The Story Bridge Project: Creating Community & Understanding

Whether you are communicating with parents, community leaders, prospective or current families, or colleagues, you need to be able to see their humanity and driving motivation—and they need to see yours—in order to bridge whatever divides may exist between you.

The Story Bridge is a program designed to help anyone working in schools develop the tools they need to express their personal narrative and, in doing so, help others see eye-to-eye with them. Throughout a series of fun, collaborative, and creative sessions, you will shape and share your story and hone your delivery of it. You will uncover how the power of your story can help you bridge divides, build empathy, and draw you and your school community closer together.

No matter how you use storytelling—to achieve fundraising or enrollment goals, mediate conflicts, generate buy-in for DEI benchmarks, or connect with a student or colleague—you’ll find this interactive experience a worthwhile and memorable investment in your career.

This multipart experience is designed for all roles within the school community.

Dates & Venues

This workshop is presented in 3 parts. Your registration includes access for all portions, as well as a copy of the book White Space: Essays on Culture, Race, & Writing by co-facilitator Jennifer DeLeon.

• Part 1 | Tuesday, August 20, 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM (Includes breakfast) | Walnut Hill School for the Arts (Natick, MA)
• Part 2 | Choice of September 10, 17, 24, 3:30 – 5:00 PM | Zoom
• Part 3 | Tuesday, October 15, 12:00 – 3:00 PM | Walnut Hill School for the Arts (Natick, MA)

A select number of participants will be given the opportunity to perform their story at the AISNE 2024 Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Conference—in-person on October 23 at the Sheraton Framingham Hotel and Conference Center.

Register

REGISTER HERE

If you have any questions or accessibility needs, please contact us at info@aisne.org.

About the Program

Authors and educators Jennifer De Leon and Adam Stumacher will guide each Story Bridge participant through a step-by-step process to explore compelling stories from their own lives with lively energy and sensitivity. After supporting participants to identify a particularly meaningful story, Jenn and Adam help participants shape and practice them, preparing the pieces for the finale—where each participant shares their story with the group. 

Story Bridge is an experience—one that will crack you up, broaden your mind, and open your heart. The program can help you and your school promote and advance DEI goals for you and your community, break the ice with other members of your school community and external partners, and forge new bonds within your local community.

In this workshop you will plan and practice an oral narrative, which you will share with colleagues. You will walk away with a powerful community-building activity to use in your work, and you will strengthen an essential skill to support teaching and learning across all content areas.

In Part 1, we’ll build community within our learning cohort and walk through the steps to crafting a great story. For Part 2, you will sign up for a virtual session with a smaller group in order to receive attentive, personalized feedback. You will reconvene in person for Part 3, where you will rehearse your story and receive performance coaching.

The program culminates in an options Part 4, where select cohort participants will have an opportunity to perform their completed stories at AISNE’s 2024 Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Conference at a special general session. 

About the Facilitators

Jennifer De Leon | Founder, Story Bridge, Author, and Educator
Jennifer De Leon was born in the Boston area to Guatemalan parents. She is the award-winning author of the novels Borderless and Don’t Ask Me Where I’m From, and the essay collection White Space: Essays on Culture, Race, and Writing. Jennifer is also the editor of the anthology, Wise Latinas: Writers on Higher Education. After a decade teaching in Boston Public Schools, Jenn is now an Associate Professor of English at Framingham State University and instructor in the Creative Writing and Literature Graduate Program at Harvard University.

Adam Stumacher | Author and Educator
Adam Stumacher is an author and educator from Boston, MA, whose work has appeared in The New York Times, Granta, Narrative, The Kenyon Review, and others, was anthologized in Best New American Voices, and won a Nelson Algren Award and the Raymond Carver Short Story Award. Adam has taught at MIT, The Harvard Kennedy School, The University of Wisconsin, Grub Street, and elsewhere. An award-winning longtime educator in urban schools, his commentaries on education appear regularly on NPR.

Cancellation Policy

Cancellations and transfer requests must be sent via email to info@aisne.org. Cancellations received up to 10 days before the start of the event will receive a 100% refund, less a $100 administrative fee. Transfers of registrations from one person to another are permitted up to 3 business days before the start of the event, or the first event of a series of events.

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