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**What's YOUR Story? Telling the Tale from the Journalist's Perspective**
As part of One Book, One Philadelphia, MAGPI members are invited to participate in a one month virtual storytelling project. Students involved in the “//What’s YOUR Story? Telling the Tale from the Journalist’s Perspective”// Project will have an opportunity to explore various forms of journalistic writing, participate in an interactive videoconference with the author of //The Soloist//, Steve Lopez, create their own journalistic writing and showcase their pieces in a virtual festival.

Students will have an opportunity to hear from Steve Lopez and learn what inspired him to write The //Soloist// during a kick-off videoconference event in March. Each student will then be challenged to compose a journalistic account in response to the prompt “What happens when we help? . ” Schools will then select a 3-5 memoirs to post on a special project wiki, where students and teachers from other schools will have an opportunity to read and reflect on the students’ work. Each participating school will then be assigned a partner school, from which they will exchange memoirs. Each class will then create a storytelling performance (can use song, dramatic reading, drama, dance, multimedia or other) to tell the partner class’s chosen memoir related to helping another. During the virtual storytelling festival, students will have an opportunity to discuss their interpretations of each other's work, reflect on how other literary art forms can enhance or perhaps take something away from a given text, which points in the story were particularly striking to them and what it is like to see one’s work interpreted by others.

In the spirit of Lopez’s book, this year’s //One Book, One Philadelphia//, selection, this project is a celebration of stories reflecting life and the human spirit. Each teacher who participates in this project will receive a copy of //The Soloist//, compliments of The Free Library of Philadelphia Foundation.

**Participating Schools:**
East Stroudsburg Area School District Forest Hills School District Lower Merion High School Mountain View School District Paul Laurence Dunbar High School Perkiomen Valley School District The Haverford School

**Project Dates:**
Kick-Off Videoconference with author Steve Lopez March 18, 2009; 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. ET

Student Independent Journalism Project (Part I) March 19, 2009 – April 18, 2009

Virtual Storytelling Class Project (Part II) April 19, 2009 – May 12, 2009

Virtual Storytelling Festival May 13, 2009; 10:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. ET

****Class Assignments for Virtual Storytelling Project:****
Dunbar || Perkiomen || East Stroudsburg || Mountainview || Forest Hills || Haverford || Haverford || Lower Merion || Lower Merion || Dunbar || Mountainview || Forest Hills || Perkiomen || East Stroudsburg ||
 * SCHOOL ** ||
 * ASSIGNED TO THIS SCHOOL’S MEMOIRS ** ||
 * <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">ASSIGNED TO THIS SCHOOL’S MEMOIRS ** ||