Point of View: Storytelling

“Point of View” is a storytelling workshop that allows participants to reflect on their daily activities and habits by assuming the role of an object and writing from the point of view of the object about themselves.

The workshop Point of View: Storytelling uses the methodology of autobiographical storytelling, a technique that uses autobiographical narrative as an opportunity for self-reflection, to learn from one’s own story and from the stories of others, to share with other people’s experiences, reflections, visions of the world.

The workshop was initially developed for Ukrainian female refugees living in Athens. Still, it is suitable for diverse groups of learners.

The objectives of the workshop are for the participants:

• to reflect on their daily activities and habits;
• to encourage them to change their point of view on specific aspects of themselves with the use of storytelling methods;
• to get acquainted with storytelling techniques.

The materials needed for this workshop are pens or pencils and sheets of paper for all the participants. Also, a flipchart will be useful for the facilitator to explain the steps of the activity.

The facilitator should select a location for the workshop that is a space considered safe by all participants. A place that provides a physically and emotionally safe environment for all participants, especially a place where people can freely express themselves without fear of prejudice or any negative judgment. The process of sharing personal information may be stressful for some of the participants, so the facilitator should be alert to understand any inconvenience, take the lead and handle the situation.

1. Participants should think about three (3) personal items they value the most and/or use daily (e.g. headphones, a favourite toy, etc.);
2. Participants are asked to write an essay from the point of view of the object: what they can tell about their owner, their feelings, their daily habits, their surroundings, etc.
3. Participants share their essays, read them aloud, and discuss personal qualities, experiences and skills, and their emotional state

The last step of the workshop is for participants to share their essays and reflect on their daily habits, experiences, and feelings. More specifically, the participants are encouraged to share their thoughts and feelings and discover a new way to express themselves.
The items chosen by the participants are those they often use to make them relax, have emotional value, or reflect a part of themselves they like and feel most proud of.

The workshop can be adapted to suit coherent and diverse groups of learners. Participants have to assume the role of their favourite objects, present themselves, talk about their life stories and reflect on their own experiences. The process of sharing personal information may be stressful for some of the participants, so the facilitator should be alert to understand any inconvenience, take the lead and handle the situation.

The group size for this workshop does not matter, but it is more challenging to manage the workshop with the participation of many individuals. Working with a big group of people makes it harder to make people feel safe to share about themselves. 6 to 8 participants would be the ideal group size.

The complexity of the workshop can be rated at 2. The facilitator needs to take some time to prepare the different phases of the workshop and prepare the workshop’s reflection phase.