employability areas is crucial for students to gain employment after high school. Students need multiple examples and teacher/leader modeling of each employability area in order to assess and construct their own ability. Students with disabilities need more repetition than their age commensurate peers. In a narrative based environment, the utilization of storytelling as a method for delivering the employability traits allows students to create, retell, and constantly construct their abilities.

Narrative & Employability 69 Previous research associated with storytelling focuses on elementary education. The researcher examined the impact personal narrative had on credit deficient high school students employability. The researcher was provided with a unique situation for conducting action research. The intervention took place at a charter school containing Students with disabilities, students previously involved in an At-Risk program, and regular education students. The researcher as Lead Teacher in the charter school had autonomy and flexibility regarding curriculum choice and directing student learning. Procedures Used Qualitative data was collected from students through a seven week action research based intervention. Five adults participated in the study as guest speakers. Guest speakers shared their personal narrative with students in a Literacy class. Qualitative data from the intervention and classroom activities was collected from two different groups within the charter school. The AM group attends school from 8-11 AM. The PM group attends school from 12-3 PM. Rubrics with a 4-point scale were used to assess the students. Students were provided with timely feedback and had the option to insert their opinion into the assessment. Participants employability was assessed through the creation process of a personal narrative project. The personal narrative project provided a concrete tool which allowed the researcher to gather qualitative data. Significant Outcomes Significant Outcomes from Intervention Results of this study indicate employability skills are needed for students with disabilities as well as students without disabilities. All high school students can benefit

Narrative & Employability 70 from explicit, direct support and guidance regarding the employability skills. Although the direct teaching of employability skills is not associated with standardized curriculums, employers in the work world are hiring employees based on their ability to demonstrate five main employability skills. During the intervention, student attendance increased from 68% to 84%. In their exit interviews, students shared they felt like an adult during the intervention. Not a single student associated storytelling with elementary school. The narrative based environment allowed students to create an identity whereby acting like a competent adult was appropriate. The facades many high school juniors and seniors construct were temporarily disabled. Slackers, drugees, and dropouts were replaced by collaborators, workers, and thinkers. Todays students have greater access and aptitude towards digital technology than any other generation. Photography files, video files, and music files, are in the possession of students constantly. Many students bring devices with them to class which allow capturing and replaying of photos, videos, and music. Students associate personal narrative with the media they are able to readily access. Gone are the days of teacher as sole provider of knowledge and expertise. Students are able to access knowledge and resources in a variety of ways which were not available even five years ago. Significant Outcomes from Student Personal Narrative Projects Results of this study indicate students employability can be analyzed through the creation process of a personal narrative project. Each of the five employability areas were encompassed by students who successfully created a project. In most instances, for a student to successfully complete his or her project, they had to elicit the assistance of at

Narrative & Employability 71 least one classmate. This fostered a system which closely resembled many workplaces. In order for students to get a job done, they had to rely on people other than themselves. This notion is not present in traditional classrooms. If a student is or is not successful in the core subjects of math, English, science, or Social Studies, their level of success can often be attributed to the individual student. But in the narrative environment, an individual student relies on the assistance and expertise of other students in order to complete their project. A student needs the help of others to complete role playing activities, filming, and slideshows. This closely resembles the workplace and can lead to an increase in the employability traits. Students needed steady progress associated with their projects in order to continue working diligently. Although the students faced several technology issues which prohibited the efficient completion of projects, the students continued working towards a solution. The researcher and staff provided guidance and assurances that the technology difficulties would be resolved. The researcher and staff also provided students flexibility and freedom to troubleshoot the problem themselves. This autonomy provided students with a sense of value. Rather than having a professional fix the problem for the students, they were provided with the proper support and structure to gain expertise. The students responded to the challenge by accessing resources such as the internet, peers, and approached professionals when necessary. Twelve of the fifteen high school sophomores, juniors, and seniors who participated in the intervention successfully completed a project. One student was excused from the project per family medical issues. Two students did not turn in a project. All fifteen students contributed towards a minimum of one project. Following the

