Students tell a simple story to help me get a sense of what kind of readers they are. They may or may not like reading, they may or may not have a favorite genre, they may or may not have a lot of experience with traditional reading. So, I just had them do a simple exchange to not only get to know one another, but for me to see where they may be at with their reading.  The first story exchange question was "What story is memorable to you and why?" 

Students create a slide sharing about a chosen tradition or recipe from their family.  Students then share with an assigned partner and their partner and partners will share each others stories. 

~Created by Sarah Rager, 2022

Students prepare and tell a story about a specific experience that they had that caused them to feel confident, fearful, or confused about the future of democracy in America.   It went well, especially for a fist attempt at a story exchange for teacher and student. It was the first activity in a unit in US History organized around themes of politics and power, and the exchange was an engaging way to orient the class to the essential question.  At several points during the unit the discussions from the exchange could be leveraged to make new topics within the unit relevant to student  inquiries. 

Students use a daily prompt that requires them to share a brief conversation with table mates.  Teacher provides the prompt and sentence structure to allow students to feel comfortable speaking with each other. Students are encouraged to use each other's names and use active listening while table mates share.  After "table talk" is done, students at each table "report" to the class what they learned about each other.  In my class of 7th graders, this is used daily.  Table topics begin with non threatening questions that are easy to answer, but as we've gotten more comfortable with each other, topics have become more complex.  

A conversation and brainstorming begins about stereotypes and cultural ideas that may or may not be true. Students think of a time when they felt misunderstood. Students write on the topic for 5-10 minutes. Students can choose a "safe" partner to share with since this can be a vulnerable topic. Paired students share their story aloud to a partner while the partner makes a flow map of events and switch. After each partner shares, they practice reading the story back aloud to make sure they heard the events correctly. Students share a hope for one another and discuss another group in which they feel safe to pair square with. The group of four students then take turns sharing their partners story orally as if they are them. Hi my name is________, and this is my story. Appreciations are given at the end of the story exchange and the class is brought back to discuss how a story can shape who we are. 

As an introduction activity at the beginning of the year we completed a Narrative 4 story exchange with the prompts:   Share the story of an event that helped shape who you are today ~OR~

Tell a story of a time when you overcame something difficult and how you did it.  This set the stage for our discussion later in the year that history often teaches only a single story for  marginalized groups like women, African Americans, and Native people.  In our DBI we looked at the sources that help fill in some of the gaps to create a more textured and broader "whole history".  I asked students to revisit their story exchange topic and think about how their life might be viewed if that was the ONLY story people knew. 

After finishing their "Identity Displays", my students met with a partner and exchanged information about their projects; each student listened to the other tell the story of their artifacts, and "decode" the meaning behind each. After, we met as a large group, and each participant took on the role of his/her partner, and told the story of the pieces to the larger group. 

This occured as part of a brainstorming activity. Students partnered up with each other to share an experience from their life that taught them something and/or changed the way they viewed the world. After sharing with each other, they got in groups of 4 and told each other's stories. Then, they reflected on the experience of telling someone else's story and having someone else share their story. 

Each student in my freshman composition courses introduces themselves with four things that get them outside their box. A non-traditional student shared a story of his drug addiction, arrest, and coming back to college. It took tremendous courage. Most of the younger students were awed. Every introduction after his was more deep and more courageous. It was an amazing experience 

After a couple of weeks of class, students did a story exchange about the types of books they like for my Reader's Choice class. There was a list of questions they could choose from to answer. I waited to do it so students felt comfortable with each other, but I didn't need to wait since it was not too personal. 

This Story Exchange was offered early in the school year to create culture. The prompt was: Pick a song that holds a memory for you. You will play 1:30 of the song and tell the story to a partner. This activity was significant for many students. One student attested "I had no idea that other people were feeling the way I was." 

This story exchange was designed to help students connect with the "struggle for happiness" main question and to help broaden the understanding of what people consider happiness.  It proved to be a good community builder, as most students didn't go too deep: talking about grades or summer jobs.  Some did have more in depth responses which were generally well received and treated with the care they needed. 

This article discusses why immigrant origin stories are often invisible and invites humans and educators to engage in these stories with students. This is a particularly good resources for diverse classrooms. The article itself will motivate a teacher to create a space, but it also offers a workshop option.