The Story Workshop Method

This weekend I was asked to write a short article about studying in the US for the National Association of Writers in Education's magazine Writing in Education. As the email said 'there is no pay and the deadline is yesterday' but it was an opportunity I couldn't refuse.

I couldn't resist posing with the book we use each week!

John Shulz was a professor at Columbia College and while he was here he explored different teaching methods until he settled on the Story Workshop Method that is still used 50 years later. His book Writing From Start To Finish is full of interesting chapters on model tellings, letter writing, journal entries etc.  You might recognise some of the topics mentioned from my earlier posts. Each chapter has a range of examples from Kafka to students writing in their journals. The chapters in the book perfectly compliment a lot of the methods we use in class: recall, word games, the reading of student and published work.

Aside from being taught in a fresh new way I am a firm advocate for Columbia's three strike policy. I have missed a couple of classes since arriving due to illness (funnily enough I keep catching colds in this freezing cold city!) but it is still a lot better.  I really hope it is something that Bath Spa University look to introduce in the future.  If attendance is poor there's nothing like the threat of automatic failure to get the lecture hall packed again.

Maybe I'll be able to share the article with you soon, till then keep studying!