Storytelling Resources
Teaching Storytelling
Once upon a time, oral
storytelling ruled. It was the medium through which people learned their
history, settled their arguments, and came to make sense of the phenomena of
their world. Then along came the written word with its mysterious symbols. For
a while, only the rich and privileged had access to its wonders. But in time,
books, signs, pamphlets, memos, cereal boxes, constitutions—countless kinds of
writing appeared everywhere people turned. The ability to read and write now
ruled many lands. Oral storytelling, like the simpleminded youngest brother in
the olden tales, was foolishly cast aside. Oh, in casual ways people continued
to tell each other stories at bedtime, across dinner tables, and around
campfires, but the respect for storytelling as a tool of learning was almost
forgotten.
Luckily, a few wise
librarians, camp counselors, folklorists, and traditional tellers from cultures
which still highly valued the oral tale kept storytelling alive. Schoolchildren
at the feet of a storyteller sat mesmerized and remembered the stories till the
teller came again. Teachers discovered that children could easily recall
whatever historical or scientific facts they learned through story. Children
realized they made pictures in their minds as they heard stories told, and they
kept making pictures even as they read silently to themselves. Just hearing
stories made children want to tell and write their own tales. Parents who
wanted their children to have a sense of history found eager ears for the kind
of story that begins, "When I was little ...." Stories, told simply
from mouth to ear, once again traveled the land.
What Is Storytelling?
Storytelling is relating a tale to one or more listeners through
voice and gesture. It is not the same as reading a story aloud or reciting a
piece from memory or acting out a drama—though it shares common characteristics
with these arts. The storyteller looks into the eyes of the audience and
together they compose the tale. The storyteller begins to see and re-create,
through voice and gesture, a series of mental images; the audience, from the
first moment of listening, squints, stares, smiles, leans forward or falls
asleep, letting the teller know whether to slow down, speed up, elaborate, or
just finish. Each listener, as well as each teller, actually composes a unique
set of story images derived from meanings associated with words, gestures, and
sounds. The experience can be profound, exercising the thinking and touching
the emotions of both teller and listener.
Why Include Storytelling in School?
Everyone who can speak can tell stories. We tell them informally
as we relate the mishaps and wonders of our day-to-day lives. We gesture,
exaggerate our voices, pause for effect. Listeners lean in and compose the
scene of our tale in their minds. Often they are likely to be reminded of a
similar tale from their own lives. These naturally learned oral skills can be
used and built on in our classrooms in many ways.
Students who search their
memories for details about an event as they are telling it orally will later
find those details easier to capture in writing. Writing theorists value the
rehearsal, or prewriting, stage of composing. Sitting in a circle and swapping
personal or fictional tales is one of the best ways to help writers rehearse.
Listeners encounter both
familiar and new language patterns through story. They learn new words or new
contexts for already familiar words. Those who regularly hear stories, subconsciously acquire familiarity with narrative
patterns and begin to predict upcoming events. Both beginning and experienced
readers call on their understanding of patterns as they tackle unfamiliar
texts. Then they re-create those patterns in both oral and written
compositions. Learners who regularly tell stories become aware of how an
audience affects a telling, and they carry that awareness into their writing.
Both tellers and listeners
find a reflection of themselves in stories. Through the language of symbol,
children and adults can act out through a story the fears and understandings
not so easily expressed in everyday talk. Story characters represent the best
and worst in humans. By exploring story territory orally, we explore
ourselves—whether it be through ancient myths and
folktales, literary short stories, modern picture books, or poems. Teachers who
value a personal understanding of their students can learn much by noting what
story a child chooses to tell and how that story is uniquely composed in the
telling. Through this same process, teachers can learn a great deal about
themselves.
Story is the best vehicle
for passing on factual information. Historical figures and events linger in
children's minds when communicated by way of a narrative. The ways of other
cultures, both ancient and living, acquire honor in story. The facts about how
plants and animals develop, how numbers work, or how government policy
influences history—any topic, for that matter—can be incorporated into story
form and made more memorable if the listener takes the story to heart.
Children at any level of
schooling who do not feel as competent as their peers in reading or writing are
often masterful at storytelling. The comfort zone of the oral tale can be the
path by which they reach the written one. Tellers who
become very familiar with even one tale by retelling it often, learn that
literature carries new meaning with each new encounter. Students working in
pairs or in small storytelling groups learn to negotiate the meaning of a tale.
How Do You Include Storytelling in School?
Teachers who tell personal stories
about their past or present lives model for students the way to recall sensory
detail. Listeners
can relate the most vivid images from the stories they have heard or tell back
a memory the story evokes in them. They can be instructed to observe the
natural storytelling taking place around them each day, noting how people use
gesture and facial expression, body language, and variety in tone of voice to
get the story across. 2
Stories can also be
rehearsed. Again, the teacher's modeling of a prepared telling can introduce
students to the techniques of eye contact, dramatic placement of a character
within a scene, use of character voices, and more. If students spend time
rehearsing a story, they become comfortable using a variety of techniques.
However, it is important to remember that storytelling is communication, from
the teller to the audience, not just acting or performing.
Storytellers can draft a
story the same way writers draft. Audiotape or videotape recordings can offer
the storyteller a chance to be reflective about the process of telling.
Listeners can give feedback about where the telling engaged them
most. Learning logs kept throughout a storytelling unit allow both teacher and
students to write about the thinking that goes into choosing a story, mapping
its scenes, coming to know its characters, deciding on detail to include or
exclude.
Like writers, student
storytellers learn from models. Teachers who tell personal stories or go
through the process of learning to tell folk or literary tales make the most
credible models. Visiting storytellers or professional tellers on audiotapes or
videotapes offer students a variety of styles. Often a community historian or
folklorist has a repertoire of local tales. Older students both learn and teach
when they take their tales to younger audiences or community agencies. Once you
get storytelling going, there is no telling where it will take you.
Oral storytelling is
regaining its position of respect in communities where hundreds of people of
every age gather together for festivals in celebration of its power. Schools
and preservice college courses are gradually giving
it curriculum space as well. It is unsurpassed as a tool for learning about ourselves, about the ever-increasing information available
to us, and about the thoughts and feelings of others.
The simpleminded youngest
brother in olden tales, while disregarded for a while, won the treasure in the
end every time. The NCTE Committee on Storytelling invites you to reach for a
treasure—the riches of storytelling.
Source:
Teaching
Storytelling
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