Story Workshop
Encyclopedia
The Story Workshop Method is a method of teaching writing
originated in 1965 by John Schultz
. The Story Workshop Institute was founded to bring the method to elementary
and secondary
classrooms and other forums for writing instruction. The Fiction Writing Department at Columbia College Chicago
uses this methodology
in its core writing course progression, and Hair Trigger is its award-winning annual of student fiction
and creative nonfiction
writing.
, and imaginative problem-solving capacities."
The Story Workshop Method differs from critique
-based writing pedagogy
in that it focuses upon developing one's writing process, trusting that a good writing process will lead to good writing. Story Workshop instructors are called "Directors" and they coach students through different parts of the writing process during class, such as:
published selections with an eye out for elements that may inform their own work, keeping a journal, oral story telling, reading aloud to an audience writing, rewriting, problem-solving (through word games; experiments with form, point-of-view, voice and other elements; coaching and questions), developing a sense of one's own voice, and developing an inner sense for one's audience
.
"You can identify the Story Workshop method of teaching writing by its structured, flexible time-period format; by its theory of seeing and voice; by its repertoire of oral word, oral telling, oral reading, writing and recall exercises; by its semicircle format, which heightens and facilitates the group process and the sense of audience; and by its teaching approaches, techniques, strategies, and tactics made possible by the exercises and their many variations. Used in class sessions and in one-to-one tutorial sessions, the Story Workshop method assumes that all forms of writing derive from image and story, from image and movement of voice organizing the expression of perceptions through time. The development of these human perceptual, imaginative, and verbal capacities through their many derivations in oral and written forms is always the Story Workshop objective." From "The Story Workshop Method Writing From Start to Finish," by John Schultz
The Story Workshop pedagogy aims to allow writers to move beyond dependence upon the instructor
and the classroom
. With the emphasis upon process development, Story Workshop Methodology sometimes frustrates students who are used to a pedagogical model that features red pen markings on their papers and direct negative criticism
as its primary form of feedback
. When feedback instead comes in coaching from the instructor during activities, in what classmates are able to recall (retell with a full sense of storytelling detail), and questions that the instructor or peers ask—all of which require some decision-making and responsibility from the writer—such a student will react negatively, claiming that the method "doesn't give any feedback." Successful students develop the ability to internalize various coachings heard in class, to read published literature
with a critical eye and apply the techniques and approaches gleaned to his or her own writing, to use, and, where necessary and appropriate, combine a wide variety of prose
forms and points-of-view in their writing, and to rewrite with a solid sense of what a particular manuscript
needs.
system over fourteen full semesters) 90% of the Story Workshop trained students passed a rigorous post-test successfully (two hours of argumentative writing), while only 50% to 70% of students from other traditional and ad hoc composition classes in the same college passed the test.
, winner of the Nelson Algren Award in 2003, a prize for short fiction given by the Chicago Tribune, and author of:
* Tender as Hellfire. Akashic Books, 2007/St. Martin's Press, 1999.
* How the Hula Girl Sings. Akashic Books, 2005/ReganBooks, 2001.
* Hairstyles of the Damned. Akashic Books, 2004. (Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers program, November 2004-January 2005)
* Bluebirds Used to Croon the Choir: Stories. Northwestern University Press, 2005. (Winner of the Society of Midland Authors Award for Fiction 2005)
* The Boy Detective Fails. Akashic Books, 2006.
* Demons in the Spring. Akashic Books, 2008. (Finalist for The Story Prize in 2009)
* The Great Perhaps. W. W. Norton, 2009. (Winner of the Great Lakes Book Award for Fiction in 2009 and a New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice)
* The Boy Detective Fails. (A play)
* Once Upon a Time or the Secret Language of Birds. (A play)
Don De Grazia
, author of:
* American Skin Jonathan Cape, 1998 and Scribner, 1999.
Sandra Jackson-Opoku, author of:
* The River Where Blood Is Born. One World/Ballantine, 1998. (Winner of the Black Caucus of the American Library Association Award for Fiction in 1998)
* Hot Johnny (and the Women Who Loved Him)
Hugh Holton,, author of the Larry Cole mystery series. His books include:
* Windy City. Forge,1995.
* Chicago Blues. Forge, 1996.
* Violent Crimes Forge, 1997.
* Red Lightning Forge, 1998.
* The Left Hand of God Forge, 1999.
* Time of the Assassins Forge, 2000.
* Criminal Element Forge, 2002.
Shawn Shiflett, author of:
* Hidden Place. Akashic Books, 2004.
