Here is an updated listing of my upcoming workshops. My fall fills up quickly, so if you would like me to come and lead a workshop with your volunteer or staff team, please contact me right away.
This was a small addition to my Shaped by the Story book that didn't make the cut. It seems helpful to those of you who work with larger groups and don't have time or leaders to break into smaller groups.
Participant Lead Buzz Groups
The term buzz groups has been used in educational training for decades, and comes from the idea that students within a classroom turn to each other and form smaller groups. The “buzz” is the sound of the discussion from around the room as groups interact with each other. When Storying with a large group and you are the ONLY teacher familiar with the process, buzz groups are the best solution I have found for dialogue. The storytelling is lead by the teacher from the front with the entire group together. Then, retelling and dialogue is done in buzz groups of 4 to 6 people. If necessary for supervision, all of the buzz groups can remain in the same room.
Buzz groups do not require a facilitator, as all instructions and questions are provided by the teacher from the front of the room (slides or visuals help this). Each buzz group selects a spokesperson to share some of their groups’ responses. A time limit is set for the dialogue – and possibly for each question – depending on how much structure the teacher feels is needed.
Thought must be given as to who will be in each buzz group... teachers may want to assign adults or key students to each group to help keep the discussion focused. The teacher should “float” from group to group to motivate better involvement, clarify questions, and spread enthusiasm around the room. After the assigned time is up for the buzz groups, the teacher should facilitate a time for the spokespersons to share responses from their group.
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!!
A few months back I was able to help lead a Jr. High group in Bible storying, and then meet to train and debrief with the group leaders. It was a lot of fun. I just got some really encouraging feedback about how that group is responding to Bible storying. This may seem like self-promotion, but I don't think of it that way... Storying is bigger than me... so I am grateful to God and want to celebrate with you!
"My daughter comes home every Sunday after church and tells me every detail about Sunday School, from the story itself to the questions and discussion you had afterward. She is really excited about what you're doing and she loves going." – A parent of Jr. high student
"My daughter said, 'Wow, they really teach the Word in our Sunday School class.'" – A father of Jr. high student and Rector of our church.
"I just love the whole "storying" and "narrative" concept. It's been so fun to have a try at writing some of the narratives and allowing myself to approach Scripture with wonder and curiosity. Every Sunday without fail I come away with some new insight." – Rachel, Jr. High Sunday School teacher
"Really the best thing about teaching Sunday School this year has been getting into "The Story" aspect of Scripture. I think that story is a powerful communication tool, and I have seen kids repeat stories we've told almost verbatim. It's pretty incredible." – Dan, Jr. High Sunday School teacher
"What we have done this year has really challenged my traditional concept of a Bible study for the better." -- Kristi, Jr. High Sunday school teacher
"The program and ethos that Michael has developed needs to be wholly embraced in order for this to truly work. It is the belief that "story" really is the most powerful way to communicate God's truth, and everything about what we do revolves around getting into that story and letting the Holy Spirit speak through it. Michael's framework/structure and the activities he places around the storytelling time are also important in releasing the creative and imaginative nature of engaging the story in the way God's people orignally experienced it. I have felt a renewed child-like wonder and child-like faith growing in me as I enter into the new narratives for each week." – Brett Crull, youth pastor at Church of the Resurrection
A long-awaited federal study finds that an estimated 32 million adults in the USA — about one in seven — are saddled with such low literacy skills that it would be tough for them to read anything more challenging than a children's picture book or to understand a medication's side effects listed on a pill bottle.
Read entire article from Jan. 8, 2009 USA Today by clicking HERE.
I have noticed when discussing literacy issues many youth workers have reacted with, "Not my students – they all can read well – our schools make sure of it. Your statistics are skewed by immigrants and the poor." My response is, "Don't be so sure..." Concluding that low literacy is just confined to a demographic is an oversimplification of the issue.
