Origin Stories - OneHE

Activity

Community building activities, Ongoing engagement, Warm up activities

Origin Stories

Felecia Caton Garcia

Heather Wright

This reflective activity challenges students’ perception of the world by decentering colonial ways of knowing and being.

Share:

ACTIVITY PURPOSE

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.

USEFUL FOR

Reflection, creativity, decentering colonial ways of knowing and being. Students could also use their own origin stories to begin to think about broader original stories related to a project, or course content. For example, what is the origin story of a particular theory or concept?

PREPARATION

It is helpful to offer participants examples of ‘origin‘ stories. One great source is Eduardo Galleano’s Memory of Fire: Genesis, but they can be drawn from anywhere.

INSTRUCTIONS

Ask students to choose something that is of interest to them. It could be an object, an animal, a feeling, a person. Invite them to answer the questions ‘How did [whatever they chose, for example, pomegranates, snow, sadness, turtles, poetry, you] come into existence?’
Give the students ten minutes to create an ‘origin’ story on what they have chosen to write about. It does not have to be finished or the best thing they have ever written.
Ask the students to share their origin story in their preferred medium.

DURATION

10 -30 minutes.

ADAPTATIONS AND EXAMPLES

Do you have any suggestions? Please share them in the comments below.

TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS

Something to write on and with, , or access to an electronic device if required.

USEFUL RESOURCES

Galleano, E. (1988). Memory of Fire: Genesis.

ABOUT

Educator prep: None
Student prep: None
Synchronous, Asynchronous
No tech needed
Duration: 5-30 mins

This activity is one of a series of activities from Equity Unbound, focused on equitable online community building.

Do you have an activity that you would like to suggest?

Do you have feedback or suggestions?

More activities

Activity

Alternative Approaches to Grading

by Maha Bali

Learning path

Community Building

by Maha Bali

Curated Activities

Guidance and help

by

Curated Activities

Reflective Activities

by

Curated Activities

Ongoing engagement

by

Curated Activities

Liberating Structures

by

Curated Activities

Setting the tone activities

by

Curated Activities

Introductory activities

by

Activity

Sailboat Retrospective for Reflection

by Maha Bali

Activity

Live, Love, Learn and Leave a Legacy

by Maha Bali

Activity

Roses, Thorns, and Buds

by Maha Bali

Activity

Decolonising Academic Writing through Spoken Word Poetry

by Jenna Goddard

Activity

Learning to Love

by Felecia Caton Garcia

Activity

Getting at Metaphor

by Felecia Caton Garcia

Activity

Checking in with GIF, Emoji or Meme

by Maha Bali

Activity

Personalised Conversation Cards

by Scott Bowyer

Curated Activities

Warm up activities

by

Activity

Guess The Topic Mingle

by Heather Kretschmer

Activity

Ikigai: Help Students Find Their Purpose

by Maha Bali

Activity

Something behind you

by Rebecca J. Hogue

Activity

Auditory Affect

by Heather Kretschmer

Activity

Creativity Booster: 16 Squares

by Diana Varma

Activity

Creativity Booster: An Ode to the Other Hand

by Diana Varma

Activity

Creativity Booster: 5 Senses

by Diana Varma

Activity

Creativity Booster: Yes, Let’s!

by Diana Varma

Activity

Ice Cream/Broccoli: Reflection on Enjoyment and Value

by Maha Bali

Activity

Create a Fake Photo Group Assignment

by Maha Bali

Activity

What We Don’t Know About Each Other

by Noha El-Rawy

Activity

Share Music and Create a Class Playlist

by Maha Bali

Activity

Would You Rather?

by Frank Tontala

Activity

Creating Escape Room Experience For Students

by Karina Alonso

Activity

I Wish My Students/Teacher Knew

by Amena Magdy

Activity

Using Metaphors to Express Thoughts

by Sayyed Daifallah

Activity

Desert Island Songs

by Isabel Rodriguez

Activity

Using Dominoes in Teaching

by Ahmed Gebaly

Activity

The Shape of You

by Sarah Neuwirth

Activity

Words From Your Names

by Ahmed Shalaby

Activity

What Can You Do With A…?