Narrative & Employability 72 intervention, five high school seniors completed college applications. The applications were completed with minimal prompting from the researcher. Relationship Between Collected Data and Research Question The collected data reveals utilizing personal narrative in the classroom increases the applied skills and employability of disengaged learners at the 11th and 12th grade level. The data also reveals that a six week intervention is an insufficient amount of time to complete an intervention which accompanies a student personal narrative project. A timeline of six weeks for the intervention plus an additional two or three weeks for project completion is more suitable than six weeks. Juniors and seniors in high school have a story to tell and they need an adequate amount of time to construct their personal narrative. In order for students to successfully construct and disseminate their narrative, they need access to the technological devices they utilize on a daily basis. This means allowing students to use their smartphones in classrooms. This means encouraging the use of capturing digital images and investing in software applications which will foster learning opportunities for students in high school. The researcher of this study is not a technology guru. The researcher provided students with an assignment in which they could use a media of choice to share a personal narrative. The students responded by using media they were comfortable with- even if the media was not located within the classroom. Students are bringing mobile media learning devices into the classroom from home. If students are allowed to share their story and participate in learning activities in a narrative based environment rather than Rationality based environment, their employability skills will increase. Rationality is the philosophy that one right answer

Narrative & Employability 73 exists. A narrative environment allows students flexibility to create multiple answers to complex questions; such as, what is your work ethic and how do you collaborate on a daily basis? These complex questions are not featured on standardized assessments which students must complete during high school. This barrier prevents the establishment of narrative based environments into the high school classrooms. Teachers are bound to teaching to standardized assessments and prohibited from providing a narrative based learning environment. Teachers face great difficulty in attempting to institute and assess methods for increasing employability skills. This research asserts the difficulty does not lie with the assessment of student performance in a narrative based environment. Teachers are not directly rewarded for increasing their students employability, but teachers are rewarded for increasing student performance on standardized assessments. Relating this Study to Current Literature This research study explored the five applied skill areas, also known as employability areas. These five areas were selected by the researcher because of publications such as the Job Outlook (2002), Work Readiness Report Card (2006), and established research studies (Brown, 2008; Di Meglio, 2008; McLester & McIntire, 2006). The current peer reviewed research indicates a need for employability skills (Toepfer, 2002); especially, students with disabilities, who face higher deficits in employability skills than their peers (Spirito, Dalgin, & Bellini, 2008). The results of this study indicate students with and without disabilities need employability skills, and a narrative based environment allows students to acquire employability skills. This study furthered the current body of research by providing systematic assessments of the employability skills through the use of personal narrative. No such

Narrative & Employability 74 study had previously existed with a sample larger than a few students. Beatties 2007 study examined narrative shaping students voices. Her study had a sample of two high school students from similar backgrounds as the students examined in this research study. However, the focus of Beatties study was utilizing personal narrative to shape students voices; whereas, this research focused on utilizing personal narrative to increase students employability skills. The results of this action research study found several similarities to Beatties research. The narrative based learning environment provided a conversational format which allowed for students to share freely and honestly (Beattie, 2007; Schneider & Caswell, 2003). One unique aspect of this study which separates it from Beatties is the timeframe. This study was performed over a seven week period. Beatties was a longitudinal study, in which she followed two students through their remaining years at a high school while they participated in her personal narrative intervention. The large sample and limited timeframe of this study yielded qualitative data which would vary greatly from a longitudinal study with two students. This research study found teaching personal narrative was an engaging curriculum tool for incorporating students with varied backgrounds and interests. Beattie, Egan, and Hopkins connect teaching as storytelling with engaging students into the learning process. Through the use of personal narrative and connecting storytelling to employability skills, students were linked with their learning, and empowered to share their story. Student engagement in the chartered school increased as a result of the personal narrative employability intervention. This can be demonstrated by: increase in credit accumulation, increase in work/project completion, increase in student-to-student classroom discussion, and an increase in classroom attendance.

Narrative & Employability 75 Clandinin and Connelly (1998) reveal a professional knowledge concept in which teachers can be knowers and knowledgeable, they have experiences to share in their classrooms. This research study indicates students can also contribute to the professional knowledge concept by sharing their passions and developing their interests into an expertise. By activating students interest and incorporating those into the curriculum students employability skills can be increased. One area where students showed interest was technology. Mott (1999, 2006) and Lester (2000) have performed extensive research into the use of technology in a narrative based environment. This research study emphasizes their results. Computer programs provide a separate narrative connection which stimulate student learning (Lester, 2000). Students associate employability skills with animated pedagogical agents. The video game characters provide countless opportunities for problem solving and critical thinking (Mott, 1999). Regarding video games, computer graphic software, and video editing software, students are often the experts and can share their skill set with peers and teachers. Thereby, creating not only a narrative based learning environment, but an environment which more closely resembles the workplace- by working together to create personal narratives, students constructed projects and connected all five employability areas. Implications of the Research This research study indicates utilizing personal narrative in the high school setting leads to an increase in employability skills. This study justifies further examination into the merits of incorporating digital storytelling and narrative based environments into high school classrooms. Students with and without disabilities benefited from having the opportunity to share their story. Several unanticipated benefits emerged from the

