I do think our first day at the detention center could have used a little more structure to it. Brice and I spent time with five 9th and 10th graders. We talked about our project and the structure of what we were going to do over the course of the five weeks, but that only took up a little bit of our time. After that, we just talked with them about a bunch of random topics like music and college life. It was actually pretty fun and the kids seemed like they were having a good time, but I think it would be really hard to create a storytelling project with the group as is. I think if we plan activities that can fill the time we’re there it can take away some of the problems we might potentially run into if we leave the project so unstructured. Some of the kids in our group seemed to express an interest in graphic novels, so I think our best bet might be to focus on that as a means for our storytelling project. We could use markers, pencils, and other craft supplies and have the artistic kids pair with some of the less artistically inclined kids. We would have to see if having one big group graphic novel or multiple small groups works better, but I think one of those would be our best option.
Theresa Dolson
I like your idea, Will. I was also thinking of comic books. Is there a graphic novel you have in mind? Maybe I can get multiple copies to take in!
I’d also like to hear your observations. What did you notice? Did you hear any stories? parts of stories?
William Sheets
The kids weren’t really that interested in storytelling, although we did try to introduce it as a concept with Brice and I sharing stories of our own. One of the kids shared a story of when he learned to swim, but it was pretty brief and the other kids weren’t really that interested. I don’t know any specific examples of graphic novels we could bring in, but Persepolis or something similar could be a good starting point.
Theresa Dolson
sounds like you and Brice did a great job : ) I think we’ll be combining and working with different groups next time, so we can put this brainstorming on hold