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 The Lippman School’s new “Storytelling Across the Nations” project was recently spotlighted at the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) conference in Atlanta. ISTE is the nation’s largest gathering of technology and education professionals, and draws upwards of 18,000 participants each year.

 

 Lippman School teachers John Bennett, Matt Russ, and Burt Medicine Bull, Northern Cheyenne language instructor at Chief Dull Knife College in Montana, were featured presenters at the conference June 28-July 1. They were on hand to demonstrate the digital storytelling project that connects our students with members of the Northern Cheyenne tribe.

Left to right: Burt Medicine Bull, Matt Russ, and John Bennett

 

Lippman and Northern Cheyenne students have developed a rich and rewarding cross-cultural relationship over the past three years through on-site visits. But now, they can stay connected between visits by sharing stories online. In this way, they are practicing the ancient oral tradition of storytelling through the use of modern digital technology.

 

To gather stories, Lippman students used iPads to record interviews with senior citizens in the Center Towers apartment complex located next door to the school.

 

“We’re at the beginning of gleaning stories from our elders”, Bennett says. “The idea is to post them on the website so that they’re not only available for our students, but also for the Northern Cheyenne students, and the general public.”

 

Above: John Bennett at ISTE

 

The goal, he says, is not just to share stories on the site, but to also build in the ability to compare and contrast them. One very moving and relevant comparison, teacher Matt Russ observes, is that of the Holocaust that killed millions of Jews in World War II, and the Sand Creek Massacre that resulted in the deaths of many Cheyenne—mostly women and children—at the hands of US Army soldiers in 1864.

 

 “We’ve had Holocaust survivors speak to both Lippman students and the Northern Cheyenne, and we’ve had someone who is a descendant of a Sand Creek Massacre survivor, speak about that particular tragedy”, Russ says.

 

He continues, “One of the common grounds that we’ve talked about, is how a group of people survives tragedy; how you overcome that and move on, and at the same time, feel good about who you are as a person, and as a people.”

 

 In addition to stories, visitors to the storytelling website can also find pictures, video, and other information about the Lippman-Northern Cheyenne cultural exchange and partnership, which began three years ago. 

 

Above: Burt Medicine Bull at ISTE

 

So far, Lippman students have visited the Northern Cheyenne reservation twice, most recently in May. Northern Cheyenne students have also visited Lippman twice, and plan to return again in October.

 

This unique and unusual partnership started as a result of a personal relationship Lippman’s Head of School, Sam Chestnut, had with the Northern Cheyenne. His late father, Steven Chestnut, was the tribe’s attorney for more than 40 years, and was so revered for his work protecting their land, that he was given a Cheyenne name which translates to “Rises from Clouds.” This is an honor that has been bestowed upon very few white people in Cheyenne history.