Narrative & Employability 76 intervention. Students became perceived experts in specialized areas whereby other peers sought their advice. Students worked extended hours to complete projects. Students explored various media and brought in ideas which positively impacted the intervention. Students acted appropriately and actively participated with guest speakers. The researcher intended for students to create a story in a written narrative and share their narrative with their peers. However, the unanticipated student request which led to unintended results provided the researcher with questions that will lead to further research. Specifically, how do todays young adults utilize technology to come to terms with their sense of place? How can technology be incorporated into the classroom to increase students employability? This research study has extended the current body of research available. With the emergence of Web 2.0 and mobile learning devices, students in the 21st century have unique opportunities to share their story. The researchers concept and framework for sharing a story was a completely different concept than the participants. Although the students would actively listen to a story being told, when the time came to create a story, students utilized digital devices to capture and create their personal narratives. The researcher grew up hearing stories from his grandparents about segregation, civil rights, and family history. Todays students create stories by fusing primary sources and constructing original multi-media experiences. This research proves assessment of student performance in a narrative based environment is attainable. The learning is the assessment.

Narrative & Employability 77

Appendix B

CATEGORY Collaboration

4 Almost always listens to, shares with, and supports the efforts of others. Tries to keep people working well together.

3 Usually listens to, shares, with, and supports the efforts of others. Does not cause "waves" in the group.

2 Often listens to, shares with, and supports the efforts of others, but sometimes is not a good team member. Does not suggest or refine solutions, but is willing to try out solutions suggested by others. Occasionally is publicly critical of the project or the work of other members of the group. Usually has a positive attitude about the task(s). Honesty is questionable.

1 Rarely listens to, shares with, and supports the efforts of others. Often is not a good team player. Does not try to solve problems or help others solve problems. Lets others do the work. Often is publicly critical of the project or the work of other members of the group. Often has a negative attitude about the task(s). Dishonest.

Problem-solving

Actively looks Refines solutions for and suggests suggested by solutions to others. problems.

Social Responsibility

Never is publicly critical of the project or the work of others. Always has a positive attitude about the task(s). Always honest.

Rarely is publicly critical of the project or the work of others. Often has a positive attitude about the task(s). Usually honest.

Work Ethic

Work reflects Work reflects a Work reflects Work reflects this student's best strong effort some effort from very little effort efforts. from this student. this student. on the part of this student. Routinely provides useful ideas when participating in the group and in classroom discussion. A Usually provides useful ideas when participating in the group and in classroom discussion. A
Sometimes provides useful ideas when participating in the group and in classroom discussion. A satisfactory group member who does

Communication

Rarely provides useful ideas when participating in the group and in classroom discussion. May

Narrative & Employability 78 definite leader who contributes a lot of effort. strong group member who tries hard!
what is

required.

refuse to participate.

Narrative & Employability 79 References Alllen, P., Ciancio, J., & Rutowski, S. (2008). Transitioning Students with Disabilities into Work. Techniques (Association for Career and Technical Education). Vol. 83 No. 2. p. 22-25. Retrieved November 24, 2008 from EBSCO Academic Search Complete Web Database. Beattie, M. (2007). Creating a self: A narrative and holistic perspective. International Journal of Education & the Arts, 8(13). Retrieved May 5, 2008, from http://www.ijea.org/v8n13/. Brewer, D. (2008). Personal Communication. What Skills are Most Important for Job Success When Hiring a High School Graduate? DCDT National Conference Presentation, October 17, 2008, Milwaukee, WI. October 22, 2008. drb22@cornell.edu. Brinkman, R., & Kirschner, R. (2002). Dealing with People You Can't Stand: How to Bring Out the Best in People at Their Worst. New York: McGraw-Hill. p. 3-24. Brown, J. (2009). http://mlearnopedia.com/. Professional Blogger & Moblie Learning Expert. Wisconsin. Clandinin, D., & Connelly, F. (1998, Summer). Stories to live by: Narrative understandings of school reform. Curriculum Inquiry, 28(2), 149. Retrieved September 23, 2008, from Professional Development Collection database. Clandinin, D., & Connelly, F. (2000). Narrative Inquiry: Experience and Story in Qualitative Research. Chapter 5 p. 1-11. Publisher Unknown. Di Meglio, F. (2008, February 22). A Transcript for Soft Skills. Business Week Online, Retrieved December 4, 2008, from Academic Search Complete database.

