Next, we divided into groups with the students that were assigned to us. I was assigned three students, a boy and two girls. The boy, I’ll call him Thomas, was talkative when it was his turn to speak. When it was not his turn he was disinterested. One girl, I’ll call her Elizabeth was very shy. She always smiled and was attentive to what others were saying.

The second girl, I’ll call her Josey, was talkative as well. She shared many stories with out group. She spoke of her brother that was dead (by his own hands), she spoke of her father that had a new family, and was no longer in her life, and she spoke of her mother that worked long hours, and how she and her siblings have to walk to see her at work. She was a happy child, and this was confusing to me because of the conversation that we were having.

All three had stories to tell. I encouraged them to think of things that they might like to write on. Thomas spoke of his trip to Hawaii. Elizabeth talked about her dancing in the Pow Wow. Josey talked about working a 1000 piece puzzle with her Grandmother.

I also encouraged them to look for old family photos and ask questions to other family members about who the person is, and perhaps write on that person in the photo.