@article{THESIS, recid = {8460}, author = {Baroody, Persie}, title = {Telling Ourselves: Reflexive Stories and the Social Construction of Self in the Classroom}, number = {THESIS}, pages = {40 pages}, month = {Feb}, year = {2025}, abstract = {Narrative identity has become an increasingly popular area for study, especially in the classroom. This study aimed to explore storytelling as connected to identity in the classroom. I collected qualitative data in the form of stories and interactions from two focus groups with 8 participants. From this qualitative data, I found that storytelling, as an inherently social practice, can be a window into students’ figured worlds. Specifically, I found that storytelling with peers can highlight an individual’s knowledge of their relationships; that stories inform the self and the self informs stories in a reflexive pattern through social interaction; that retelling well-known stories can show connections and relations of students to characters; and that school situates the structure of a specific type of story. My findings underline three important aspects of using storytelling as a relational practice for building teacher-student trust in the classroom: suggestions for leaving prompts open-ended, responding with encouragement rather than directions, and knowing that every story is informed in a social context.}, url = {http://digitalcc.coloradocollege.edu/record/8460}, doi = {https://doi.org/10.52295/dcc.8460}, }