ABSTRACT
This chapter comes full circle, back to the necessary first step of creating counter-storytelling community—the essential foundation for exploring stock and counter stories. In order to highlight counter-storytelling community building in practice, it uses the extended example of a five-day, intensive summer institute for educators. Drawing on group dynamics and intergroup dialogue theories, the chapter illustrates the evolution of counter-storytelling community as the group explores the different story types and highlight the emotional and intellectual insights expressed by participants at key points in the process. It focuses on educators, this process can usefully be applied to any group in any context that is coming together to build counter-story telling community. The forming stage is critical to the creation of counter-storytelling community. Carefully structured process of clarification introduces concealed stories and raises questions about what it is like to expose a personally meaningful story and have it interpreted, or misinterpreted, by others.
