Tiny Tales

Activity

Ongoing engagement

Laura Gibbs

Encourage short, focused storytelling, easy to share with others, writing stories in 100 words (or fewer), or 6 words or 2 sentences, etc.

ACTIVITY PURPOSE

Encourage short, focused storytelling, easy to share with others, writing stories in 100 words (or fewer), or 6 words or 2 sentences, etc.

USEFUL FOR

Improving writing skills and encouraging creative expression and confidence; the brevity makes it easier for students to read each others’ stories.

It will also help students focus their message and understand the value of quality over quantity.

It will help students in future endeavours that have word count limits. It will also reduce the amount of reading professors need to do!

PREPARATION

Prepare a prompt for students to write their stories for.
Explain the value of word limits and learning to work with exact word limits.
Make sure students know how to use MS Word or Google docs word counter, or use a word counter extension in the browser (or learning how to use Control-Shift-C to count words in highlighted text if using GoogleDoc, etc.).

INSTRUCTIONS

This material is from Laura Gibbs for producing 100-word stories.

Click items for links to sample teaching materials that Laura uses in her classes:

DURATION

Variable, but the idea is that shorter writing takes less time to write, to revise, to read, to comment on, etc. – more time/space for more stories!

ADAPTATIONS AND EXAMPLES

Laura’s students share their stories in their blogs, but they can also be shared in a GoogleDoc, Padlet, etc. (example from Jessica Knott: Uplift and Shine in Exactly 55).

As you can see, Laura uses 100-word stories; Jessica uses 55-word. These are things to be written asynchronously and shared with others. You can also do individual 6-word or 10-word (or random length by picking from a deck of cards) stories. Or you can do group storytelling where everyone’s contribution to the story is a certain length and build on each other live or in a Google doc. The shorter stories can be done synchronously or asynchronously.

TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS

Writing space: Google Docs is a great writing environment for sharing and feedback, especially with the handy word counter built in that lets you highlight a chunk of text and get a word count for just that amount. Most word processors do the same.

Sharing space: can also be Google docs or something else like Padlet, etc., and if you want to publish it can be on a Google site, blog, Pressbooks, etc.

USEFUL RESOURCES

Tiny Tales of Fall 2020 from Laura Gibbs and her students.
A Tiny Tales Teaching Guide based on the idea of taking existing stories and re-telling them in new ways
Tiny Tales Series by Laura Gibbs.

Watch Video

ABOUT

Educator prep: None
Student prep: None
Synchronous, Asynchronous
Shared online space
Duration: Variable

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

Find out more

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

Do you have feedback or suggestions?

More activities

Learning path

Community Building

by Maha Bali

Curated Activities

Guidance and help

Curated Activities

Reflective Activities

Curated Activities

Ongoing engagement

Curated Activities

Liberating Structures

Curated Activities

Setting the tone activities

Curated Activities

Introductory activities

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

Origin Stories

by Felecia Caton Garcia

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

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

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

Using Dominoes in Teaching

by Ahmed Gebaly

Activity

Desert Island Songs

by Isabel Rodriguez

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

Cognitive/exam Wrappers for Metacognition

by Maha Bali

Activity

Self-assessment Tool (of social justice in your teaching) from DISCs (Disciplines Inquiring into Societal Challenges)

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

Alternative Approaches to Grading

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

Checklist / tool

Karen Ray Costa’s Trauma-Aware Teaching Checklist

Resource

Loglines

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

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

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