Instructions for the "My Story" assignment:

1. Choose one of the stories you read in this week's reading assignment and retell the story in your own words. You can also choose to combine multiple stories from the week's reading, or focus on a specific incident in one of the stories.
2. The story you write needs to be completely in your own words, so make sure you start with a blank screen and write the story, word by word, on your own.
3. The story should be a minimum of 300 words and a maximum of 1000 words. If the story is less than 300 words, make it longer! If it is longer than 1000 words, then tighten it up.
   TIP: You can keep track of your wordcount and do a spellcheck at spellcheck.net - type the text there, and then cut and paste it into Bloglines, where you can do the final formatting, add links, etc.
4. Post the story in your Bloglines blog for this class. Give your post a two-part title:
   Part A. Before the colon. The first part of the blog titles looks like this: My Story Week #: (so, My Story Week #2:, My Story Week #3:, etc. - whatever the week is).
   Part B. After the colon. After the colon put something of your own choice. Example: My Story Week #2: Don't Mess With Thoth!
5. Include an image and make sure you provide image information.
6. Include a link to the story in the reading unit that your story is based on (e.g., "For the original story, go here: insert link").
7. At the top or bottom of your story, put a brief explanation of your storytelling technique (see list of techniques below), along with any important changes you made to the plot, characters, etc. (e.g., "I told the story from the god Thoth's point of view.")
8. Proofread your post by reading it out loud (if the post is long, this may take you a few minutes), and then publish your post.
9. After you have published your story, complete the Gradebook Declaration. (Your Gradebook Declaration is subject to the Honor Code.)

Suggested "My Story" Storytelling Techniques:

Here are some of the storytelling techniques that students have used in the past - these are just suggestions, because the actual possibilities are infinite!

• first-person point of view: tell a story using the first-person, speaking as the main character, a marginal character, or a character that you invent and add to the story
• storyteller: imagine a storyteller telling the story: grandpa talking to his grandkids, a mother's bedtime story, guy boasting in a bar
• dialogue: retell the story 100% in dialogue as in a conversation, interview, meeting with psychiatrist, trial,. etc. testimony, etc.
• poetry: tell a story as a serious poem, comic verse, song, etc.
• dialect: tell the story in dialect, such as Valley Girl talk, hip hop version, etc.
• change setting: you can change the setting to Washington DC, outer space, etc. or set the story at OU or in Oklahoma
• modernization: adapt the story to a modern setting, such as the modern business world, world of crime, celebrities
• other writing genres: tell the story with the style you would expect for some other genre of writing, such as a diary, newspaper article, resume, email, etc.
• television: adapt a story to a familiar television genre, such as Jerry Springer, Star Trek, Survivor, etc.
• the "twist": change the ending of the story, tell "what really happened," ask "what if...?" etc.
• sequel/prequel: explain what happened after the story ended or the events that took place before the story began
• combine stories: take two or more stories from the week's reading and combine them, or cross a story from this week with a story that you have read in a previous week

There are all kinds of possibilities, of course - this list is just to give you some ideas if you are feeling stuck!