INTERACTIVE OF THE MONTH
This interactive exercise is one of more than 300 exercises and variations contained in Moving Beyond Icebreakers.
See chapter 4 of the excerpts from the book for what we mean by "processing."
JULY:
The Story Game
Goal: Planning, Different perspectives, Creativity, Interconnection
Time: 5-10 minutes (not including processing)
Physical contact: None
Physical challenges: Minimal
Number of participants: No maximum number
Space requirements: None
Materials needed: None
Preparation: None
Instructions
- Ask for three volunteers to be the "Storytellers" and one volunteer to be the "Pointer." (In a group with 12 members or fewer, you can have all but one person be Storytellers if you wish.) All Storytellers come up in front of the group.
- Ask the whole group to supply three elements to get the story started: a name (not the name of a particular person), an occupation, and a location. For example, you might get "Tom," "plumber," and "Main Street." Announce to the group, "This is a story about Tom, the plumber from Main Street." You can vary the number and nature of the elements depending on the purpose of the exercise.
- The Pointer then points to one of the Storytellers, who begins to make up a story about this character. Whenever the Pointer points to one of the Storytellers, that person must pick up the story where the previous Storyteller left off.
- After the story has gone on for a while, say something like, "Three more pieces before the story ends," to let the Storytellers know they should bring the story to a conclusion. How long you let the story continue depends on how it is going, the needs of the group, and the time available for the exercise.
Processing suggestions
- Use the exercise to discuss goal-setting: How could this story have developed if one person had a plan in mind, or if the Storytellers had agreed on a goal beforehand? Stress the importance of being clear about the content and messages of what you are planning to do.
- When you start out in a certain direction, you can't be sure where you will end up.
- We can't predict how our actions will be modified by the actions of others.
- People working together build on each other's work. However, it is important to coordinate our efforts to build a coherent message.
- Who was pointed to? Who was not pointed to? How did it feel to be or not be pointed to?
- How was the content of the story affected by the elements supplied at the beginning? Were the elements transformed in surprising ways? You can explore how people work within the limitations of what they are given, and how they sometimes push beyond the limitations.
- Processing the content of the story will depend on how the story developed.