Storytelling Prompts
How to use these prompts
Your project summary, in which you outlined your project and its purposes, was the starting point for shaping the stories you will tell both about your project and through your project. Who is the audience for these stories?
- One audience is collaborators and others who will contribute to your project. Your project summary is a document you can share with any authors who contribute chapters to your OER, colleagues and librarians with whom you consult, or reviewers.
- Another audience is the faculty who adopt or adapt your OER. You can draw from your project summary to write the introduction to your OER or (eventually) to describe your book for distribution channels, such as OER listservs or the Pressbooks Directory.
- And another audience is the students who will use your OER. You can draw from your project summary to write an introduction to your OER that is specifically for them.
The following storytelling prompts are intended to help you reflect on and further develop the story of your OER. You can use these prompts in any (or all) of the following suggested ways:
- Download and use this template [Word file] to respond to the prompts directly.
- Use the prompts to further develop sections of your project summary, as suggested below.
- Use the prompts to begin drafting an introduction to your OER, as well as other sections of the front or back matter, as suggested below.
Several of these prompts are based on those in the storytelling & communications template created by the Rebus Community, licensed CC BY 4.0.
Situating Yourself in the Project
Prompts for Discussion and Writing
- What has motivated you to create this OER? (You may already have addressed this question in your project summary; do you have more to say?)
- What contexts and/or perspectives do you bring to creating this OER?
- What experiences, skills, and expertise do you bring to creating this OER?
Applying the Prompts to Your Project
- You may use what you have written to add to or further develop the Overview and/or Motivators section of your project summary.
- You may also incorporate some of what you have written into a bio or “About the Author” statement that you include in your OER.
Developing a CRT Statement for Your Project
Prompts for Discussion and Writing
Critical Race Theory is “. . . an academic and legal framework that denotes that systemic racism is part of American society—from education and housing to employment and healthcare” (NAACP Legal Defense Fund, 2023).
- Consider what principles, norms, values, and worldviews inform the selection of knowledge in your OER.
- Consider the ways CRT can be applied to your pedagogical lens, and how you can use it to strengthen the impact of your book.
Counter-storytelling is an essential part of CRT. Whereas dominant narratives “tacitly maintain the narratives and normative behaviors of dominant groups” (Cooke, 2016), Bell and Roberts (2010) have theorized that storytelling can be transformative if we give more attention to concealed stories, resistance stories, and emerging stories.
- Concealed stories are the flip side of dominant narratives. They might refer to an archetype like the “white savior” as revealed by the story of someone who was not deemed deserving of salvation by someone casting themselves in a “savior” role.
- Resistance stories are about resistance to oppression and show that oppression is not inevitable.
- Emerging stories are designed to subvert and critique dominant narratives and imagine alternatives into being. They can make use of concealed and resistance stories.
- Given these definitions, consider what voices and perspectives you will include in your OER. How might these voices and perspectives contribute to transformative storytelling?
- Make connections to the systemic disenfranchisement of not only Black people, but all non-white, non-straight, non-Christian, non-cisgender groups in this country/state. Try to consider all marginalized identities when thinking of CRT.
Applying the Statement to Your Project
- You may use what you have written to add to or further develop the Significant Learning Outcomes and/or Inclusion, Equity, Diversity section of your project summary.
- Incorporate this statement into a draft of the introduction to your OER.
Additional Storytelling Considerations
Prompts for Discussion and Writing
After developing a CRT statement for your project, consider how the stories you want to tell will be incorporated in your project. Also be sure to review the guidelines for ethical storytelling.
- How will these stories be told?
- Who are these stories for?
- How will you make sure these stories are heard?
- What will take priority? Why?
- Are there any gaps? Can you look at your networks in your department, institution, local communities, or regions to fill the gaps?
- Who has power over how this book is created and distributed and how?
- Finally, what else is unique about your OER, in terms of content covered, pedagogical approach, team composition, etc.? Given what is unique about your OER, how might it contribute to change in an academic discipline or beyond?
Applying the Prompts to Your Project
- You may use what you have written to add to or further develop the Course and Audience, Significant Learning Outcomes, and/or Structure section of your project summary.
- You may also use what you have written to further develop the introduction to your OER.
References
Bell, L. A., & Roberts, R. A. (2010). The storytelling project model: A theoretical framework for critical examination of racism through the arts. Teachers College Record, 112(9), 2295–2517. https://doi.org/10.1177/016146811011200907
Cooke, N. A. (2016). Information services to diverse populations: Developing culturally competent library professionals. ABC-CLIO, LLC.
