Hot Topics: 2013

Generating story ideas was the focus of today's session, with an emphasis on story mapping.  I found this particularly useful.  Through categorization and delineation, we fleshed out story ideas that were apt, concise, and empathic.

Dare I say to a group of educators that I felt like solidifying this learning in the form of a graphic organizer?  I can see our students beginning with an idea, breaking it down into categories, and then finding questions or statements that are the seeds of stories they hope to tell.  It might look something like this (and I’m sorry if it has been done):

 

As a member of two teams, I had the pleasure of working with intelligent adults who looked critically at issues, narrowed them down into component parts, and found stories that our students, or we, could write.  In the first case, we found ways to localize the NSA security breach to a high school level, considering privacy both online and at home (when parents snoop around kids’ rooms).  In the second, we used the map to focus our own story ideas for the Institute publication.  I loved the way this tool helped us to discover kernels that will germinate into something rich and robust.  I have previously advocated for brainstorming, but found that student don’t often know how to take a topic and turn it into an angle.  This was immensely helpful, and I intend to bring it back to my classroom so that students my see how one idea can transform itself into many. 

 

Hilari Anderson

Kentridge High School
Kent, WA