Organizing tool for the April 9th,10th and 11th 2010 Environmental Storytellers Retreat in Yellow Springs Ohio.

Monday, May 10, 2010

2010 ECO/Environmental Storytellers Retreat (Summary)

The 3rd annual Eco/Environmental Storytellers Retreat was held April 9-11 in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Previous retreats were held in other states.

Eric Wolf, with assistance from Jonatha Wright, organized the event, held in the Vale Community in Yellow Springs. Those who arrived on Friday enjoyed a pot luck dinner with residents of the Vale community. On Saturday evening, a fund-raising concert performed on the Antioch College Campus by many of the retreat participants raised funds to benefit the Tecumseh Land Trust.

Workshop sessions and discussion topics were determined in advance through e-mail conversations with those attending. Sessions included:

• “Guided Inquiry” led by Kevin Cordi, who chose coal mining as the topic for this activity. We each selected 4-5 documents scattered over the floor, then wrote a question prompted by each. Kevin facilitated an unscripted role-playing discussion based on the questions. Roles included mine owner, engineer, widow of a miner, surviving miners and others. A good technique to prompt in-depth exploration of a topic.
• Environmental Theater for Kids — Eric Wolf. Eric writes scenarios wherein campers become characters, perhaps even animals. These are set in places like Africa, a meadow, and a local community with a polluted pond. The focus is on a conflict/crisis that affects humans and/or the natural world. As many as three scenarios are taking place at one time, (all in the same habitat). The discussion that follows provides additional insights and evaluates students’ understanding and increased knowledge.
• A discussion of the need for stories with a positive outcome, (vs. tales of environmental disasters), both in folk-tales and in true stories was led by Fran Stallings of Oklahoma. Having observed a feeling of hopelessness about the earth’s plight, especially among teens, She suggested using stories, including true “ECO-Hero” stories, to promote hopefulness and provide examples of actionable projects.
• A discussion of National Park Residencies and the obligation to create a useful product for the park ws led by Sally Crandall (who will be resident at Homestead National Monument in Nebraska later this year)
• Creating a themed program — start to finish, led by Joyce Geary, Jonatha and Harold Wright and Janelle Reardon. We divided into three groups, each group creating a program on one of the TOPICS: Air, Fire, and Water. A guiding THEME for each (a sentence describing the desired take-away message of the program) was developed by the group. Each group presented the theme, an outline of the program and stories to be included, telling one or two stories from the program.

There were opportunities for “hat stories” (storyteller’s name drawn out of hat), nature hikes in the nearby parks (a deep gorge and beautiful glen), and quiet time in a serene natural setting.

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