Stories that Speak to Us: Exhibits from the Digital Archive of Literacy Narratives

Our protagonists find helpers as they try to enter more fully into the activities of their culture, whether by learning to read or learning to do math.crisp

Scaffolding Stories

by Huey Crisp, Sally Crisp, David Fisher, Greg Graham & Joseph J. Williams

Computers and Composition Digital Press2011TextStories that Speak to Us: Exhibits from the Digital Archive of Literacy Narratives

Abstract | In this exhibit, we take a cultural-historical approach to DALN narratives as locations for understanding how people talk about learning. In exploring the selected narratives, we try to complicate the widely researched and applied educational metaphor of scaffolding by interpreting stories about learning told by four individuals who relate experiences involving zones of proximal development.

About the Curators | David Fisher is an assistant professor of rhetoric and writing at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. His research focuses on using digital media, games, and simulation to teach basic, critical, and professional literacies. His articles have appeared in CALICO Journal, Kairos, Computers and Composition, and IEEE Transactions in Professional Communication as well as in books about genre and educational gaming.

Joseph John Williams is an associate professor of rhetoric and writing at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. His current research focuses on the relationship between writing and game design. Specifically, he looks at the connections between the writing process and the design process, as well as the effects of automated, interactive systems on writing and reading experiences. Additionally, Joe builds games and other experimental interactive systems both to explore the concepts he researches and to provide digital tools for writers. His work has been published in Kairos and Computers and Composition.

Greg Graham teaches first-year writing at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and serves on the leadership team of the Little Rock Writing Project, an affiliate of the National Writing Project. Greg has presented a literacy narrative workshop that he designed at numerous local, state, and national venues. These workshops have produced many digital narratives currently posted on the DALN. Greg’s primary research interest asks how our experience of narrative is changing with the emergence of new forms of narrative media.

Sally Crisp has been a teacher of writers and writing for over 30 years. She has taught at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock since 1980, including graduate and undergraduate courses in the Department of Rhetoric and Writing. She established and directed the University Writing Center and currently directs the Little Rock Writing Project, an affiliate of the National Writing Project. She has co-authored or edited several non-fiction books, including Fireflies in a Fruit Jar and Open Windows, with John Workman, The Steps We Took and Carry This Message, with Joe McQuany and Huey Crisp, and Widowed with Sharon Trusty and Barry Corkern. She appreciates stories and storytellers.

Huey Crisp taught writing at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock from 1980 until his retirement in 2011. During this time he taught Composition, Writing for Business and Government, The Practicum, Persuasive Writing, and Writing for Work. From 1998 until 2011 he served as the director of composition. Crisp organized and conducted workshops on Writing in the Disciplines for several years. He has also conducted many writing workshops in business and government organizations and workshops for K-12 teachers and community college faculties on techniques for assigning and responding to writing. His publications as author, co-author, editor, or project manager include the following non-fiction books: The Steps We Took, Carry This Message, Lessons From Little Rock, Dinamica de Recuperacion, Lloyd Peterson and Peterson Industries: An American Story, Jack Hammered, Sober Sonnets, Balm in Gilead and others. And he has served for the past four years as the poetry critic for the Poetry Roundtable of Arkansas.

Technical Requirements | "Scaffolding Stories" is a Prezi, so viewing it requires a modern web browser with Flash 10+ installed. It is best experienced from within the default Prezi viewer, rather than full screen.

The CCDP is committed to working toward the goal of making projects as accessible as possible for all readers. Readers who cannot access this project in any of the above formats can request an alternative format by contacting sccrisp@ualr.edu.

Cite this Exhibit

MLA: Crisp, Huey et al. “Scaffolding Stories.” Stories That Speak to Us: Exhibits from the Digital Archive of Literacy Narratives. Ed. H. Lewis Ulman, Scott Lloyd DeWitt, & Cynthia L. Selfe. Logan, UT: Computers and Composition Digital Press, 2013. Web.

APA: Crisp, H., Crisp, S., Fisher, D., Graham, G., & Williams, J. J. (2013). Scaffolding Stories. In H. L. Ulman, S. L. DeWitt, & C. L. Selfe (Eds.), Stories that Speak to Us: Exhibits from the Digital Archive of Literacy Narratives. Logan, UT: Computers and Composition Digital Press.

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