- Columbia College Chicago's Fiction Writing Department http://www.colum.edu/Academics/Fiction_Writing/index.php
Writing
Writing is the representation of language in a textual medium through the use of a set of signs or symbols . It is distinguished from illustration, such as cave drawing and painting, and non-symbolic preservation of language via non-textual media, such as magnetic tape audio.Writing most likely...
originated in 1965 by John Schultz
John Schultz (writer)
John Schultz is an American writer of fiction and non-fiction. He is also a teacher of writing, the creator of the Story Workshop method of writing instruction, and a professor and chair of the Fiction Writing Department at Columbia College, Chicago...
. The Story Workshop Institute was founded to bring the method to elementary
Elementary school
An elementary school or primary school is an institution where children receive the first stage of compulsory education known as elementary or primary education. Elementary school is the preferred term in some countries, particularly those in North America, where the terms grade school and grammar...
and secondary
Secondary school
Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...
classrooms and other forums for writing instruction. The Fiction Writing Department at Columbia College Chicago
Columbia College Chicago
Columbia College Chicago is one of the largest art colleges in the United States with nearly 12,000 students pursuing degrees within 120 undergraduate and graduate programs...
uses this methodology
Methodology
Methodology is generally a guideline for solving a problem, with specificcomponents such as phases, tasks, methods, techniques and tools . It can be defined also as follows:...
in its core writing course progression, and Hair Trigger is its award-winning annual of student fiction
Fiction
Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical,...
and creative nonfiction
Creative nonfiction
Creative nonfiction is a genre of writing that uses literary styles and techniques to create factually accurate narratives. Creative nonfiction contrasts with other nonfiction, such as technical writing or journalism, which is also rooted in accurate fact, but is not primarily written in service...
writing.
Main Features and Emphases
The Story Workshop method "focuses on helping you hear your own individual voice and provides a supportive, interactive, and challenging environment for developing your reading, writing, listening, speaking, critical thinkingCritical thinking
Critical thinking is the process or method of thinking that questions assumptions. It is a way of deciding whether a claim is true, false, or sometimes true and sometimes false, or partly true and partly false. The origins of critical thinking can be traced in Western thought to the Socratic...
, and imaginative problem-solving capacities."
The Story Workshop Method differs from critique
Critique
Critique is a method of disciplined, systematic analysis of a written or oral discourse. Critique is commonly understood as fault finding and negative judgement, but it can also involve merit recognition, and in the philosophical tradition it also means a methodical practice of doubt...
-based writing pedagogy
Pedagogy
Pedagogy is the study of being a teacher or the process of teaching. The term generally refers to strategies of instruction, or a style of instruction....
in that it focuses upon developing one's writing process, trusting that a good writing process will lead to good writing. Story Workshop instructors are called "Directors" and they coach students through different parts of the writing process during class, such as:
published selections with an eye out for elements that may inform their own work, keeping a journal, oral story telling, reading aloud to an audience writing, rewriting, problem-solving (through word games; experiments with form, point-of-view, voice and other elements; coaching and questions), developing a sense of one's own voice, and developing an inner sense for one's audience
Audience
An audience is a group of people who participate in a show or encounter a work of art, literature , theatre, music or academics in any medium...
.
"You can identify the Story Workshop method of teaching writing by its structured, flexible time-period format; by its theory of seeing and voice; by its repertoire of oral word, oral telling, oral reading, writing and recall exercises; by its semicircle format, which heightens and facilitates the group process and the sense of audience; and by its teaching approaches, techniques, strategies, and tactics made possible by the exercises and their many variations. Used in class sessions and in one-to-one tutorial sessions, the Story Workshop method assumes that all forms of writing derive from image and story, from image and movement of voice organizing the expression of perceptions through time. The development of these human perceptual, imaginative, and verbal capacities through their many derivations in oral and written forms is always the Story Workshop objective." From "The Story Workshop Method Writing From Start to Finish," by John Schultz
The Story Workshop pedagogy aims to allow writers to move beyond dependence upon the instructor
Teacher
A teacher or schoolteacher is a person who provides education for pupils and students . The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out at a school or other place of formal education. In many countries, a person who wishes to become a teacher must first obtain specified professional...
and the classroom
Classroom
A classroom is a room in which teaching or learning activities can take place. Classrooms are found in educational institutions of all kinds, including public and private schools, corporations, and religious and humanitarian organizations...