by Noha El-Sebai

Top Tips

Tips For Increasing Engagement In Discussions

by Maha Bali

Activity

Choose a Plant

by Jen Alexander

Activity

Which Picture Best?

by Flower Darby

Activity

Imaginary Buffet (or Potluck)

by Maya Hey

Activity

PowerPoint Karaoke

by Maha Bali

Activity

Office Hour Scheduling via Google Calendar

by Fikry Boutros

Activity

Tiny Tales

by Laura Gibbs

Activity

Cognitive/Exam Wrappers for Metacognition

by Maha Bali

Activity

Self-Assessment Tool for Social Justice in Teaching

by Maha Bali

Activity

Language Portrait

by Francesca Helm

Activity

Lost in Translation

by Francesca Helm

Activity

Wheel of Life for Student Self-help

by Maha Bali

Activity

Thick Greetings

by Maha Bali

Activity

Estimate workload

by Maha Bali

Activity

Simple Metacognitive Activities

by Maha Bali

Activity

Tiny Demons/Drawing Monsters

by Lyse Edwards

Activity

Start/Stop/Continue

by Maha Bali

Activity

Survey students early in the semester: Pre-Course Survey

by Maha Bali

Activity

Pass the Paper

by Sarah Silverman

Activity

Gratitude Journal

by Maha Bali

Activity

15% solutions

by Maha Bali

Activity

Two-minute paper

by Maha Bali

Checklist / tool

Karen Ray Costa’s Trauma-Aware Teaching Checklist

by Karen Costa

Resource

Loglines

by

Activity

Appreciative Interviews

by Maha Bali

Activity

Pop-up Psychogeography Journey Journal

by Sarah-Jane Crowson

Guide

Some Safety Considerations for Online Community Building

by Kate Bowles

Activity

While We Wait

by Jasmina Najjar

Activity

What kind of animal are you?

by Irene Maweu

Activity

Two by Three by Bradford

by Sarita Shukla

Activity

Troika Consulting – Adaptation for Class Community Building

by Maha Bali

Activity

TRIZ

by Maha Bali

Video discussion

Trauma-Informed Pedagogy & How is Your Heart?

by Mays Imad

Activity

Tour of Where You Are

by Patrice Prusko

Activity

Third Places for Ongoing Community Building

by Maha Bali

Activity

Theater of the Oppressed: Opposites

by Tina Pippin

Activity

Theatre of the Oppressed: Image Theatre

by Maha Bali

Activity

Teaching Ethics with Theatre of the Oppressed and Liberating Structures

by Maha Bali

Activity

Surrealist Free Drawing Introductions

by Autumm Caines

Activity

Studio visits

by Mia Zamora

Activity

Structured Dialogues

by Sherri Spelic

Activity

Share an Object From Home

by Maha Bali

Activity

Room 101

by Jasmina Najjar

Activity

Purpose to Practice

by Maha Bali

Activity

Pass the Ball & How Do You Make Rice?

by Autumm Caines

Activity

Meditation

by Nadine Aboulmagd

Activity

Wild Tea / Mad Tea Party

by Maha Bali

Activity

Introductions: Story of Your Name

by Patrice Prusko

Activity

Human Scavenger Hunt

by Susan D. Blum

Activity

Four Ideas for Checking In

by Maha Bali

Activity

Daily Creates

by Mia Zamora

Activity

Critical Uncertainties

by Autumm Caines

Activity

Conversation Cafe

by Maha Bali

Activity

Collaborative Storytelling

by Jasmina Najjar

Activity

Collaborative Literature Review Matrix

by Jasmina Najjar

Activity

Authentic Open Letter/Video Addressing Students

by

Activity

Asynchronous & Synchronous Introductions

by Mia Zamora

Activity

9 Whys of Liberating Structures

by Michael Weinraub

Activity

Spiral Journal

by Maha Bali

Activity

Annotate the Syllabus

by Remi Kalir