RES 5530: Race, Class, and Gender in Literacy Research (Spring 2009)

As I read your post I thought about the opportunities we give younger children to write simple "about me" texts. Since these students have such limited writing ability, it seems to make more sense to allow them to tell their stories. I agree that most students would benefit from applying skills they have learned in reading to their storytelling. The ability to craft a story without the hurdles writing presents might allow students to concentrate on the other skills involved in sharing a coherent summary. Students might be at more ease to share what they really want to share instead of simply choosing words that are the easiest to write.

I agree with you completely. Storytelling can really make an impact in our classrooms if we learn to use it well. It has to begin with the teacher – the teacher has to learn to not just read stories but also tell stories so that students feel captivated within the magic of it. One of the books that we will be reading in a couple more weeks, Great Masters, Sweet Ladies, is a book full on monologues that can help older students learn to tell stories. We are going to use them in the same way in class. I took a storytelling class through ASU as an elective about 3 years ago. It was with a storyteller from Ireland and he was amazing. He really drew you in and kept your attention on him. He helped us learn how to memorize a story and then encouraged us to put emotion into through inflected voices, intentional pauses, etc. It was fun to learn how to tell a story and I think that it has helped me read stories better as well. I read a quote somewhere that said teaching was 10% planning and 90% performance – I think we could change the percentages just a little but the critical piece is that teachers in many ways are performers, trying to excite students and hoping to maintain the excitement throughout the day.

I also think that we do not expose children in our classrooms to enough information about the hardships that children worldwide are facing. My kids this year had never heard of genocide. They knew a little bit about he Holocaust--but not enough. After we talked a bit about the holocaust, I explained to them that many genocides have happened since then. We discussed Bosnia, Rwanda, and Darfur. They could not believe that this was happening now. So many of them asked, "Why isn't anyone doing anything?" I told them that this question is asked every time a genocide happens. It is very difficult to explain to them the politics surrounding these issues. It does give them a better appreciation of their own lives to hear of those that are less fortunate.

I enjoyed your perspective that sharing stories raises awareness. Literature is a great way to inspire our students to action. Working for social justice is an awesome response to a tragic story. Last year, my students sent shoes to children in Iraq after we read a book about children in war torn areas.

I think/hope that it also made my students appreciate what they have just a little more.

I liked the way you put the importance of storytelling in the classroom, it "removes the barrier of having to write." If you think about it, writing is not how our ancestors started out communicating. They started out by orally telling. Writing is a HUGE barrier for many students. Heck, it is a barrier for ME, and I'm a high school English teacher! I'm supposed to love writing, right? :) I think it would be very interested to try out the effectiveness of storytelling in a classroom as a way to ease into writing. We have a writing process...why not add in oral storytelling as the first step?

Amy, I think it is really great how you stated that story telling involves all of the lessons we teach in reading. This is very true. An oral story requires all of the literary aspects such as characters, plot, problem, etc. but it can also give those students who may have difficulty reading a voice. It can allow them to be successful in the literary world. Also, you could take this a step forward and have them later write their stories down. This would help them greatly

"Learning how to tell stories involves many of the same skills that we teach during reading but gives students another means to learn the content of the stories, as well as understanding that stories often contained morals or teaching points."

Amy, I couldn't agree more. I think it makes literacy that much more obtainable for more students. I almost see it as a "hook". If you are hearing good stories then you might be inspired to tell your own story. Hopefully the personal stories will be written down and that in turn will lead to a desire to read the stories of others.

"Learning how to tell stories involves many of the same skills that we teach during reading but gives students another means to learn the content of the stories, as well as understanding that stories often contained morals or teaching points."

Amy, I couldn't agree more. I think it makes literacy that much more obtainable for more students. I almost see it as a "hook". If you are hearing good stories then you might be inspired to tell your own story. Hopefully the personal stories will be written down and that in turn will lead to a desire to read the stories of others.

I'll say that I too have to agree with the quote that Cherrita pulled from your post. My son is only 3, and when he tells stories, he already understands the nuances of rising action, climax, and resolution! It's so interesting to see how he has internalized the cognitive aspects of storytelling at such a young age.