National Share a Story Month #NSSM is next month (May), and it’s even more exciting this year, particularly for us at OpenView Education. Being an educational company that encourages young people to embrace themselves for who they are, and empowers them to speak up and celebrate each other, this is exactly the type of event that we are on the lookout for.
This year’s National Share-a-Story Month focuses on: Celebrating a World of Stories.
One of the main themes this year is to “explore our own British stories, myths and legends as well as stories from other cultures.”
If you were looking for some Anti-Bullying workshop ideas, this year’s National Share a Story Month is a great way of linking the two themes together. Why not ask the children to share stories about their families? Or, if they aren’t from Britain, share a story about what part of the world they are from?
This event is an excellent opportunity to encourage children and young people to embrace each other for exactly who they are, and to celebrate their differences.
National Share-a-Story Month can be more than just story-telling. It can be a month where children and young people are encouraged to talk about what is interesting about each other, it can be an event where everyone feels confident talking about what makes them special and different. It can be an event where people feel happy in themselves.
At OpenView Education, we lead Anti-Bullying Workshops for Primary Schools, so we love National Share-a-Story Month and how it ties in with our company’s ethos.
Some great workshop ideas could be:
– Asking the children to write a story about two people who are different from each other but have a great friendship.
– Asking the children to write a story about themselves, their family, and where they are from.
– Asking the children to talk about what they liked in each story, and how it was different from theirs.
So in the spirit of celebrating a world of stories, and National Share-a-Story Month, here is a story about me, and why it’s important that we know about differences, and why we learn to accept them. If you think this is a good example story, please do use it in your lesson.
When I was one years old, my hair fell out to an autoimmune condition, Alopecia Totalis. I wore a wig to School and experienced difficulties because of it.
My family always told me what I had, and how I was a bit different. They said that differences were wonderful, they made the world an interesting place, and it wouldn’t be as exciting if we were all the same.
I still struggled with School and would often experience problems because I was different. Until one day I made a new friend who had the longest ginger hair I had ever seen. We were very different from each other, for a start she had super long hair, and I didn’t have any, but it didn’t bother her at all, and it definitely didn’t matter to me.
We would share our stories and we got on really well. So even though we looked different, we still became the best of friends.
I am now 27 years old, and last year I was the bridesmaid at her Wedding. Our friendship has lasted a lifetime and will continue to go on.
Even though we look different, we are still best friends, even today.
Celebrate your differences, celebrate where you are from and what you look like, and encourage others to do the same.
We would love to hear about what you are doing for National Share-a-Story Month.
If you would like to book an Anti-Bullying Workshop for National Share-a-Story Month to tie nicely into this theme, please contact us here.