. With the emphasis upon process development, Story Workshop Methodology sometimes frustrates students who are used to a pedagogical model that features red pen markings on their papers and direct negative criticism
Criticism
Criticism is the judgement of the merits and faults of the work or actions of an individual or group by another . To criticize does not necessarily imply to find fault, but the word is often taken to mean the simple expression of an objection against prejudice, or a disapproval.Another meaning of...
as its primary form of feedback
Feedback
Feedback describes the situation when output from an event or phenomenon in the past will influence an occurrence or occurrences of the same Feedback describes the situation when output from (or information about the result of) an event or phenomenon in the past will influence an occurrence or...
. When feedback instead comes in coaching from the instructor during activities, in what classmates are able to recall (retell with a full sense of storytelling detail), and questions that the instructor or peers ask—all of which require some decision-making and responsibility from the writer—such a student will react negatively, claiming that the method "doesn't give any feedback." Successful students develop the ability to internalize various coachings heard in class, to read published literature
Literature
Literature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...
with a critical eye and apply the techniques and approaches gleaned to his or her own writing, to use, and, where necessary and appropriate, combine a wide variety of prose
Prose
Prose is the most typical form of written language, applying ordinary grammatical structure and natural flow of speech rather than rhythmic structure...
forms and points-of-view in their writing, and to rewrite with a solid sense of what a particular manuscript
Manuscript
A manuscript or handwrite is written information that has been manually created by someone or some people, such as a hand-written letter, as opposed to being printed or reproduced some other way...
needs.
Measured Results of Story Workshop Classes
The Story Workshop approach has been used on all levels and is modified to meet the needs of each level. In cases that have been tested comprehensively comparing results from classes of several teachers (in a major urban community collegeCommunity college
A community college is a type of educational institution. The term can have different meanings in different countries.-Australia:Community colleges carry on the tradition of adult education, which was established in Australia around mid 19th century when evening classes were held to help adults...
system over fourteen full semesters) 90% of the Story Workshop trained students passed a rigorous post-test successfully (two hours of argumentative writing), while only 50% to 70% of students from other traditional and ad hoc composition classes in the same college passed the test.
Notable Writers Who Have Emerged from Story Workshop Classes
Joe MenoJoe Meno
Joe Meno is a novelist, writer of short fiction, playwright, and music journalist based in Chicago.-Biography:After attending Columbia College Chicago, Meno spent time working as a flower delivery truck driver and art therapy teacher at a juvenile detention center...
, winner of the Nelson Algren Award in 2003, a prize for short fiction given by the Chicago Tribune, and author of:
* Tender as Hellfire. Akashic Books, 2007/St. Martin's Press, 1999.
* How the Hula Girl Sings. Akashic Books, 2005/ReganBooks, 2001.
* Hairstyles of the Damned. Akashic Books, 2004. (Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers program, November 2004-January 2005)
* Bluebirds Used to Croon the Choir: Stories. Northwestern University Press, 2005. (Winner of the Society of Midland Authors Award for Fiction 2005)
* The Boy Detective Fails. Akashic Books, 2006.
* Demons in the Spring. Akashic Books, 2008. (Finalist for The Story Prize in 2009)
* The Great Perhaps. W. W. Norton, 2009. (Winner of the Great Lakes Book Award for Fiction in 2009 and a New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice)
* The Boy Detective Fails. (A play)
* Once Upon a Time or the Secret Language of Birds. (A play)
Don De Grazia
Don De Grazia
Don De Grazia is a professor of Fiction Writing at Columbia College in Chicago, and is the author of the novel American Skin. Prior to publishing his first novel, he worked as a factory worker, bouncer and soldier. He lives in Chicago....
, author of:
* American Skin Jonathan Cape, 1998 and Scribner, 1999.
Sandra Jackson-Opoku, author of:
* The River Where Blood Is Born. One World/Ballantine, 1998. (Winner of the Black Caucus of the American Library Association Award for Fiction in 1998)
* Hot Johnny (and the Women Who Loved Him)
Hugh Holton,, author of the Larry Cole mystery series. His books include:
* Windy City. Forge,1995.
* Chicago Blues. Forge, 1996.
* Violent Crimes Forge, 1997.
* Red Lightning Forge, 1998.
* The Left Hand of God Forge, 1999.
* Time of the Assassins Forge, 2000.
* Criminal Element Forge, 2002.
Shawn Shiflett, author of:
* Hidden Place. Akashic Books, 2004.
External links
- Story Workshop Institute http://www.storyworkshop.john-schultz.com/- Columbia College Chicago's Fiction Writing Department http://www.colum.edu/Academics/Fiction_Writing/index.php