Storytelling Reflection #1 

    According to Greene and Negro (2010) storytelling is a sharing experience and sharing stories together creates a sense of community. I have shared hundreds of stories over the years with the students I have taught and with my own five children, and I do believe storytelling promotes connection and community. Storytelling has been a means of connecting with my children and students as well as a way of building community in my classroom as we read, discuss, and tell our own stories. I was excited about this storytelling experience because I enjoy telling stories through reading books and engaging listeners. 

    When I began to think about the book I would choose to read for this assignment, I was overwhelmed with all the choices. It was very difficult for me to narrow it down to one book. I began thinking through all the books I had seen mentioned lately on blogs and websites as well the plethora of new books my school library has received over the last few years. Our text book lists several characteristics of a good book for storytelling: 

1. a single theme

2. a well-developed plot

3. style (look for vivid word pictures, pleasing sounds, rhythm)

4. characterization

5. faithfulness

6. dramatic appeal

7. appropriateness for the listener (Greene, 2010, page 61-62)

After thinking through all the books I had looked at and reading over the list from Greene and Negro, I decided on the book Epossumandus. I chose this book because it is book I knew made for a great storytelling experience and fit most of these characteristics. I later read the assignment instructions more carefully and realized I was supposed to choose a book that was new to me (I'll follow directions better the next time). 

    Once my book was chosen I began preparing for my storytelling experience. The authors of our text book encouraging reading through the story many times to become extremely familiar with the text. I read through the text several times in my head while thinking about how I wanted the characters to sound and how I would pause and place emphasis as I was reading. After going through it several times in my head, I read it aloud to myself to attempt to get just the right voice for each character. Then I moved on to practicing in front of a live audience. I read the story multiple times to my young adult daughter and husband to practice making sure the story flowed, and I felt comfortable with it. They were able to give me some feedback such as I sometimes changed the voice of the character from one page to the next and that I needed to slow down a little. I also put together a paragraph to share to introduce the book to my listeners. The author had a nice page in the back of the book with some background so I was able to summarize that page to provide a good introduction to the story. 

    Next came the preparations for the actual reading and recording of the storytelling. I originally planned to do the recording in the reading corner in my classroom. However, the week at school was very hectic, and that just never happened so I found myself at home needing to record over the weekend. I attempted to use the dining room because it is light and bright, but the way the sun came in the windows caused a glare on the pages of the book and the viewer wouldn't have been able to see them. Since the dining room didn't work, I decided to try the basement. We have windows in our basement so it has a fair amount of natural light without being too harsh. After trying a couple of different spots I finally found one that worked. I did a few of the exercises outlined in the text book to get me ready for reading and hit record.

    I had already decided that I would use my computer to record my story since it had the capability, and it would then be easy to upload. I sat back in my big comfy chair and hit record. It took several tries before actually getting the complete story recorded. There were a few times where I got tongue tied and just had to try again. Another time I was on the next to the last page and the dog started barking in the background so I had to begin again. I eventually got through the entire story without messing up myself or being interrupted by canine companions. 

Epossumandus read aloud

    I had several take aways from this experience. Greene (2010) suggests, "Look directly at your listeners.  As you tell, let your gaze move from one to another so that each child feels involved in the telling of the story" (page 95). I found this very difficult to do while reading to the camera. I think it was the fact that I was staring at myself on the computer that made it difficult to look at my “listeners” and move my gaze from one to another. I think in the future I will use a different method of video so that I can’t see myself while I am reading. Being able to see myself was very unnerving and I couldn’t quite relax and get into the story. I believe a different recording method will make me more relaxed. Another take away was the speed with which I was reading and moving from page to page. I thought about techniques that were provided in readings from this week such as “balancing the pace of the story” (Underdown-DuBois, 2011). I know when I am nervous I talk very quickly. Despite my trying to be intentional about going slower, I was still too quick with my reading and showing of illustrations quite frequently during my storytelling. Next time, I may try reading to an actual group of students. I am very comfortable reading to children and can easily lose myself in the story, but seeing myself in the camera makes me anxious and then I tend to be too speedy in my storytelling. I am looking forward to improving my storytelling and my next storytelling experience. 

    This week I also read a variety of fairy tales and folktales. Folktales are defined as stories passed down through generations usually by oral storytelling. Today there are many variations of folk tales that have been written and illustrated as picture books. Below are a few that I have enjoyed this week. 

References

Greene, C. & Del Negro, J.  (2010). Storytelling: Art and technique (4th ed). Libraries Unlimited

Underwood-DuBois, C. (2011). Bringing storytime alive with acting and storytelling techniques: An interactive article. Tennessee Libraries, 61(2).

