syllabi

Oral Storytelling Program Development Workshop

This 21-hour (seven weeks) Oral Storytelling Program Development Workshop is specifically designed for professionals and non-professionals (artists, business promoters, caregivers, environmentalists, group leaders, health care workers, historians, librarians, public speakers, storytellers, students, teachers, tour guides, writers, and so on) who would like to enhance their storytelling skills by designing and honing practical half-hour storytelling programs and presentations.

Oral Storytelling Program Development Workshops are offered to nine participants at a time. Please contact me, if you or your group would like to take one of these workshops. Details about my qualifications as the workshop facilitator can be found on the teller page.

Synopsis:

Using criteria developed to identify and evaluate storytelling goals, the process of having one's tellings critiqued with thoughtful feedback, in a safe environment, as well as critiquing tellings by fellow workshoppers, will provide participants with valuable insight through this workshop structure, which is an adaptation of ideas and experiences gleaned from three years of writing fiction workshops required for my writing degree, as well as from my formal training in teaching. (Please see the Oral Storytelling Program Development Workshop Expectations. An updated Sign-Up Calendar will be posted whenever the workshops are run. By the end of the Oral Storytelling Program Development Workshops, each participant will have created and honed an effective thirty-minute program of oral storytelling.

A commitment to attend all of the sessions is crucial to the effectiveness of this type of workshopping.

Cost:

$486.20 covers seven three-hour sessions; specifically nine workshoppers are required.

How to Register:

To register, cheques should be dated and received a minimum of five days prior to the start of the program. Please make your cheques payable to Deidre Hill. Full refunds will be made if the workshop is cancelled by me. The workshops, requiring nine participants, will be cancelled if there is insufficient enrollment. Prior to sending payment, please contact me, so that I can keep track of the number of spaces available.

Workshop Structure

Session one:

Introduction:

Details of the workshop requirements will be presented during this first session. Everyone will receive a hard copy of a rubric, which has been especially designed to help define and evaluate storytelling performances and programs, which we will go through together and discuss.

We will also discuss and break down the steps necessary to design a program, as well as go over the Oral Storytelling Program Development Workshop Expectations. Participants will be given an opportunity to share their storytelling goals and expectations from the workshops.

Participants will also commit themselves to the specific sessions when they would like to present their work-in-progress program of storytelling, as well as the date that they will do the follow-up presentations of their polished thirty-minute storytelling programs. This second presentation will reflect the insight and feedback received from their first performance and practice, as well as from their observations and shared knowledge while critiquing the storytelling programs from everyone else's presesentations. Please look over the Sign-Up Calendar, before this first session, to choose the dates you prefer. An updated Calendar will be posted whenever the workshops are run.

Sessions two to seven:

First, Second, and Third Critiquing Workshop Sessions:

Three workshoppers per week will present their stories, for the first time, to be critiqued by the rest of the group. In order to receive a full evaluation, each teller will be given approximately one hour of the session. There will be time for refreshment breaks before the next teller's turn. There might also be some mini-information sessions, if and when these could be useful to the group, before we begin.

Fourth, Fifth, and Final Critiquing Workshop Sessions:

Three workshoppers per week will present their stories, again, to be critiqued with higher expectations by the rest of the group. As with the previous sessions, each teller will be given approximately one hour of the session. There will be time for refreshment breaks before the next teller's turn. There might also be some mini-information sessions, if and when these could be useful to the group, before we begin.

Oral Storytelling Program Development Workshop Expectations

During the workshops, the listeners will replicate the intended audience as much as possible (for example, some tellers might be working on programs to present during nature walks or other tours, with a group of listeners following them) and the presenting teller will stand, sit, or do whatever they choose. After the storytelling program has been presented, everyone will come together as one group, again. Individual goals, styles and approaches, as well as varying opinions and points of view need to be kept in mind and respected by everyone.

The Facilitator:

will open the sessions with a brief introduction, including who the presenting tellers will be, and a reminder of the expectations and purpose of the workshop
will time the teller and let them know how long their presentation actually takes
will guide the discussions so that everyone has an opportunity to make comments
*will guide the sessions so the tellers receive effective evaluation on all aspects of their presentations

The Listeners:

will listen with a critical ear but as if they were hearing this teller as the intended audience, too
will comment on positive aspects of the telling
will comment on all aspects of the presentation
will provide constructive suggestions
will discuss points with fellow critiquers, but won't ask the teller any questions. The teller needs to see how their program is actually being heard and understood
will have an opportunity to make their first comments and then the floor will be open to everyone including the presenting teller
will make their evaluations sincere
will, after the second telling, provide feedback on what the teller has accomplished and offer any further suggestions

The Presenting Storytellers:

First telling

will come prepared to tell and to hear feedback on their presentations, remembering that the purpose is to help them improve their storytelling and program
will let the facilitator know how many minutes they expect their presentation to take
will listen to feedback and make notes. The purpose is to see how their program and presentation are being received by an audience
won't answer any questions or make any comments to the critiquers during their initial discussions
may, at the end of the session, ask questions for clarification, or about anything possibly overlooked, or respond to suggestions
will thank the critiquers and remember to take the suggestions they find useful and leave the rest

Second telling

will come prepared to present their polished program
will let the facilitator know how many minutes they expect their presentation to take
will listen to feedback and make notes. The purpose is to see how their presentation and program is being received by an audience
won't answer any questions or make any comments to the critiquers during their initial discussions
may, at the end of the session, ask questions for clarification, or about anything possibly overlooked, or respond to suggestions
will thank the critiquers, and remember to take the suggestions they find useful and leave the rest

*Most discussions will follow, roughly, the following pattern (adapted from Jack Hodgins' writing fiction workshop syllabus, University of Victoria, 2002):

What do you think this storytelling program is trying to become? What are its distinctive features? What seems to be the teller's main interest while telling this?
Where has the storytelling program succeeded? What are its strengths? Where can the teller feel a good job has been done?
Where has the storytelling program so far failed? What are its weaknesses? Where does the teller need to do some more work? What more has to be done if it is to reach its potential?
What advice do you have for improving the storytelling program? (Advice should be given within a specified context: "If the teller wants to tell a story where the characters come alive for the intended audience, I would suggest that….")

Sign-Up Calendar

For each of the months, all the Saturdays will be listed. However, workshop session dates and statutory and other noteworthy weekends will be highlighted in bold text, and other noteworthy dates for storytellers will be in italics:

(Note: Please see Victoria Storytellers' Guild Calendar for the dates of their monthly public gatherings, Stories at Fern (SAF).)