I've excerpted some quotes from one of my favorite books for you to enjoy. I hope they connect with you and inspire you to explore how story can be transformative in shaping our lives. You can purchase the book at my Amazon store by clicking on the name at the bottom of this post.
“Redemption of humanity and earth hang on our discovering how to be a listening community formed by the story it hears.”
“The purpose of scripture is to unite us with our Maker and to invite us into God’s world of justice, grace, peace, order, hope, mercy, where God is making us and all the world whole. It is the story itself that moves us into sacred sphere.”
“Our lives must find their place in some greater story or they will find their place in a lesser story. Our contemporary postmodern world is a world of a thousand stories and a thousand gods. And these stories often become splintered images, brilliant, excitable, beautiful perhaps, but separated from any larger narrative to give them meaning and truth.”
My friends at Imago have a new website and blog–cleverly called iblogo. This blog has great posts about culture, learning and faith. Check out the current post about how the internet is changing the way we learn.
I came across this inspiring video about teaching storytelling in the classroom. It is a promo for the book Children Tell Stories by by Martha Hamilton and Mitch Weiss. I do not have this book yet, but the video sold me!
I love that they have children do storymaps right away to “get away from the words” and put themselves in the story through pictures. I have used this story boarding method a lot, and it works well for telling and retelling any story. While I do incorporate creative retelling as a key part in my Storying process, I have been exploring how can I help students to become the storytellers. If the most effective method of learning is teaching something yourself, then involving students more in telling the stories seems to be a vital goal to have.
I would love to hear how you have tried this... I am always in “improvement” mode when it comes to teaching and learning!
This Thursday, March 19, I will be leading a workshop at the WCA's CONSPIRE Children's Ministry Conference. I love their website! The workshop will focus on Bible Storying with those in "late childhood" – i.e. approximately ages 9-13. I am excited and a bit nervous! I am doing more workshops these days with groups interested in implementing Storying across all ages. It is a fun an unique challenge to explore how different elements of the Storying learning process need to be adjusted to meet different ages/stages.
My friend, Amy Dolan, is heading up this conference with a wonderful team of people. Amy heads up LemonLime Kids, a ministry that inspires creative and effective learning for children. Amy and I have collaborated on a few workshops and I hope to continue that in the future!
A few years ago I developed an activity to help students share some of their story with each other in our youth group. I call this activity a Life Storyboard, as each student draws, writes and shares snapshots from their life. Most students seem to love this activity, as it gives them a chance to express themselves in a new way.
A few students (and adults!) groan a bit about having to draw, lamenting, "I am not good at drawing!" I always encourage them that this is not an art competition and I will not allow any one to make fun of what they create. I also tell them, "You can write words around your pictures. Just make the pictures simple. The important thing is that you really think about each snapshot and are ready to share what you created." This seems to set them at ease!
I have found that even the quietest students respond well to this activity. I believe this is because we all have a deep desire to be known, and really would like a safe place to share more of who we are. This exercise, in a small way, seems to help create that kind of environment if guided well. Recently, I have used this in my sunday school class and at two retreats. All of the groups connected with this. Let me know how your group responds!
We are in the process of planning a Passover Seder for friends from Elgin. I am really excited about it! I will also be a part of a Seder with a youth group in Fort Wayne in a couple of weeks.
This email is to encourage you to consider hosting a Passover Seder with your friends! Being a part of a Seder is a high light of my year... it provides a unique experience for us to embrace rich Hebrew traditions that point to Jesus as the Messiah.
I developed a Seder Booklet – called a Haggadah – a few years ago. Each Haggadah booklet guides participants through interactive exercises, readings and prayers that tie together the stories of the Exodus and Last Supper. I am by no means an expert on Jewish tradition, but I think this booklet is pretty helpful for those new to the experience.
I came across a post on Steps to Storytelling on the Creative Youth Ideas Blog. This article has helpful reminders about storyingtelling we should all take to heart. Check it out!!