About 6 or 7 years ago I began to pay careful attention my youth group's reading and comprehension. The group I was leading at the time was mostly from a very high-rated school system with upper middle class families. Parents moved into this community in order for their children to attend these schools, and bragged about it! When we began using inductive Bible study methods, it became glaringly obvious to me that our students – the rich kids from the highly touted schools – struggled with reading and comprehension. And we were studying some of the "easier" portions of the Bible!
I think some of the struggle with literacy in our culture has a lot to do with a shift in the way people handle information, communicate and learn.
What do you think? What have you noticed?
This Henri Nouwen quote, from his book The Only Necessary Thing, was published in my churches' bulletin this week and used in the sermon:
"Prayer is listening to that voice – the One who calls you the Beloved. It is to constantly go back to the truth of who we are and claim it for ourselves. I am not what I do. I'm not what people say about me. I'm not what I have... My life is rooted in my spiritual identity. Whatever we do, we have to go back regularly to that place of core identity."
This is a huge encouragement and challenge to me during a time of "wilderness" in my own life. I often struggle with my identity being wrapped up in what I do, and this is a particularly difficult time for me with this as I am struggling to find work. I am comforted in the fact that I have been created uniquely with great love, and formed to reflect the very image of God. In prayer I can rediscover the core of my true identity and let go of all of the fear and insecurity I battle with each day.
I just spotted this video on the DRAWN blog. At first glance it's mesmerizing and has great music... but this is so much more impressive when you realize how it was created.
They used a process called pixilation, “a stop motion technique where live actors are used as a frame-by-frame subject in an animated film, by repeatedly posing while one or more frame is taken and changing pose slightly before the next frame or frames."
The original link (HERE) has a making-of video in French with Dutch subtitles that is worth watching. This stunning video took...
4 weeks of prep
4 days of shooting
20 “animators”
288,000 tea lights!
Rather than linking a low-res Youtube version, I found a larger quicktime link below.
Happy New Year!
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This weekend, I had a great time meeting with the junior high group from Church of the Resurrection in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. Bret Crull and a great team of volunteers lead this group.
Their church is Anglican, and I though they did a wonderful job of incorporating some of their distinctives into this junior high learning session. As the students and leaders entered the room, they were given a small wooden cross necklace to wear during the duration of the class. This is to signify our time together as being set apart. A small altar was set-up with a special chair for the storyteller, plus some colorful rugs added around the room to provide some esthetic vibe to the space. (see image) I really appreciated the thought and creativity put into this, especially since these items had to be set-up and torn down right away (they meet in a public high school).
Our review time was guided by hand-made collages created for each of the stories they’d covered thus far. The students loved this! Before the storytelling began, a candle was lit and placed in the center of the room and we were led in a breathing prayer to help us slow down and focus. Brett did a great job telling the story of the Judges. Then Christie, a volunteer, led us in a review exercise called Pows and Wows. This was a great activity, and led very well. In fact, I liked it so much I’ve put it on my Ideas list!
Following the review, I guided the students through a dialogue time. I had to make some quick adjustments, as I was amazed at the amount of detail these students remembered. It almost seemed like they did not miss a detail in the story. One of the guys even mentioned the Judge whose name sounds like Oatmeal! (Othniel)! So I skipped a lot of the “remembering” questions I was going to ask, and went right to wondering and observing questions. They responded well. It is a very thoughtful group of students who seem to want to learn. As with most all junior high groups, they girls were way more engaged and insightful than the boys in the discussion.
This storying experience encouraged me to incorporate more time to “create” for the students during review and retelling. It also challenged me to not skim over the review times, and allow more time for my groups to see the connecting threads in the stories.
Needless to say I was inspired by Brett and the youth leaders from Church of the Rez. After the class I had lunch with them – some yummy bean soup and grilled cheese Brett’s wife made! We had a great conversation about the nuances of storying, and how it needs to be adjusted and tinkered with to reach junior highers who are just emerging into abstract thought. Their passion for the story, and initiative to try new ideas is contagious! Thanks Brett!
