In the West Wing, strips of paper were laid out without adhesives (tape or glue) as an invitation to explore together, allowing players to change the story as it evolved at the Communication Center. As strips were squeezed, rolled, twisted, torn, and bent, aspects of the story took shape.
Remy: This is the forest.
Archer: Look! If you take out the purple, it’s a sun. See the yellow.
Juliette: Here’s a monster.
Silvana brought out a large white board to compose a story together.
Silvana: What happens in the forest?
Remy: The bear wants to eat the monster.
Dahlia: The bear can eat food.
Other collaborators: Yeah.
Silvana: What would the bear eat?
Dahlia: The green lines here.
Other collaborators: Yeah!
Silvana: What is the monster doing?
Juliette: The monster went to sleep in his bed.
Remy: The bear eats the monster.
Archer, offering a compromise: The bear eats the monster and the monster eats the bear.
Other collaborators: No.
Juliette: The bear is the sister. The monster is the brother.
Silvana: Let me read to you the story we have so far. How does this sound? In the forest, there was a monster and a bear. The bear is the sister. The monster is the brother. The bear wanted to eat the monster. Bear found green lines to eat as food. The monster went to sleep in his bed.
The group: Yeah!
Remy: Write down the bear wanted to eat the monster.
Silvana: Dahlia, Juliette, and Archer didn’t want the bear to eat the monster. How about I write that idea along with Archer’s on a different paper.
Remy nods in agreement.
Silvana: Does anyone have an idea of what the bear should do after he eats?
Juliette: He goes to sleep.
Remy: The bear turns into an owl at night.
The other collaborators: Yeah!
Archer: Hoot hoot!
We want to create a culture where the process of collaboration itself is more valuable than being the one with the best answer. Disagreement will be a given. As teachers, we are committing to extend dialogue when disagreements occur with the goal of expanding flexible thinking and recognizing the value of multiple ideas. -Teacher Silvana