Reading Reflection- Storytelling

 Reading Reflections- Week 2

Storytelling- The History and Importance

   This week's blog post will focus on two things: storytelling in general and fables. Greene and Negro refer to storytelling as the oldest and the newest art (2010). This week I read Chapters 1-3 of The Art of Storytelling (Greene and Del Negro, 2010) along with a variety of articles about storytelling. The reading I have done this week delves into the history of storytelling as well as the importance and benefits of storytelling not just in libraries but also in classrooms and homes.  "We tell stories in order to make sense of our world. We express our beliefs, desires, and hopes in stories, in an attempt to explain ourselves and to understand others" (Greene and Negro, 2010, p. 3). 

   

 As an educator I was particularly interested in chapter 3, Purpose and Values of Storytelling. However, one quote that stands out from another chapter was, "the current emphasis on 'teaching to the test' too often means literature-sharing the the classroom is neglected" (Greene and Negro, 2010, p. 39). In an educational system that is so focused on testing and testing outcomes even in the primary grades, read alouds and storytelling are often pushed to the back burner and thought of as unimportant. However, this could not be farther from the truth. The benefits of storytelling are numerous and have far reaching impacts on literacy and academic skills. At the most basic level, storytelling builds excitement for reading and books and allows children access to literature and stories they may not be able to access independently. Agosto discusses a study on the literacy benefits of oral storytelling and found evidence for four main literacy benefits: visualization, cognitive engagement, critical thinking, and story sequencing (2016). Greene and Negro share additional academic benefits of storytelling in chapter 3 of their book The Art of Storytelling. Among those benefits are richer vocabularies, creating fluent readers, supporting comprehension, content recall, and reading earlier (Greene and Negro, 2010). On page 54, they also state, "telling oral stories to children inspires them to write about the stories, to imitate the stories, and to use the stories as a trigger for creating their own stories" (2010). There is a plethora of evidence throughout these reading that oral storytelling is well worth the time invested in it, and it has tremendous positive effects on literacy and academics. 

    Not only is oral storytelling beneficial from an academic standpoint, there are also social and emotional benefits attached to oral storytelling. Storytelling keeps alive the cultural heritage of a people as well as helping to develop connections and a sense of community and shared experiences. Greene and Negro (2010) also discuss how oral storytelling improves social development and helps to develop empathy, tolerance, and understanding in listeners. There is even research to support oral storytelling creating physiological  changes such as lower blood pressure, slower breathing, and the brain becoming more active in children and adults when they listen to stories (Green and Negro, 2010). 

     One genre of literature that lends itself to oral storytelling is fables. Fables are often forgotten about among the multitude of shiny new picture books that are published each year, but they are fantastic for storytelling and have valuable lessons most of us could benefit from. The most widely known fables are probably those from Aesop. Many of his fables have been retold in anthologies, picture books, and even movies. Even Disney produced a loose retelling of Aesop's The Ant and the Grasshopper with their movie A Bug's Life. Fables tend to be great for storytelling because most are short, have interesting characters, are applicable to real life, and are entertaining. I often use fables in my classrooms with my students to teach literacy skills, to practice storytelling, reading fluency, and just for entertainment. I have a collection of partner plays (reader's theaters) that my students love that includes some of Aesop's fables such as The Lion and the Mouse, The Tortoise and the Hare, and The Ant and the Grasshopper. They are written at multiple levels and the message and plot are simple enough that they can me used with a wide range of elementary students. One of my favorites books with fables is You Read to Me, I'll Read to You: Very Short Fables to Read Together. This book lends itself to the partner reading as well, and I love it (as do my students)! 

In addition to the articles and text book, this week I also read seven books with fables. 

Town Mouse, Country Mouse 

by Jan Brett

The Lion and The Mouse 

by Jerry Pinkney

. 

The Grasshopper and the Ants 

by Mark White

The Rabbit and the Turtle by Eric Carle

In addition to the book there is a video of a storyteller reading the selection for an audience. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uwhfX5xPKE&ab_channel=Read2getherFoundation

Fables by Arnold Lobel

You Read to Me, I'll Read to You: Very Short Fables to Read Together 

by Mary Ann Hoberman

Foxtails: Four Fables from Aesop by Amy Lowry

References:

All book cover pictures taken from Amazon.com

Greene, E. and Negro, J. D. (2010). Storytelling: Art and technique (Fourth). Libraries    Unlimited.

Agosto, D. E. (2016). Why storytelling matters: Unveiling the literacy benefits of storytelling. Children and Libraries, 14(2), 21. https://doi.org/10.5860/cal.14n2.21