The Moth Story Slam Assignment Description
“To be a person is to have a story to tell.” –Isak Dinesen
What are we doing?
So far this semester, we have been doing a lot of reading but for this project I am going to be
‘passing the mic’ to you all to be the authors. Now that we have listened to a few Moth stories
together and you have gotten a sense of the format, I am asking you to create your own true,
personal story that can be told aloud in 5-15 minutes. There aren’t many rules about what your
story should be about—as we have learned, the best stories are great not because of what they
are about, but because of the way they are told—but there are a few guidelines I will ask you to
follow. If any of these need clarifications at any point during your project’s creation, don’t
hesitate to ask:
• Your story should incorporate the basic ingredients of a story: a theme, a conflict,
and a moral if applicable.
• Your story must be true. Small creative liberties are acceptable, but the best Moth
stories are ones that really happened.
• Your story must be personal—it should be about something that you did, something
that you have faced, something that happened to you. The beauty of the Moth’s format is
that it allows for people to share their unique perspectives and experiences, so try to
think of a story that only you could tell.
• Your story must be school appropriate. Would you be comfortable telling this story to
your Grandmother? If not, try to think of another idea.
How are we doing it?
Over the next two weeks, we are going to follow a similar story-creation process that the Moth
uses to help their story tellers get their stories ready for the main stage:
1. Story pitch
• The first step is where you decide what you want your story to be about. Your
story pitch is essentially your ‘hook’ that would get people interested in hearing
the rest of your story. This is a very short piece of writing (between 50-100
words) that you will submit to me for approval, so it should give me a good idea
of what the story is about. This project component will be for a completion grade
but I may ask you to revise your pitch before I accept it if it needs more clarity.
• If you are having trouble coming up with what your story might be about,
consider some of these story prompts as a starting point:
o Favorite/worst school memory
o Frightening Story
o A story about family or friends
o A story about a particularly memorable vacation/trip
o A time you overcame (or failed to overcome) something difficult
o How an international or national event affected you
o Best day of your life
o A day in which everything went wrong
o If none of these are working for you, let me know and we can work
together to find a starting point
2. Outline of story shape
• The second step is where you decide how you want to tell your story. We have
done outlines for more formal writing—the outline for this project will be similar.
You will use this step to decide when you want to introduce people, when you tell
your audience about background information they’ll need to know, and the
general sequence of events in your story. You will also include the first and last
lines of your story—these do not have to stay the same but they make up your
first and last impressions as a storyteller, so it is good to start thinking about
them early!
• This component will also be turned in for a completion grade, with the same
stipulation that I may ask you to revise before I accept your outline.
3. Rough draft of story
• This third step is where you finally start putting words on the paper! Using your
outline, start to create your final product. Remember—Moth stories are told
aloud! If you run into writer’s block, try telling your story out loud to a friend or
family member and record yourself as you do it. From there, you can transcribe
your recording and work out the kinks on paper. Your stories do not have to
follow traditional essay rules or grammatical conventions, as long as you can be
understood.
• I will ask that you make two copies of this project component—one for me and
one for you to use in peer review.
4. Peer Writing Conferences
• Once you have created your rough draft, you will begin the process of
workshopping your story, which means that your work is beginning to be opened
to the public. You will work in groups of three, so two of your classmates will read
your story and provide feedback, advice, necessary corrections, and their overall
impression of your story. In return, you will provide those same things to your
two group members. Because of the personal nature of the project, we will be
relying on our social contract to guide the process of sharing work, as well as any
extra norms that your peer review groups decide on. The bottom line: be
respectful.
5. Final draft and student/teacher conferences
• This project component should be a polished draft just about ready to turn in.
You can request an optional one-on-one conference with me if you have any
lingering questions after the peer review. The final draft will be graded according
to the rubric below, although there is an opportunity to make final changes and
win back any points lost with your final version of your project, to be submitted
on the day of the Story Slam event.
6. Story Slam Event
• This is an optional event in which students are able to share their finished stories
with the class in a Moth Story Slam-type class event. Participating students will
earn 1 point of extra credit!
Relevant components of our social contract for group work:
Sharing personal stories can be a very vulnerable experience. Accordingly, during this project I
expect each of you to follow these norms and any others that your group decides upon:
• Our classroom is a confidential space regarding the information your classmates share in
peer review and at the Story Slam event.
• When providing your classmates with feedback in the peer review stage, make sure that
all criticism is constructive and respectful and that your feedback is specific. Remember,
your job as a peer reviewer is to make suggestions, not commands.
• Creating your story is only one part of this project. Another equally important part is
learning from and about your classmates. Listen, acknowledge, and respect the stories
they share.
Grading Information
Your projects will be graded according to:
• incorporation of traditional story elements (theme, conflict)
• inclusion of compelling sensory details
• well-developed voice
• logical sequencing of plot
• inclusion of internal dialogue (and external dialogue, when applicable)
• incorporation of feedback into final product
