Student Generated Stories, a.k.a. Skeleton Stories (first term is mine, second is Michele’s) have really been getting some practice by some of us these past few weeks. I have already stated how they seem to take the pressure off of regular stories (although I will always do those as well because they are just plain fun). Below, Laurie gives a report on how they worked for her this week. Laurie I am sure I am speaking for others in registering appreciation of the details of how the week unfolded, as it makes it easier for us to grasp:
What a week!
I’ve had so much fun. You are right Michele…getting the seeds of a story from the kids is very powerful. I feel like I have more material than I can squeeze into a week!!
On Thursday I gave the phrases just about to start, without rest, and had the desire to my first period class. Here is what they came up with:
Athletes have the desire to record a “We Are The World” song to raise money. They are just about to start to sing when some of the athletes, who practice without rest, keep throwing a ball and won’t stop. (this is working out great…I’ll share the final version)
[ed. question: Laurie, could you expand on why you think the script above is working so well? The first thing I noticed in that one was how tight it was, with practically no extra words except the target words all neatly tied up in a bow. Did that help, do you think?]
Dora and Diego are practicing without rest to run in a race. They have the desire to win the race. They were so busy practicing that they didn’t notice that the race was about to start.
Sean has the desire to win the baseball game. He practices without rest. When it is his turn to bat he is so tired that he cannot hang on to the bat. His turn at bat is just about to start. He swings and cannot hold on to the bat. It flies out of his hands and….
Kora and Mike have the desire to get an A on their school project. Mike wants to work without rest. Every time they are just about to start working, Brittney wants to do something else.
Sam is a famous model. All of the photographers have the desire to take her picture. She is in Brazil. They are just about to start a session, but there is a problem. All of the photographers are staring at her beauty without rest. They do not want to pick up their cameras.
AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So on Friday, I chose the one about the athletes to “story-ask” first period. Without any inner pressure (theirs or mine!!) to “get somewhere” with the story….we were able to use the phrases all kinds of ways!! I’m working on the embedded reading for this one based on what we put together in just 10 minutes!
Third period I found out that the story about Sean and the baseball bat turned out to be semi-true. In 7th grade a student let go of his bat and nearly knocked out an umpire!! This kid is not in this class, and because I have a strict rule about “gossip”, they knew that we would create a new character and just utilize this great piece of drama to get a fantastic, but different, story.
In the fifth period class, I handed over the race story…but told them “two characters” instead of Dora and Diego so that they could create their own spin on it. It WAS OUTSTANDING!!!! I blogged it. I had to share it! Now we are on a serious Star Wars roll with that. Amazing!!
I’ve also been taking on Ben’s challenge of upping the amount of Spanish in class. It is really working. It is pushing them through the “I can’t” barrier. With love. They trust that I have a good idea of what they can and can’t do…even when they don’t. They trust that I will not embarrass them. I am finding that trust more and more important.
It is the approach that makes the difference. It is still, and even more, about them. The story ideas? From them. The details? From them. The ability to communicate in Spanish. Because I know THEY CAN DO IT. Not because the curriculum/test says that we should. That slight shift is inspiring.
Thank you thank you thank you!!!
with love,
Laurie
[ed. note: I would also add here that all you have to do is click on Laurie’s link to the right here – “Other TPRS Blogs” – to keep up with Laurie’s and others’ thoughts that are not being blogged here. Actually, I would urge anyone following the skeleton story/embedded readings thread here to go to her blog right now and read the recent posts there. Gold Mine City.]