Their Stories, Their Voices with Kourtney Hake and Paige Timmerman

Welcome back as we continue our special series on literacy, presented in partnership between the Be Podcast Network and Reading Is Fundamental. To hear more from this series, you can revisit our September episodes from National Literacy Month. 

Today’s guests, Kourtney Hake and Paige Timmerman, are a pair of English teachers. Kourtney has been teaching English at various levels since 2014 and currently works at Sparta Lincoln School in Sparta, Illinois. She teaches eighth-grade English language arts (ELA), but has taught all levels of high school, as well as first-year writing at the college level. Paige has been teaching high school English since 2012 and currently works at Salem Community High School in Salem, Illinois. She teaches all levels of twelfth-grade English, including an honors level dual-credit writing course. She has also taught freshman and junior English. 

Their book is called Their Stories, Their Voices: Using Personal Narrative to Empower Student Writers, Grades 6–12.

We discuss:

• Defining personal narrative and how it fits into literacy skills
• How Paige and Kourtney got interested in personal narrative
• Core beliefs around committing to personal narrative
• Use personal narrative in sensitive ways while considering student trauma, diversity of voices, and applicability to all learners
• Types of narratives: informative, analytical, persuasive, reflective
• Helping students understand how they can use words to inform others, analyze difficult questions, persuade others to make changes for good and facilitate valuable reflection
• Approach writing instruction in a scientific way

Find Their Stories, Their Voices from Solution Tree or wherever you get your books.

Visit https://bepodcast.network to learn about all our shows. 

Visit www.rif.org to learn about Reading Is Fundamental. 

About the host

Ross Romano is a co-founder of the Be Podcast Network and CEO of September Strategies, a coaching and consulting firm that helps organizations and high-performing leaders in the K-12 education industry communicate their vision and make strategic decisions that lead to long-term success. Connect on Twitter @RossBRomano or LinkedIn