Storying Workshop

Written by Meenal

Bookworm was approached by the faculty at S.S.Dempo College of Commerce, to conduct a one hour ‘Storying Workshop’.

With the set goal to be achieved as strengthening the expressive writing skills of S.Y.B.Com students who have opted for the DST course, Team Bookworm sat down to outline a simple, structured to conduct but easy to grasp module that would introduce students to a personal and authentic story writing process, via the medium of ‘Picture Books’.

We all love visually appealing stories. But somewhere down the line we begin to feel that stories with illustrations are only appropriate for children. We begin to lose touch with our ability to associate to the story better with visual representations.

Beginning on a high note on a bright sunshiny Monday morning, with a crowd of 60 odd students, initially hesitant to participate, Team Bookworm began with a brief round of introductions.

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Moving on, there was a video screened that relates to how the attention span of an individual today has shrunk and hence can process information in installments, that is where breaking down the story to begin with comes into the picture.

‘What is the first word that comes to your mind when you hear the word ‘STORY’? asked our Resource Person, to which we received answers ranging right from ‘idea’ to ‘fantasy’ to Barbie’, words that could be related for numerous reasons were brought into the picture.

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There were groups made, students divided and a mini-treasure hunt executed to set the pace. A silent observation made here was that the moment the groups gained that there were books at their disposal, they leaped with enthusiasm to figure out which was their book and without being told, began devouring the books as if all they needed was a medium to facilitate the suppressed reader.

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Seeing this was definitely a delight, as at Bookworm, our agenda is to reach out to more individuals and nurture the hidden readers within them. A few effective ways to get the inner thinker out in the open is to add a touch of creativity and to allow the freedom of expression to surface. The results, everybody had been a part of a thought process that stimulated the writing center to express freely but authentically.

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By the end of the session, the once quiet crowd definitely had some questions of their own and did not shy away from voicing them!

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