Story Tree Exercise


 

Materials:  Story Drafts (from the pre-workshop assignment) 

Three colors of sticky notes and three sticky flip-chart sheets

Digital still camera and card reader or cords to attach to a computer

Pens or pencils

Computer

Time: 15 minutes

Set-up: Large group

Objective: To look at stories with a fresh eye; to start to weave the group story and to think about the values embedded in the stories and their relationship to one another

 

 

Instructions

 

1.  Hand out small sticky notes: 6 sheets of 3 colors to each person.  Hang up three Flip chart sheets: PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE.

 

2.  Paticipants, pull out your drafts but don't reread them.

 

3.  Take six sticky notes of COLOR A.  Write down one word or phrase per note, essential, keywords you need to explain why you settled here.

 

4.  Take six sticky notes of COLOR B.  Do the same as you did with color A, this time, words you need to exlain why you stay here.

 

5.  Take six sticky notes of COLOR C.  Again, write keywords, this time to help you explain what will keep you here.

 

6.  Have everyone affix their notes to Sheets PAST, PRESENT, and FUTURE.  During the course of the next day, take a moment to go to the sheets, read over everyone's words, and arrange them into a pattern by clustering, for example.  You can feel free to change what someone else has done before you.  In fact you should change it, but first take a picture of the sheet before you make changes.

 

7.  At the end of the workshop, return to this exercise as a large-group discussion:

 

A.  Look at each tree and discuss observations about what is there and what might be missing.

 

B.  Discuss how these sheets are related to one another.  How could they, together, form a "knowledge tree" that could help with the planning process?

 

C.  Discuss next steps.