Storying Lives: Exploring Youth Personal Narratives in an Alternative School Setting

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Wednesday 9:00 am Four Seasons Ballroom 2-3
  In Roundtable Session: Researching the Integration of AI and Writing (Table 11)

Abstract

Personal narrative is frequently positioned as an authentic, empowering vehicle for developing school-sanctioned literacies. However, there is inherent tension in conflating the two—the “writing skills” that matter in schools are dictated by neoliberal academic standards predicated upon white, Western norms. We use feminist and decolonial theory to position life-storying as a representation not only of events and related meaning-making, but of the teller’s epistemic knowledge. We do so through analyzing personal narratives authored by students in a non-traditional education setting, and normative revisions made to these narratives by an LLM. Our analysis suggests that personal narrative as writing pedagogy is not inherently affirming, and explores how alternative approaches to the genre can uplift traditionally marginalized students’ epistemic knowledge.

Authors

• Victoria Henry, Teachers College, Columbia University

• Adrienne Vitullo, Teachers College, Columbia University