Milestone 3: What Is The Story?

Milestone #3: Accepting Responsibilities Of A Storyteller

Key Questions To Answer

What is the story that needs to be told?
How do we process all the information to find the story that will engage the reader?

Let's Ask An Expert

In this milestone, we speak with Danielle Kurtzleben. Danielle Kurtzleben is a political correspondent assigned to NPR's Washington Desk. She appears on NPR shows, writes for the web, and is a regular on The NPR Politics Podcast. She is covering the 2020 presidential election, with particular focuses on on economic policy and gender politics.

Before joining NPR in 2015, Kurtzleben spent a year as a correspondent for Vox.com. As part of the site's original reporting team, she covered economics and business news.

Prior to Vox.com, Kurtzleben was with U.S. News & World Report for nearly four years, where she covered the economy, campaign finance and demographic issues. As associate editor, she launched Data Mine, a data visualization blog on usnews.com.

A native of Titonka, Iowa, Kurtzleben has a bachelor's degree in English from Carleton College. She also holds a master's degree in global communication from George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs.

Recording of Session

Hyperlinks in conversation

01:20 - Who is Danielle and what does she do?03:00 - What is NPR?04:45 - How does Danielle gather all the information for story and parse it down to a compelling story?13:57 - What are things Danielle has learned through her journey of things to avoid?17:34 - How detailed do you get about the person we are trying to craft the story while adhering to creative constraints?22:30 - What is the time constraints and other constraints for her work?24:59 - What is one of your favorite stories that you have covered?27:25 - What is her workflow from start to finish?31:50 - How do you set the tone or mood with vocabulary, words, phrases to make story pop?

Key Points

The story tells you what it is. Need to be ready to pivot your original thoughts of what you think the story might be as the story unfolds.
Create a four section graphic to sort all the information(slide 4 in slidedeck)
- What do I remember that was the best sound, scenes, ideas, and quotes
The stuff that sticks to you and what you are most excited to share is what will be most excited for the reader. Your excitiment will come through.
Make the story you want to hear/read
Be specific and don't get too bogged down in the high level items.
Remember you are telling a story and not explaining a story. We don't want a lecture!
Workflow
- Google Doc with quotes and sound bites layered in a sequence to makes sense
  - Quotes are highlighted in yellow
  - Spaces put in between
  - Move and reorder the quotes to a flow and rhythm that makes sense for the goal of story
  - Fill in with text of her words between quotes not highlighted
  - Visually helps pace and space the flow
  - Having other people look at work is really important to gain new perspectives and feedback

What is the story that needs to be told?

Educator Meeting

This meeting was held to explain and go over the first two sprint cycles of the book creation.

Student Sprint 1 Overview

Gathering Data and Beginning to Sort

Sprint Slidedeck

This is a whole class sprint helping students start to make sense of the data we have collected.

Sprint 1 Slidedeck

Sprint 1: Day 1 Breaking down original text

Speaking With Anna

Anna wrote the text for our book last year on Riva. This was an opportunity to learn from her, make a new connection, and help students with the process of unpacking the document provided by Michel.

Power of Human Voice

Sprint 1: Day 2 Exploring WW2 Propaganda

Kelsey Vandercoy

Kelsey Vandercoy works as the Outreach Educator for the Figge Art Museum in Davenport, IA. Her main duties are speaking with K-12 students and adults about a variety of topics in art; from learning about famous artists to highlighting the next great exhibit at the Figge. Kelsey enjoys working with such a wide range of ages and experiences; each day is an adventure of what’s going to happen next. When she’s not working at the Figge, Kelsey enjoys reading, playing board and video games, and consuming as much chocolate as she possibly can eat. She lives in Davenport with her husband and fluffy, fat cat, Chloe

Art Museum Learning

Art. Power and influence…when we observe and analyze, it helps us understand stories from our past…

Lesson Overview

This video explains the process to begin to sift through all the research and information to be able to identify what is the story that needs to be told for the project.

Mockers - How To Tell A Story

Lesson Slidedeck

This is a slidedeck that you will provide a copy to each group in your class using Google Classroom or platform of choice for school/district.

See video below for explanation.

The goal is to help students analyze all their research and information to determine what angle the story of Michel needs to be told.

Mockers - How To Tell A Story Class Submission

Story Pitches

This slidedeck contains all the visuals and story pitches from each group involved in the project.

Students will copy their slide 6 from the deck above to this slidedeck.
Students will use the Flip link to record their voice narration with the video showing their slide.

ALL OF THIS INFORMATION AND THINKING WILL SPRINGBOARD OUR WORK WITH OUR EXPERTS TO HELP US CRAFT THE VISUALS OF THE STORY

Student Sprint 2: Gathering Data and Beginning to Sort

Data Sort To Storyboard

Sprint cycle 2 is designed to assemble students into their teams, come to consensus on the story to be told, and draft out the storyboard of the book.

Sprint Cycle 2 Slidedeck

Analysis of the words continue

Time and time again we came back to the words provided by Michel. Where we started in Milestone 1 to this moment in time showcases the deep thinking required to not only understand details and facts, but the human element and condition that provides meaning to the past.

