How to find and tell your story

I have been collecting story starters, you can use them with your class and add some of your own in the comments. Cheers  Rob

Via Ana Cristina Pratas, Petra Pollum

"You might believe that you don’t have stories, that your life is boring, or that your topic of expertise doesn’t lend itself to storytelling.  I hope that I can change your mind."

Read the full article to find out more about these steps to unleash your storytelling potential & next steps:

1. Pay attention to other people’s stories
2. After hearing each story, ask yourself if you have something similar
3. Find an opportunity to tell your matching story
4. Study the patterns of stories
5. Collect professional stories

"This exercise provides a structure which allows delegates to share their views, experiences and values regarding teamwork and leadership with others. This exercise works for both newly formed teams and more established ones. You can also run the exercise for delegates from different backgrounds as well as it helps to share experiences across industries and can be quite inspiring.

Based on your chosen Mission Card share an experience with the group."

Read the full article to obtain the complete exercise to help you tell stories about your experiences using a set of storytelling prompts. The exercise includes:

• what you need
• setup
• timing
• discussion
• variations
• mission cards

Via Ariana Amorim

These quick, one-time-only exercises can teach us about ourselves and what we want—and how we can tell our story. The bonus? You might just end up with a book...

Read the full article to find out  more about these three exercises which include what to write and why it helps:

1. Your 3-Sentence Life Story
2. Your Crucial Incident (or Incidents)
3. Your Secret Why

"When we think about bringing interactive fiction into the classroom we often focus on the technology. I’ve written here about using accessible tools such as Twine, Twine 2.0, Inform 7, and Inklewriter to create everything from games to interactive essays and digital humanities projects. Bringing in software of this type can be a great way to transform an assignment and add procedural literacy outcomes to a range of disciplines. However, before we get into the technology, we need an idea."

Read the full article to find out more about these exercises that provide playful starting points to making interactive narratives:

• Interactive Fiction Party Game
• Create Your Own Writing Adventure
• Existing Generative Games

"Carefully curating a limited set of objects has lately become a popular way for museums and historians to tell vast histories (e.g., the history of the world, or of New York City).

We can use the same approach to tell our personal histories as well. A sentimental T-shirt, a kindergarten drawing or a dog-eared book? What objects tell the story of your life?"

Read the related article Object Lessons in History then answer:

• What objects tell the story of your life? Can you identify five or 10 objects that you would include in an exhibit or book about your life?

• Why did you select each of those objects?

• Do you think telling history through objects is a “a clever way to hook people on history”? Do objects tell a story that words or images aren’t able to convey quite as effectively?

Objective:  Make a story based on the image you are given.

Explain that based on the photo they should make a story. The story should be designed in such a way that the photo given to them comes to become the defining moment in the story. For example, it could be a moment of significant revelation and discovery or the moment when a life changing decision has been made.

Via Ariana Amorim

"This exercise is particularly useful for those quiet types who may need a push and a structured approach in practicing this skill. Learning this important skill will allow them to become better at talking about themselves and their ideas, values and achievements without appearing over bearing or self-centred.

You can run this exercise for an existing team or for a group of individuals from different backgrounds. Even those who are not naturally quiet would benefit from the structured approach used in this exercise to practice their story telling techniques."

Read the full article to obtain the complete exercise to help you tell stories about your skills and your accomplishments using a set of storytelling prompts.  The exercise includes:

• what you need
• setup
• timing
• discussion
• variations
• mission cards

Via Ariana Amorim