Tell Me a Story. . .

“I find that most people know what a story is until they sit down to write one.”

–Flannery O’Connor

The same is true of a learning activity.  Similar to a story, the author must provide an environment where the participant can practice skills, learn what information to pay attention to and decide how it can be effectively applied in the future.  Also, similar to story, activities must entice us into paying attention and their strategies to do so must remain, as in a great novel, imperceptible to the audience.  In both cases, Lisa Cron said it best, “Simply put, we are looking for a reason to care” (11).

The past year, several of my youth programs were built around story, not present but future.  These stories were the imagined answers to “What do you want to be when you grow up?”  The chapters we hope youth write are structured around the ‘first, next steps’. 

On the final Nia experience of the year, we asked youth, “What’s one thing you take away from your participation in Nia this year?”

• Be creative.  We make our own choices.
• We can try things out before we commit to studying something or spending money.
• So many opportunities.  We get access to resources and connections to people.
• To be brave.  Keep your head up.  
• We become familiar with new things in small chunks.
• Resources, talk to professionals
• Opportunities to meet new people that we need to meet
• Be productive with a team.  How to take next steps.
• Collaboration

These answers do not mention school cost nor how to fill out forms.  Instead they highlight relationships and goals.  Lisa Cron’s text, Wired for Story reminds us that the majority of us prefer novels to nonfiction.  Why? More heart, less logistics. Youth shared pieces of protagonists, themes and plots, or stories in progress.

What does this mean?  My role is not to write books nor activities, but to continuously curate a human library.  A Human Library is a space where people can talk to each other and get to know each other. Every day we are part of many different human libraries, but a Human Library is a special, focused time to listen and share about who we are and our lives.  It takes (but it shouldn’t) established evaluators and researchers like Mary Marczak, Ph.D when she asks, “Tell me a story about food“. Or when Deb Wisniewski in an AmeriCorps training prompts, “Tell a story about your community,” before digging deeper into Asset Based Community Development.

Throughout the year, I invited community professionals as speakers, panelists and guests to Nia and Juntos programming. After being such storytellers, community members often apologized to me.  They were ‘sorry’ that they took up all my time. They were concerned I didn’t complete activities that came next on the agenda. Their stories were the content.  Youth engagement showed up in the forward leans, the detailed questions, requests for contact information, and the endless connections to important ‘takeaways’ that filled their stories of how they chose, then chose, and then chose their futures again.

Youth shared:

“The reason I keep attending is that it gives me different opportunities and I get to experience the colleges and we get to actually go inside and see what they do and it helps a lot to know what college I want to go to and what I’m not looking for.”

“Nia gives me connections to people who can build my foundation.”

“I keep attending Nia because I feel like it connects me to a lot of good and or new opportunities.  Along with meeting new people explaining their story and how they got to where they are now.”

“Going to Nia helps me figure out what I want to do in the future and meet people who can help me make those decisions.”

“I liked when the students shared their experiences with us like where they work, the buildings at Whitewater, and where they study.”

What’s the next chapter? That youth become part of the Human Library, another important story from which to learn.

“The coolest thing about the event was conversations that happened in the hallways and classrooms back at Parker. Students were talking about visiting Whitewater and telling others that they should go next year. Overall it was a very positive experience and I would love to take students and parents again next year.”  

– Julie Grandeffo, El Teacher, Parker High School

Resources

Sign up for the Juntos Newsletter.  This summer, one of its tips is to encourage ‘storytelling’.  

Be more than a customer – Do you have a long ‘to do’ list this summer? When you’re buying that perfect cake, getting your haircut, getting a dental check up, or taking your dog to the vet, learn more about how the community member chose their profession and made it happen.  (You can even ask if they’d be willing to visit your school in the fall.)

If you’d like a few ‘ready to go; community stories, join us for Better Together at Palmer Park. Our ‘library books’ will be sharing about FOOD!

Read more about what makes ‘stories’ work.  You may be surprised how important this brain science is for planning educational resources and experiences.  Wired for Story: The Writer’s Guide to Using Brain Science to Hook Readers from the Very First Sentence by Lisa Cron

Explore resources on the Asset-Based Community Development Institute website The Asset-Based Community Development Institute (ABCD) is at the center of a large and growing movement that considers local assets as the primary building blocks of sustainable community development. Building on the skills of local residents, the power of local associations, and the supportive functions of local institutions, asset-based community development draws upon existing community strengths to build stronger, more sustainable communities for the future.

“Don’t Judge a Book by Its Cover” was a Human Library activity at Fall Forum 2023.  Try this activity to better understand the types of questions youth find meaningful and the ones they aren’t comfortable answering.