Exploring Comic Character Design with Claire Napier and Allison O'Toole

01:00 - Who is Allison O’Toole?03:00 - Who is Claire Napier?05:30 - Setting the stage mentally to visualize the work07:40 - Introduction to visual storytelling08:58 - When you’re creating an image for a story, the first thing is to decide what’s most important at that moment in the story. Is it the main character? Is it someone they loved? Something they saw, or ate, or touched, or smelled? Is it a place? Is it something they wanted to support, or fight against? This will be the focus for your picture. Once you have the focus for the picture, what emotions do you want the viewer to feel? Should they be glad, or sad? Or shocked, or scared?11:00 - Are there any mistakes or common things overlooked by artists for us to keep in mind while we begin the work?16:45 - How to draw and design characters? Looking and exploring examples of movement22:20 - Examples of shape and size of character26:00 - Examples of shapes, lines, and size of environment can impact feeling of character45:00 - Should we consider color concepts as we begin our storyboards or is that too much?48:12 - Example detail of Michel Mockers story about night scene in his socks

Teaching and Learning Shift

Making Moves

While it is hard to document every single time we made a pivot in our plans and teaching(which happens almost every single time we have a lesson and meet with an expert), we wanted to mention this shift in strategy here.

This change completed impacted everything for the better.

While we had plans for the mind map above, in the end we shifted our thinking of Michel as a hero which us lead us down a path of the Hero Journey concept by Joseph Campbell.

Students were struggling with what details to keep, how to organize flow, etc. By using this structure they were able to compartmentalize key aspects.

In our plan we divided the two classes into two groups to tell two stories of Michel and then work together to agree on one story where teams would then be formed to focus on one page of the 10 page book requirement.

The power of student owned and driven learning exploded from this moment forward.

Slides for Hero Journey Activity

Steps of Journey Around Library

Groups moved among the steps and added their ideas so all voices could be heard

Two Stories

We divided classes into two parts of the library and within those groups further divided into small groups of 2-4 to have small conversation and post ideas

What is the actual story that we need to tell?

Students In Control

Evaluate & Prioritize…narrow down ideas & experiences…defend and justify 1)WHY it stays or goes 2)what needs to be shared in text versus what can be represented visually 3)determine the details that need to be present in order to help others see and experience the moment

Students taking ownership of the class, the learning, and collaboration to tell a unified story

Power of Learning Culture

The educators in this project established a culture of learning from day one of the school year. By the time we reached this point in this project the students literally asked if they could just take over the class to figure out the story. The following video is one of two days where they came to library per routine, organized themselves, and just set to to work to craft the story.

There was zero setup, prompts, or planning. It was literal magic from an educator view to watch them completely take the ownership of the learning.

And this is 6th grade.

The video is one segment on one of the days where I figured it would be good to capture these magical moments that happen with good teaching and culture.

Key Insights from a Student-Run Classroom Focus Group

Introduction: This video features a focus group discussion where participants analyze and share their thoughts on a specific story. The goal is to collect diverse viewpoints and experiences that can be used to create more inclusive and effective storytelling.

Participant Demographics: To ensure a broad range of perspectives, the focus group participants represent 6th grade students, varied genders, and ethnic backgrounds.

Key Themes: The discussion highlighted several key themes such as attitudes towards different characters, overcoming challenges, and preferences regarding the presentation of certain events in the story.

Areas of Agreement and Disagreement: While participants generally agreed on the significance of specific events in the story, they expressed differing opinions on how these events should be portrayed or sequenced.

Implications and Recommendations: The insights gained from this focus group discussion suggest the importance of considering diverse perspectives in storytelling.

Challenges & Goals:

The main challenges discussed in the conversation involve organizing and presenting information about various events, characters, and themes from the story. The goals are to create a coherent narrative that accurately represents the experiences of those involved while also highlighting key moments and emotions.

Key Takeaways:

- The participants have a deep understanding of the story's details and can recall specific events with ease.

- There is an emphasis on capturing both positive and negative sentiments throughout the conversation.

- The group seems to struggle with determining which elements should be included or excluded from their final presentation.

Emerging Patterns:

- Importance of accurately representing historical events

- Balancing emotional impact with factual accuracy

- Struggles with organization and prioritization of information

In summary, this conversation revolves around organizing and presenting information about World War II experiences for a research or storytelling project. The participant demonstrates extensive knowledge of the subject matter while discussing challenges related to organizing content effectively. Surprising takeaways include their ability to recall specific details easily and their focus on capturing both positive and negative sentiments throughout the discussion. Emerging patterns suggest an emphasis on accurate representation of historical events, balancing emotional impact with factual accuracy, and struggles with organization and prioritization of information. Key quotes highlight personal experiences during wartime as well as important characters within the story being analyzed.

Conclusion: The focus group discussion in this video offers valuable insights into the various factors that influence storytelling. By incorporating these findings into future projects or research, we can create more inclusive and engaging content.

Word Draft Of Story

Mockers Story Post Draft and Page Flow

Michel Mockers Response to Email Questions

Note to reader

This work matters. Part of the beauty that emerges from humanizing our pedagogy is that students are not only engaged, but they understand the importance and value of the work they are doing.

Not just for themselves, but for the people involved both directly and indirectly.

This document is one small moment captured. As students built a connection with Michel they started to build this empowerment of being accurate. They had details about him they wanted to get right.

While these questions seem basic, the power of them is driven by the need for respect, honor, inquiry, and wanting to do proper justice as a storyteller to accurately capture an importance piece of history.

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