Title: Storyteller

Topic Areas: Conflict Resolution, Cooperation, Working Together

Concept: Individual effort is appreciated, but working with others is critical in today’s world. We work in teams, groups and committees all of our lives. Very few of us will work or live in a situation where we have the final say on everything. How well we are able to take the ideas of others and blend them with our own ideas will determine the success we have when working with other people. One skill that helps when being asked to work with others is creativity. Many times the solution to opposing opinions or ideas is a creative combination of those opinions. Compromise consists of taking at a number of different solutions to an issue or problem and blending them together.

In the area of conflict resolution, you may use this activity to point out that people don’t always control the situations they find themselves in. Just as the story comes to them already heading in a certain direction, life too comes at them with certain circumstances already in place. They have to deal with the story and with life as it comes. The expression "When life hands you a lemon, make lemonade" can be used to point out that although you can’t always control the circumstances in your life, you can control how you react to those circumstances. The issue of compromise in conflict resolution may also be addressed.

Method: Classroom activity

Time Estimate: 15 minutes plus discussion time

Materials Needed:

20 small pieces of paper (about 2 inches by 3 inches) per team of five people with a couple of extra pieces of paper for mistakes

A pen or pencil for each person

Activity: Divide into groups of five. Give each group two small pieces of paper and a writing utensil to each person. Ask each person to write one word on each of the pieces of paper that they were given. The words they choose must be nouns (a person, place or thing). Examples of this would be Abraham Lincoln, Michael Jordan, Hawaii, Alaska, ping pong table, canoe, etc. They are to write a different word on each piece of paper. Ask them to write clearly so that others will be able to read what they have written. Tell them not to show the word they wrote to anyone else. When completed, each group will have ten pieces of paper with ten different words. (Don’t worry if by coincidence two people wrote the same word. When they have finished writing, place the papers randomly face down on a table or the floor in the middle of the group.

Explain that this is going to be a storytelling activity. To begin, have one person select one of the pieces of paper. After they have selected, have the person on their left select a piece of paper. The first person that chose a piece of paper will start telling a make believe story out loud. As they tell their story, they must at some point use the word they have drawn in the story. Even after they have used their word they must continue to tell the story until you call out that it is time to change. When you have indicated that it is time to change, the person on their left immediately picks up the story where they left off and continues it. Remind them that as they continue the story it must make sense. As with the first person, they must at some point use the word that they drew. As each person begins their turn, have the next person draw a word so they will be ready to go as soon as the story gets to them. As each person finishes their turn, they must put the word back in the middle face up to ensure they have in fact used it. Continue in this fashion until all of the words are drawn. Remind the last person that they must draw the story to a conclusion.

Repeat the activity starting over with a new set of words.

Discussion Ideas:

"What" Questions

How hard was it to think up words to write on the piece of paper?

How hard was it to use the word you drew in the story?

Did the story make sense?

How did you feel when your turn was next?

If right before your turn the story started to go a direction you hadn’t planned on, what did you do when it was your turn?

"So What" Questions

How hard was it to pick up where someone else stopped in the story?

Was the activity easier the second time around? Why or why not?

Would it have been easier if you could have done the whole story by yourself?

What part does cooperation play in this activity?

Is it always easy to cooperate? Explain.

Why is cooperation important?

What are some careers that require a great deal of cooperation among its workers?

How can creativity help us solve problems?

Does creativity help us cooperate with one another?

How does compromise help us to work together?

What role does compromise play in resolving a conflict?

Does someone have to be the winner and someone the loser when we compromise? Why?

"Now What" Questions

How does a person act when they are not being cooperative? When they are being cooperative?

When there is more than one opinion about how to solve a conflict, how can we use cooperation, creativity and compromise to come to an agreement?