Learning as a Story - A Google Drawings template for digital posters

When it comes to learning, we focus too much on the end product in school.

Instead, think of the whole process from initial curiosity to the struggles along the way and the final insights the learner gains. Could we start to see it as an interesting (maybe even exciting) story?

That's the basis for this digital poster activity I created as a Google Drawings template.

When it comes to telling a great story, I always start with Donald Miller's concise framework. He uses it as the basis of his Storyline book and conferences. There he says a story is...

• A character
• Who wants something
• And overcomes conflict to get it

Whether it's your favorite movie,  that last page-turner you couldn't put down or how your grandma tells of winning your grandpa's affections, I bet the story fits that model.

What would happen if we helped students to see learning as a story within this framework?

To accomplish that, I made a list of questions and a template in Google Drawings for a Learning Story Poster that students could complete after a learning experience. These resources require them to consider four questions based on those parts of a story:

• A character (or characters) - Who are they?
• Who wants something - What do they wonder about?
• And overcomes conflict - What challenges did they face?
• To get it - What did they finally learn in the end?

Click here to open a copy of the question sheet. It has a link to the Google Drawing template, which you can also find at the link below.

Click here to open a copy of the template in your own Google Drive. Students will easily complete their poster by...

• Adding or changing the text prompts as necessary
• Deleting the shapes and inserting their own pictures in those places
• Cropping the pictures into interesting shapes to make it visually appealing
• Changing the background colors and elements as they like
• Including images of any products they create, including physical charts or graphs
• Adding a table to the Google Drawing if data needs to be included
• Downloading the final product as a PNG or JPEG image

Here's a sample one I made using some pictures I had from our video announcement team. (Click here to see a larger version that you can zoom in on.)

A complete learning story poster like this requires students to consider a few things right from the start of the project. They will need to:

• Make note of what they wonder or are curious about
• Develop or be aware of the team identity (if working in groups) - Don't underestimate the importance of the "character" part. A team name and picture that represents the group personality can foster strong social connections that benefit for learning.
• Get photos throughout the process - If they forget, some quick posed shots make an acceptable substitute.

Other Possibilities

If you don't want to use Google Drawings for this, you can still using the questions and have them present it in these ways:

• Written Reflection - Just have students record their answers as a short written journal.
• Infographic - If you want to take more time, students could make a more attractive final product with Piktochart. Here's my guest post on their blog for some tips to get started using that tool.
• A digital slideshow or webpage - Adobe Spark can be a great tool for older students to tell a digital story as a video or as a webpage. See this post from my other blog about Adobe Spark.

Learning as a Story

Imagine you’re in science class. After a few days of studying cells, the teacher asks you to make a digital slideshow with some online tech tool. Let’s say it has to combine pictures, minimal text and some narration.

Think about what types of projects students would submit.

It’s a safe bet we’d get a lot of pictures of models of cells with some narration telling what the parts are and what they do. It’s the updated version of a PowerPoint presentation, which too often is an uninspiring display of information.

For the teacher, these final products serve as an assessment of what was learned. Nothing more, just the facts. 

That’s an important aspect of final products, but can we do better? Lately I’ve been encouraging teachers to push for more than just the final learning. I suggest we have students document the process.

In project-based learning, this often looks like a series of pictures showing the project coming together. What I’m thinking now, though, is something much more personal.

What if we asked students to document their learning experience throughout the process? 

Yes, in that science lesson it would still include those important parts of a cell. But what if we asked them to keep a record of what they looked forward to or what they were curious about before the lesson started?

How about their challenges, surprises and disappointments?

What new questions came up throughout the learning experience?

And then the most important part, which we rarely seem to have time for:  What did they learn about themselves and their place in the world?

What I’m hoping is we can see (and share) the learning experience as a story. Would it be a story students like to discover? Would it be worth telling? What effect would it have on school culture if learning stories were told as if they mattered?

Could we start with a learning story of our own that's worth sharing?

Resources for the Classroom on the Power of Story

Thanks to Lisa Johnson for her list on Listly to get me thinking of compiling these resources.

Who could argue that great teaching and great storytelling go hand in hand? When it comes to motivation, inspiration or just getting the information to stick, we all know from experience that a powerful story gets the job done.

I have been a big fan of Donald Miller's work with the power of story, especially his books Storyline and A Million Miles in a Thousand Years. Miller's point is that we can even live more meaningful lives by evaluating our goals and decisions in terms of what makes great stories. His books helped me through some personal struggles, so he's had my attention on the subject for years now.

Of course, he's not alone in these insights. It seems everyone from sales people to motivational speakers is learning to harness the power of stories and honing the skill of telling them in the best ways.

I'm just starting this list for use in the classroom. I'll keep adding to it as I find more.

Nancy Duarte's TEDx Talk - She reveals a story structure used in great speeches like the "I Have a Dream" speech and Job's introduction of the iPhone

Donald Miller's Free eBook - How to Tell a Story

Erin Gruwell's TEDx Talk - She tells the Freedom Writer's story, which itself illustrates how our stories move us and others.

Coming Soon - My creative classroom game of movie trailers - It uses Donald Miller's short recipe for a great story.

Harnessing the Power of Story - A shorter video focusing on finding your "signature story"

Storytelling the Stillmotion Way - Part 1 of a great series on Vimeo from a group that makes documentaries

Please add your favorite resources on story in the comments below or you can email me.