As we build relationships with our teams and student body, its vital to embrace vulnerability and be ok with being seen. Throughout the years I developed this exchange where I utilized storytelling to connect with people, to share a piece of myself for others to understand why I am in the world of education, how I want to prepare them for their future and not out past, and how their choices will form their stories. I have found the best time to do this is the beginning of the school year, it helps create a safe space and supportive climate.
The process looks something like this...
Prior to beginning the activity I share that we will be talking about challenging subject and if at any point anyones feels uncomfortable they can silently exist the room. So far no one has, however I want to ensure they have the chance to if need be.
1. Post-its: I ask each person to take three post-its and ask them to write one adjective per post-it (hyphens ok). That means they will have three post-its with one word on each. These words should describe how they want to be remembered. At times I alter the guiding question to meet the needs of the group because some people have a difficult time with this deep question of identity.
2. I begin to tell stories where I had to make difficult choices in my life that would threaten the way I wanted to be remembered, what I would like for my impact/legend/story to be.
3. As I get to the first pivotal moment of decision making, I ask each person to give up a post- it and get permission to read them aloud. Then we debrief how it felt to give that up, what came up, and reflect on that.
4. I continue to tell stories and stop at a point where a their was a life-changing moment - tipping point - or pivotal moral decision that had to be made.
5. I ask participants to give up one more post-it. Then we debrief again.
6. I complete the story and wrap-up the loose ends and significance of how those choices made me who I am, gave me my why, and who I want to be.
7. I allow time for Q&A, then have participants self-reflect.
8. At this point we close the activity. In the case of students, I use this as a bridge for them to begin their “My Story” project. In the case of teammates this sets the tone of the beginning of multiple team-building activities that will take place in the first week of PD, prior to the start of the school year.
I generally leave the post-its up for sometime in the classroom, and we refer back to it during advisory or Socratic in the classrooms that pertain to life and what people are willing to trade-off as they figure out who they are and who they want to become.
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