Story Development: Look, Listen, Map

PROCESS

Ahead of Class

Step 1:
Ahead of class, select a location for this activity. It should have clearly defined parameters. It can be somewhere on-campus or somewhere off-campus that’s nearby and safe. 

EXERCISE

Step 2:
Explain the challenge: You will be going somewhere as a class to observe and collect different types of information. When you return to the classroom, you will share what you collected with each other and develop three to five ideas for a story.

Step 3:
Have students break into groups of three.

Step 4:
Tell students that they will have five minutes to gather information about what they see in the given location. Each team member can choose to collect information through one of three ways: by drawing a map, recording audio, or recording video. Ideally, each team member will collect information via a different format. 

Remind them that, as they do this, they should be open to listening and seeing without considering what their eventual story pitch might be.

Step 5:
Travel to the location as a class.

Step 6 (optional):
Have the class do an informal walk around of the location. Give them no more than ten minutes, and have everyone return to the starting point to share some initial impressions.

Step 7: 
Give the class five minutes to collect information.

Step 8:
Have teams regroup and share the information they collected with one another. Students will likely have seen vastly different things, even when looking at the same place. 

Step 9:
Discuss: How did different forms of information collection result in different ideas? What are the pros and cons of the different formats? 

Step 10:
Develop story ideas: Where did students see change? Tension? Something unusual? What piqued their curiosity? What questions did they have as they observed?

Step 11:
Have each group brainstorm three story ideas or questions to pursue.

Step 12:
Have the groups select one of their story ideas or questions and pitch it to the rest of the class for feedback.

Possible Extensions

• Add Constraints
  • Ahead of class, print out the J+D Story Constraint Cards handout. Cut out the individual cards. (Note: there are 20 cards, so depending on the size of your class, you may need to print multiple copies.)
  • After students break into teams, give each team three constraint cards. 

• Tell the teams to choose just one constraint card to focus on for this exercise. The topic of the card that they choose will guide their information collecting.
  • For example, if they select “technology,” they should think about and observe anything related to technology at the location. Same with “loss,” “work,” “trash,” etc. They can interpret the topic as literally or as abstractly as they want.
• During the class discussion (Step 9), ask students how having the constraints affected their observations. Did they notice something they would otherwise have overlooked? Did they overlook something because they were too focused on their topic? Discuss how having a specific (and limited) perspective can affect how and what someone observes.

• Follow Up With a Mind Map
  • During the next class, have the same teams write their story idea in the middle of a piece of paper or whiteboard. 
  • Have each team write any factors that relate to the story—causes, effects, characters, context, background—around it. 
  • Have each team draw lines to connect the different factors, and show how they are related. 
  • Finally, have the teams circle the different relationships and connections that have emerged, and that they would want to investigate further for a story. 
  • Note: Mind Maps are a great tool for getting a quick overview of any story topic. You can use them for other assignments, and encourage students to do them for their own work.

Have questions? Feedback?

We’d love to hear about your experience using these activities in your classroom, get your thoughts on what we could improve. Email us at resources@journalismdesign.com or fill out this form.