I was so excited to read this article! Last month I attended a seminar at the North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching and the topic was "Oral Storytelling". We spent a week discussing oral storytelling and the significant impact it could have on students if it was brought back into the classroom, especially for minority students. The most important thing that I took for this seminar is that everybody has a story and it's important to share our stories with one another. In this seminar, David Holt talked a lot about using storytelling to give minority students a voice in school since "generally speaking minority students are really underrepresented in the literacy part of education". Diffferent storytellers were brought in to illustrate the importance of storytelling and how to use it effectively in our classrooms and in our personal lives. We also practiced telling our own stories all week. We chose our favorite and story to share around the fire and not a soul could leave Cullowhee without typing that story out. They took our stories, combined them and made it a "class" book.
I'd already been thinking a lot about how to bring storytelling into my own classroom since the seminar, but reading this article has really inspired me to take stop thinking about bringing it and just do it. I know that my students would benefit so much from this opportunity to share their stories with one another. It's just one of those things were you know it would make for better quality writing, increased vocabulary, and could bring a sense of community. I also think about the impact storytelling would have on reading. Think about all of the text-to-self or text-to-world connections that would be made more often when a child reads a book. Comprehension just went through the roof, because if you can relate to something then you understand it better.
Ezra, Chol, and Francis have reminded me why we need to bring storytelling back. It provides more students that chance of exceling in the world of literacy.
Comments (5)
We have a storytelling festival every year at our school. This year we welcomed back Len Cabral. Before he launches into stories, he provides instruction on storytelling to each group of children. I remember him asking the group of 1st and 2nd graders, "Have you ever cut your finger?" Well, there is a story. "Have you ever gone on vacation?" There is another story. He continued to aske a series of questions, and he provided humorous adjectives describing what kind of stories these would be, but the point was EVERY one has stories to tell. For a child to understand this at a young age is powerful. Too often our educational system doesn't allow for the telling of our stories because of the large amount of testing and such evils that steal our time. Storytelling is a skill, a gift that stretches across our lives, rather than the brief period of time a test reflects upon. We need to rise up and change the order of things!!
Posted by stefoni shaw | March 22, 2009 3:35 PM
Posted on March 22, 2009 15:35
I agree that storytelling would make reading/learning more relevant for the students. As I mentioned in my blog, I understood and processed historical information more easily after I heard firsthand accounts of it. I think that if our kids would ask their parents to tell them about their lives--from their childhood to adulthood, the child would learn a great deal about history,society, and themselves.
Posted by Heather Coe | March 22, 2009 8:12 PM
Posted on March 22, 2009 20:12
What a wonderful seminar. Your comments reminded me of an event that we have each fall in our classroom: Grandparents Day. Students invite their grandparents to come in and share what it was like in school when they were in second grade. Many come with old school pictures and all of them come with stories! My students are fascinated to hear what life was like and it is interesting for them to learn how much things have changed.
Your comments also made me realize that I could/should do a lot more with oral storytelling. I tend to focus on writing most of the time. But students really need practice putting their thoughts together orally. Story telling and even conversation in general is becoming a lost art. Thanks for the inspiration!
Posted by Jayne Thompson | March 23, 2009 9:49 AM
Posted on March 23, 2009 09:49
The seminar sounded wonderful! Storytelling is a lost art in much of our world. What a wonderful way to bring it back- one classroom at a time. It't true we all have a story to tell, it is important for young children to realize this as well.
Jayne I liked your idea about grandparents day. I think I would like to do that in my classroom. The older generations can have so much to share, and when you think how much as changed over the last few generations, there is a lot to tell.
Posted by SuSu Watson | March 23, 2009 3:45 PM
Posted on March 23, 2009 15:45
I remember when I was elementarty school. We had an african story telling tribe come in and "perform" for us. It was such an incredible experience. I remember that they were telling a story about hunting on the African Velt and they used drums to simulate the footsteps of a lion. I was completely captivated! I really wish these opportunities were available at my school. You have inspired me to start up a program that focuses around oral story telling.
Posted by Whitney Gilbert | March 23, 2009 8:12 PM
Posted on March 23, 2009 20:12