Special thanks to 2023 Schomburg NEH
Storytelling
PFW (5 min)
Today, we will explore stories told through text, image, and sound. We'll reflect on our experience of reading these cultural texts by writing, drawing, and performing. Exercises may feel like you could use more time to get to a further stage of development, but please know that we're focusing on process rather than a deliverable.
As we collaborate over the following sessions, I encourage you to jot down your answers to the following questions:
What makes a story captivating?
What is your favorite story about someone you care about, deeply?
Who gets to tell which stories?
Overview
Session #3: Making Connections
Session #1: Bingo
PFW (5 min)
In our opening session, we will get to know one another as a community of folks with diverse experiences.
Agenda
(15 - 20 min) Move around the room in a way that feels accessible to you. Find one colleague for each space (ask them to sign their name and share one sentence about their connection to the prompt). Only one person should be used twice, if possible.
(30 min) In groups of 4 - 5, use your Bingo cards as inspiration to write a brief play about us.
(20 min) Perform your story (quick skits, no longer than 3 - 5 min per group)
Session #2: Dialectical Notebook
Open Anthology for I Saw a Peacock with a Fiery Tail (p. 14) and Langston Hughes (p. 15)
Agenda
We will work in pairs, find one person with whom you have not yet worked with
Create a shared google doc (you will submit a copy for your portfolio later) with 3 columns
Read both texts
The Dialectical Notebook is divided into three columns:
Column 1: Student 1 will turn to I Saw a Peacock with a Fiery Tail poem and select a quote that they want to think more about. Copy the quote into column 1 and write about it – what is interesting about it? How does it relate to the text itself?
Column 2: Student 2 will read what student 1 wrote. Student 2 prompt: imagine you are having a conversation with student 1. Agree or disagree and explain why.
Column 3: Student 1 reads what student 2 has written. Student 1 is now asked to bring in a quote from the second poem, Langston Hughes.
After the activity is completed, we will work in larger groups of six (three pairs).
Read each other’s notebooks (share google docs)
Collaboratively develop three probative questions to write on board
Probing Questions are intended to help the presenter think more deeply about issue at hand:
Why do you think this is the case?
What do you think would happen if…?
What sort of impact do you think…?
How did you decide…?
How did you determine…?
How did you conclude…?
What is the connection between… and…?
What if the opposite were true? Then what?
Large group share out (please say your name and pronouns first)
Session #3: Making Connections
Next, we will discuss "Putting Texts in Conversation with Each Other" and the role of Peer Feedback (not critique).
Agenda
Making Connections - "Putting Texts in Conversation with Each Other"
Special thanks to Joey Yearous-Algozin (NYU)
FFW (5 min): When is an action "strategic" vs cheating?
Bracket and Share
Read Ed Yong, “People Don't Know When They're Lying to Themselves ” (p. 30) aloud (twice)
FFW (7 min): How does this text align up with your expectations? Did anything in this text surprise you? Finally, what would you say this essay is about, beyond the title?
Annotate the text according to topic with for each paragraph. Read through how it’s working formally (structure).
Look at your two freewrites, take a few minutes to answer a few questions:
What ideas do these texts have in common? Make a quick list
In what ways are they different?
Process Writing / Self-Reflection:
All hands-on deck (2 min): Which freewrite comes first in your mind? Which one comes second?
Connect the gap (3 min): How can you connect these texts in a single sentence? How can you connect them with a single paragraph?
In the beginning was the word (5 min): What comes before the first text? Write this idea out as clearly as you can.
At the end of the rainbow (5 min): What comes after the last paragraph? Where does this idea go next?
Translation (5 min): How would you translate this idea into a new medium? Like music, drawing, sculpture, math. Either put it in that medium (write the notes or draw that picture) or describe the process
Process Write (7 min): Return to Ed Yong and read the line “Our findings show that people not only fail to judge themselves harshly for unethical behaviour, but can even use the positive results of such behaviour to see themselves as better than ever.” What is in your writing that the reader cannot see? Write a paragraph about its absence…
What is Peer Feedback?
Watch:
Instructor's perspective
Discussion: Do you agree with this approach to peer feedback? Disagree? WHY? How can we draw on our Community Agreements during Peer Feedback sessions?
FFW (7 min): What guidelines would be helpful to have in place for you to feel comfortable to receive feedback from a peer about unfinished writing? To offer actionable and constructive (not only positive) feedback while upholding our Community Agreements?
How can we draw on our Community Agreements during Peer Feedback sessions?
In groups of 2 - 3, use poster paper to come up with a template for peer feedback that you feel would be affirmative for us to use in our learning community. Sometimes it's helpful to create a "do this, not that" list. Try to phrase each guideline in actionable / constructive language
Gallery Walk
Discussion: What did we learn today?