This activity could be used as a community-building exercise, or even possibly an icebreaker, where students get to share more about themselves, in a new and different way. It engages students’ creative and critical thinking through story, allowing them to recognise the degree to which ‘origin‘ stories shape our understanding of the world, ourselves, others, teaching, and learning, etc., and recognising that sometimes we must write our own.

Instead of individual stories, ask students to co-create a shared origin story. This encourages collaboration and helps students build community.