Local Personal Narrative
I often teach a Texas History course. Many students are not native to Texas (or the USA). It’s a good opportunity to get students to analyze their relationship to the history of the state in which they now live.
Inspired by the Texas History Project at the Bullock Museum, I developed a narrative project. Here are the steps:
STEP 1 – Browse
Go through some of the stories on the Texas Story Project website. This will give you an idea of the kind of things you can talk about for your individual story.
STEP 2 – Brainstorm
Share with your group some anecdotes about your Texas life. This could be a family story, a memory of when you first came to the state, a special location, a favorite food, etc.
STEP 3 - Meet
Meet with your group in Canvas conference. To find your group, click the People link on the left. The professor will assign you to a group and it’s up to you to decide when to meet. You need to meet a minimum of one time. Then you can decide if you want to meet “live” again or continue your work through messages. Use your first meeting to talk about your individual plans.
STEP 4 – Research
You will need to do a bit of research for your story. This might be in the form of interviewing a family member or looking up information on a location. Take note of your source(s) so you can include them later.
STEP 5 - Write
Write your individual story. Read the examples again to refresh your memory. Decide how you will structure it. Your story should be 500-1000 words. Cite any sources you used.
STEP 6 – Choose a Theme
With your group, find out what connections you can make among the stories. For instance, are most of them about immigration? Family history? Food?
STEP 7 – Assemble Adobe Spark
Ultimately, you will make an Adobe Spark presentation. You can sign in with your student account for free. I will host a live tutorial about how to use the software (it’s very easy!). You will all post your stories on the Spark.
STEP 8 – Share your Spark
Put your shareable link on the group assignment. I will post the link for the rest of the class to see!
STEP 9 – Evaluate your group.
Fill out the anonymous evaluation about how your group members performed.
I’m super pleased that one of my students submitted her story to the site recently and was accepted for publication. Click on the image above to read the full story.
Some common themes include:
Immigration
Food
Hurricane Harvey
Family traditions
This is also a great way to manage a group project in an online course because it can be done mostly on their own time. Learning how to use Adobe Spark is simple and gives them a valuable skill. Finally, they take ownership of their own stories.
