Abstract:

The Story Workshop method, originated by John Schultz, works from grad school to grade school, from American affluent to poverty areas, from the South Side of Chicago to Fudan/Shanghai, engaging the participation and advancement of skills for the many voices and cultural and linguistic origins; for students it means the better their writing and visualization abilities, the better their problem-solving at the computer. Grade school assessment scores for students in Story Workshop classes, meeting for 2 hours once a week, almost uniformly rise significantly. This includes math and science where reading comprehension and problem solving are crucial. See below.

“The Story Workshop approach is one of the best examples of a high-quality curriculum and instructional method that fully integrates four critical areas in literacy: reading, writing, speaking, and listening.” - Cynthia Way, Senior Editor, The Education Alliance at Brown University. Portions of film of Story Workshop have been displayed on Brown University’s KnowledgeLoom website accompanied by written text. Those portions of filmed Story Workshop classroom practice are included along with other film segments in the DVD that accompanies the presentation.

Today there is the issue of using computer and online technology to develop reading and writing skills. There is also research that shows that, up to age 12, computer and computer technology actually get in the way of children developing their problem-solving capacities. After age 12, working on the computer helps develop problem-solving. This presentation argues for balance to gain greatest effectiveness.

The Story Workshop method, its activities and formats used by teachers with reasonable training, integrates reading, writing, speaking, listening, thinking and incorporates the three major ways of learning in every phase - the visual, the auditory, and the kinesthetic. These “ways of learning” are not so distinct, but interpenetrate in all of the Story Workshop activities. This problem-solving and communications methodology is designed to be flexible, from sitting on the floor with pads and pencils to classrooms ringed with computers.

With the acceptance of voice and content and awareness of audience, the teacher is able to engage the diversity of demographic groups and levels of ability that come into our classrooms. Central to the Story Workshop approach is the integration and coaching for seeing-in-the-mind/thinking, voice, and sense of audience. The Story Workshop approach provides means of effective “classroom management” integrated with its activities.

In grade school and high school, Story Workshop teachers usually work in a two hour format. However, using parts of the Story Workshop method to meet special demands in short time spans is easily done by an experienced Story Workshop teacher. On graduate and undergraduate college level classes, we generally work in 3 to 4 hour formats, though teachers have adjusted the formats to work with just about any set of class lengths and schedules.