storieslive®:  High school scholarship story Slam Project

Above: Newbury High juniors work on their stories in pairs FEB 28th 2011 Photo: Paula Junn

JAMAICA PLAIN, MA MARCH 2, 2011

 Everett High School will hold its first StoriesLive® assembly at 9am on Thursday, March 10, 2011. This assembly is the first step for 11th and 12th grade students entering the inaugural StoriesLive®  High School Scholarship Story Slam on April 30, 2011.  The assembly showcases veteran and emerging storytellers from massmouth’s Greater Boston story slam series. During the mini-workshop which follows, students will begin the process of crafting their own stories to compete for a share of an anticipated $5000 in post-secondary scholarships.

 “ Everett was one of the first schools to commit to the program”, said Andrea Lovett, massmouth, co founder. “We are so excited to work here.” massmouth ‘s executive director and project director for StoriesLive®, Norah Dooley agreed.

This spring, several Greater Boston area public high schools, with the support of a $10,000 Project Grant from MassHumanities.org, are hosting StoriesLive programs. Andover and Newburyport have already hosted training sessions and assemblies with massmouth storytellers. Boston Latin Academy and Lynn Classical start later in March and early April. Revere, Stoneham, Haverhill and Lawrence are working on plans to implement some part of the project.  StoriesLive® was born out of massmouth’s traditional storytelling roots and last year's successful city-wide story slam season. StoriesLive® will connect a new audience of teenagers and their communities to the art of storytelling. There is still room for a few schools to participate. StoriesLive® teaches 11^th and 12^th grade students oral presentation and narrative skills that can help them navigate applying to the college or finding the job of their dreams. 

massmouth is a newly formed non-profit organization that promotes the timeless art of storytelling through social media, education  and live performance.  StoriesLive® is a curriculum-based program developed by massmouth  teaching-artists, who are also professional storytellers.  Norah Dooley, one of massmouth’s founders and executive director, comments on receiving the Mass Humanities.org grant, “We are so excited by this news! We can include any school that wants to participate and pay our performing artists and educators!”

StoriesLive® meets the standards for public speaking found in the Massachusetts Language Arts Curriculum Frameworks.  “StoriesLive will be helping our students value their life experiences and learn how to communicate these through writing and speaking,” said Amy Berinato who teaches English and Theater at Boston Latin Academy, one of the first schools to sign up. “This program will engage students in a writing and performing process that celebrates not only the authentic voice of our young students but also the power of language. “ said Linda O’Brien, head of Everett High’s English department. Everett High was one of the first to sign up for the program and the entire English department participated in a professional development workshop this past November.

StoriesLive® consists of a professional development workshop; an assembly of professional storytellers modeling personal narrative; four lesson plans and all supporting material; and

online support.  “Using digital and social media to promote storytelling is part of massmouth’s mission.  We’ll use web 2.0 to support the project participants on all levels,” comments Dooley. 

StoriesLive® guides each high school in producing a school wide story slam.  Finalists move on to a scholarship prize event on April 30, 2011.  “The Cambridge Public Library has offered massmouth their beautiful new auditorium as the site for our final High School Scholarship Slam,” said Andrea Lovett, massmouth’s co-director and project coordinator, “StoriesLive® compliments the goals of the ongoing StoryStream project in Cambridge.”

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