January 28

What is story?

“We tell ourselves stories in order to live…We look for the sermon in the suicide, for the social or moral lesson in the murder of five. We interpret what we see, select the most workable of the multiple choices. We live entirely, especially if we are writers, by the imposition of a narrative line upon disparate images, by the ‘ideas’ with which we have learned to freeze the shifting phantasmagoria which is our actual experience.” ~ from The White Album, by Joan Didion

This epigraph is found at the beginning of one chapter in Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air, the book my teenage Meliora students are currently studying. We spent a short time talking about “what is story?” in class, then I asked the students to further explore the question in written essays.

What’s your story by Pixabay shared under a CC0 Creative Commons  license.

Their analysis reinforced my belief that young people are very insightful! A few excerpts from their work:

“They [writers] seek to find meaning and then express it in a way that others can read or hear it and nod, to possibly see through that person’s eyes a degree of their view of life.”

“We tell ourselves stories to find the moral lessons in each tragedy, adventure, romance, and every other form of genre.”

“A story is fiction or nonfiction told to entertain.”

“The beautiful thing about stories is that no two people interpret a story in the same way.”

“People can change the world with the stories they tell or the stories they hear.”

“We strive for people to give us advice through books, so we don’t repeat history.”

“There’s always multiple perspectives to every story, and individuals, such as myself, enjoy hearing all perspectives. In the end, this allows you to get a more complete, in depth story.”

“Not everything happens for a reason and that’s okay, sometimes you’re not sure how to understand what is going on in your story or what is going on in the world but take the time to process it.”

“It makes people ask questions and look for answers in their own lives and inspires new generations of passionate storytellers.”

 

 

Category: #DigiWriMo, Writing | 2 Comments on What is story?
January 19

Climbing Mountains, Part 2

In our literature discussion yesterday, I asked the #Meliora students whether they and their peers would be interested in climbing Mt Everest, the subject of Jon Krakauer’s book Into Thin Air . The students’ interaction around that question prompted one of them to observe, “people don’t talk about climbing Mt Everest very much anymore.”

I asked them why they thought that was. The nearly-unanimous conclusion was that people, especially of their age, are too caught up in entertainment, gaming, and social media. “They aren’t interested in going outside for an adventure.”

This analysis made me sad. So, I decided to delve into the topic a bit, to see what the evidence says. I’m feeling happier now! In their 2017 report, the Outdoor Foundation reported that participation in outdoor recreation actually grew modestly between 2015 and 2016. 1% more boys between the ages of 6 and 17 participated in outdoor pursuits, although conversely 1% fewer girls in the same age range did so.

Looking at the longer-term trends, the participation rates have stayed relatively stable for the past decade. Somewhere between 48% and 50% of the American population has gone outdoors for an adventure at least once a year, and in 2016, “[a]lmost half of Americans were moderately active in outdoor recreation, getting outside between 12 and 103 times per year.”

[Linksters grow up as] overprotected and suffocated youths during a secular crisis; matures into risk averse, conformist rising adults; produces indecisive midlife arbitrator-leaders during a spiritual awakening; maintains influence (but less respect) as sensitive elders.

Likewise, in a fascinating analysis most recently updated in 2006, Ron Watters argues that there are four generational cycles that follow a (mostly) predictable pattern. These patterns apply to outdoor adventure-seeking as predictably as to other domains. He identifies the “Linksters” (or Generation Z) as part of the “adaptive” generation, and asserts this generation grows up as “overprotected and suffocated youths during a secular crisis; matures into risk averse, conformist rising adults; produces indecisive midlife arbitrator-leaders during a spiritual awakening; maintains influence (but less respect) as sensitive elders.”

Now I can simultaneously feel guilty about how I raised my sons (technically, my oldest is a millennial), and also know that trends are forever in flux.

Category: #DigiWriMo | 2 Comments on Climbing Mountains, Part 2
January 18

Climbing Mountains, Part 1

Yesterday’s Memoir, Biography & Autobiography class was nothing short of exhilarating. We have been reading Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer, and the students and I are enjoying it tremendously.

The students are raving about this adventure story and how they can hardly put it down. One student came to class after reading a few chapters and said, “he [Krakauer] is a walking dictionary. I had to look up so many words.” It struck me that the storytelling must be exceptional (it is) to propel a student to persevere through many unfamiliar words. 

I am always gratified when a mentor text generates such positive response, because students are much more willing to analyze the work. It is easier for them to identify the characteristics which make the story so interesting. These particular students are in the midst of a semester-long narrative nonfiction writing project, and an engaging text such as this one makes it easier for them to absorb the “tips” that will help them in their own writing.

To guide our discussions, we are using an adaptation of the Nonfiction Discussion Sheet detailed in Harvey Daniels’ Literature Circles: Voice and Choice in Book Clubs and Reading Groups. One of the steps in the students’ process is to create a sketch related to the reading, “a drawing, cartoon, diagram, flowchart — whatever.”

As illustrated below, some students are totally enthused about this part of the process, others not so much. Nonetheless, even the simplest drawing provides insight into something the student got out of the book, especially as they explain their sketch.

      

The most exciting part of yesterday’s class was the passion brought into the conversation about whether climbing Mt Everest was something the students would be interested in doing. Some would, some wouldn’t, and we explored the many reasons why (or why not). As one student described the thrill of rock climbing, another expressed their fear of heights. It is always rewarding when students feel comfortable to show vulnerability.

For me, the most enlightening (and disheartening) part of the conversation centered around the students’ perspective on why climbing Mt Everest, once a topic of high interest, no longer is. More on that in the next post.

Category: #DigiWriMo, Writing | 2 Comments on Climbing Mountains, Part 1