A three-session introductory course, focusing on the craft of storytelling. Designed for anyone who wants to tell a story better, it shares structures, tips, and practical exercises to get started in the art of truly successful storytelling.
The program is designed to give participants the opportunity to both experience and practice some of the techniques used to guide audiences to a deeper experience of the spirit through story.
Curriculum:
- Class One: Openings
- Introductions, first story
- Exploration: Individual paths and expectations (participatory, with sharing and feedback)
- Theoretic underpinnings: how we learn and change
- Vignette sharing and feedback (participatory, with sharing and feedback)
- Class Two: Tastings
- The power of language: how to choose words that work
- Structures and techniques: how to choose a story that can be told
- Stories of self: what to tell, how to tell (participatory, with sharing and feedback)
- Class Three: Transitions
- Stories that pursue us: discovery and transformation
- Stories from different traditions: how to share the pursuit
- Stories from our own backgrounds (participatory, with sharing and feedback)
- Closing story, future options
Students who wish should bring a story to be told – not read – of 5-7 minutes to one or more classes. Stories may be drawn from your direct experience or from your spiritual / cultural tradition. All stories should be meaningful to you.
Volunteers who end up telling stories will have their presentations “workshopped” by the group, to dual purpose: to illuminate the deeper processes at play, and to provide constructive guidance to the teller.
At the end of this series, you should expect to have received insight into the process and practice of successful storytelling, and hopefully a moment or two of a pleasant storytelling experience.