Narrative & Employability 80 Egan, K. (1989). Teaching as Storytelling: An Alternative Approach to Teaching and Curriculum in the Elementary School. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Fisher, W. (1997). Narration, Reason, and Community. Memory, Identity, Community: The Idea of Narrative in the Human Sciences. Lewis, E., Hinchman, P., & Hinchman, S.K. Albany, NY: State University of New York. p. 307-327. Geelan, D. (2003). Cnadian Stories of Distant Cases: Audiographics Teaching and Learning of High School Physics in the RACOL Project. Proceedings of World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia and Telecommunications 2003. p. 2924-2925. Chesapeake, VA. Hopkins, R. L. (1994). Narrative Schooling: Experiential Learning and Transformation of American Education. New York, New York: Teachers College Press. Knight, D. (2001). Assessing Students Job-Readiness Skills To Assure Success in SchoolBusiness Partnership Programs. p. 1-4, 10-11. Louisiana State University Shreveport. Lester, J.C., Towns, S.G., Callaway, C.B., et al. (2000). Deictic and Emotive Communication in Animated pedagogical Agents. The IntelliMedia Initiative. North Carolina State University. p. 2-4. Retrieved September 23, 2008 from Google Scholar Search. Luecking, R., & Gramlich, M. (2003). Quality Work-Based Learning and Postschool Employment Success. Issue Brief. National Center on Secondary Education and Transition. Minneapolis, MN. Vol. 2 I. 2. p. 2-6.

Narrative & Employability 81 McLester, S., & McIntire, T. (2006). The Workforce Readiness Crisis. Technology & Learning, 27 no4 22-24, 26, 28-9 November 2008. Retrieved December 2, 2008 from EBSCO Academic Search Complete Web Database. Mott, B.W., McQuiggan, S.W., Lee, S. et al. (2006). Narrative-Centered Environments for Guided Discovery Learning. Publisher Unknown. p. Abstract 3. Department of Computer Science. North Carolina State University. Raleigh, NC. Retrieved September 23, 2008 from Google Scholar Search. Mott, B. W., Callaway, C. B., Zettlemoyer, L. S., et al. (1999). Towards NarrativeCentered Learning Environments. Raleigh, North Carolina: Multimedia Laboratory. Department of Computer Science. North Carolina State University. Retrieved September 23, 2008 from Google Scholar Search. Overtoom, C. (2000). Employability Skills: an Update. Clearinghouse on Adult, Career, and Vocational Education. Center on Education and Training for Employment. Columbus, Ohio. ERIC Digest No. 220. p. 1-2. Rietveld, M. (2007). Personal Communication. Top 5 New-Hire Skills. Job Outlook 2002 National Association of Colleges and Employers. Staff Development, Kimberly Area School District. Kimberly, WI (920) 687-3024 ext 6006. mrietveld@kimberly.k12.wi.us. Rock, M. (2004, May). Transfiguring It Out. Teaching Exceptional Children, 36(5), 6472. Retrieved December 8, 2008, from Academic Search Complete database. Schneider, B., & Caswell, D. (2003). Using Narrative to Build Community and Create Knowledge in the Interdisciplinary Classroom. History of Intellectual Culture, 3(1), 1-3. Retrieved September 25, 2008 from Google Scholar search.

Narrative & Employability 82 Spirito Dalgin, R., & Bellini, J. (2008). Invisible Disability Disclosure in an Employment Interview: Impact on Employers Hiring Decisions and Views of Employability. Rehabilitation Counseling Bulletin. Vol. 52. No. 1. p. 6-15. Hammill Institute on Disabilities. Retrieved December 2, 2008 Complete Web Database. Strauss, A.C., & Corbin, J. (2007). Basics of Qualitative Research: Techniques and Procedures for Developing Grounded Theory. SAGE Publications. 3rd Edition. Sunderman, G.L., Kim, J.S., & Harlow, G. (2005). NCLB Meets School Realities: Lessons From the Field. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. Toepfer, C.F. (2002) Paradigms for Future Guidance Programs: A Longitudinal Approach to Preparing Youth for Employability. Building Stronger School Counseling Programs : Bringing Futuristic Approaches into the Present. Chapter 7, 81-108. New York. from EBSCO Academic Search