The Storytelling Incident

 by Julie Pasqual

         

Julie with some Littles

In a recent three day residency at a middle school, where I, and four other tellers, where asked to introduce the concept of folktales, and how students could relate them to their own lives, I played one of my favorite games.  I call it ‘Who has ever…”  It is a simple game where I read a list of questions, and if the question applies to you, you cross the room (or change seats, or raise a leg or an arm, depending on where I am playing it).  I played this game before telling a story that, on the surface, would seem to have nothing to do with the student’s lives, but after the story, when we looked back on the questions, we saw that quite a few of the questions applied no just to their own 2016 day to day living, but to the characters in the story as well.  Some of the questions I knew would be rife to get to the kids to talk about, and then write about their personal experiences, but I never expected the question, “Has anyone ever fainted?”  to  provide a PREFECT look at how folktales evolve and grow! 

       It all began in the first of the three classes, when someone mentioned that, like a character in the story, they had seen someone faint.  It was  during a choir concert in a nursing home.  IMMEDIATELY, hands flew up in the air.

“Oh yeah, “several kids said.  “I was there, too!”  Soon, details began to flush out and escalate the tale.  The story grew from it being just someone fainting, to other students seeing it and fainting as well, still others got nauseous and threw up, and the whole time the choral director told them just to keep singing!!  In each of the three classes more details emerged and grew – and I actually got to meet the young man who was the first to faint, who, of course doesn’t remember anything!!  The classroom teacher was stunned she had never heard anything about this before, and said, “And you all tell me you have nothing to write about!!”

           Besides all of us laughing A LOT about what we called “The Nursing Home Incident”, it was the classroom teacher who said, “Remember what JP (my nickname) was telling us about how folktales change and grow over time – this is IT!!!!”  I had to agree.  No amount of explaining, reading, or dissecting could have made the journey of a folktale over time, more tangible and relatable than what the kids had done in real time that day.  And, it all began with a really simple question!!!!  

           

         

Another Artist's Experience from Jack McKeon

The three days at FMS went very well, I think.  The teacher, Renee Marchand, was happy with what I proposed and let me go for it.  Basically I taught the classes for the first two days. When we had time on the second day, Renee put some topics on the board about community and had the kids write post-its and went over them. 

It was a very enjoyable three days. The classes were very different and their reactions to things varied.  They all loved the stories.  I told Jack and the Beanstalk and Tatterhood, both to illustrate figures who have to make their own individual ways into the larger community.  Jack worked particularly well since they got the notion of leaving a small community (family) to get into something broader but that this means facing large, scary things that might swallow them up.  Good lesson for the sixth grade.  The first class was largest and giddiest so the discussions took a little longer and they didn't immediately get to the point, but they finally made it.  The second class was actually slower in some ways but they nailed the stories and their relevance to individuals and community.  The third class was "honors" and more serious and more perceptive.

I told Hardy Hardhead on day two for the movement exercises.  We discussed the contribution of different skills to community. They were puzzled by Jack's doing very little until they considered his generosity and his leadership.  For movement I started with a walk-like-the-character and freeze exercise (thank you JP).  All groups got it, though the responses were fairly obvious. Group one was again more giddy.  I tried an artist/statue activity but it was too complicated for group one and it became a bit chaotic.  Went on to tableaux and let them draw on all the stories.  Not a lot of imagination but enough so that the class could guess the story and scene.  I bagged the statue thing for group two. The rest went very nicely, though when one group made a tableaux with Tatterhood's sister below decks, one kid went under a table.  They loved it so that every group after had to have someone under a table.  Sixth grade.  

We had time leftover so Ms. Marchand reviewed the post-its and tried to generate a bit of discussion that didn't get too far. I re-instituted the statue for the third group (at the teacher’s suggestion) and they were much better at it. I demonstrated the idea using Ms. Marchand as the statue. They all had a lot of fun and it helped them remember the stories, but I'm not sure they got into the stories any further with all this activity.

Ms. Marchand was absent for the third day but there was a good substitute.  I reviewed all the stories I'd told, reminding them of the points they were all supposed to make.  The first group needed more prodding. The other two were right on it. I told The Gecko about animals combining to dig a well, discussed it a bit and the sub presented the writing assignments. All three classes dug into the assignment and worked on it for the rest of the period. There was time left in the last class so I told Br'er Rabbit and He-lion as a parting gift.

In general I think it was a success. The students certainly loved the storytelling and seemed to get the connection to their own lives and the theme of community.  I'm on for next year.

written by Jack McKeon

Storytelling and Community: A Tale of Middle School

Image by Arthur Rackham

A great, great experience at Frelinghuysen Middle School this fall. Sixth grade ELA teacher, Sarah Satkowski, is a joy to work with, an amazing teacher. I loved watching her extend the discussions and writings to fit the needs of her different classroom communities. She really knows sixth graders.  Sarah took lessons from the stories, characters from the stories, and words from the students and expertly wove them into mini-lessons of respect, character, language building and community formation.

As a storyteller hired by an ARTS council, I wanted to emphasize the ‘art’ part of storytelling in all three sessions. (Paula subbed for me on day 2, but we were in conversation). I researched storytelling performance and culture from Haiti and Africa. Paula spoke to the same in the Artic. Because the underlying theme was community I wanted to stress how storytelling brought (brings) communities together, and how storytellers are responsible for keeping the traditions and cultures viable in these communities.

Another underlying conceit was that of storytelling as a form of communication in all forms, oral, physical and written.

In discussion via email Sarah and I developed the following plan of attack.

Day 1: What is storytelling? What is community? Listening and oral response were the focus.

We started with blank chart paper titled “What is storytelling?” The students worked in groups with post-it notes and developed ideas of what they thought was going to happen. These were put on the chart and added to or subtracted from as the students got to hear stories. A few of their ideas were: Storytelling is  the art of creating a story, suspenseful, entertaining with creativity and imagination, beautiful language, connect to audience, magical, stories explain the unexplainable.

I told a story from Haiti. We discussed briefly answering such questions as “Why did so and so do this?” “What happened to so and so?”  Then another post-it note session for students to generate ideas to answer, “What is Community?” Some of what they wrote: Community is working together to solve a problem, to be respectful and responsible, rules and laws, connecting to each other, a civilized group.

I spoke about storytelling in Haiti and then told more Haitian tales from The Magic Orange Tree. Deep oral discussion followed. Inevitably the question arose, “Are these stories true?” Staying quiet, I waited to hear how they would respond. One girl said,” It could be true without the magic in it.”

Day 2:  Exploring stories and characters through movement

Paula told The Girl Who Dreamed Geese and led the class in movement exercises.  Sarah and students told me all about it. As you will see in her response (below) Sarah honed in on the aspect of empathy. She brought this up as we listened to stories on Day 3. I believe it’s true. We feel empathy for the characters as we listen. Even if it is only for those 6-10 minutes of the story, we have at least experienced empathy.

Day 3: Exploring storytelling and community through writing

Sarah came up with some great questions to be used as writing prompts. These were written on chart paper. Before we even talked about what students were going to write, stories were told and discussed. This time stories came from countries in Africa. Again, we explored storytelling traditions and cultural values.

At this point students wrote. Sarah lets them chose from different writing prompts. 

These were posted.

1)    How are storytelling and community connected?

2)     Chose one story and explain what it tells us about community.

3)    How has the storytelling experience changed our classroom community?

The students chose one prompt,wrote and then shared a bit. We made sure to save enough time for a short wrap up story.  Here are some of the students’ writings. Sarah’s is here as well.

Excerpts from student’s writings:

·       “The community and storytelling are both alike because the stories that a storyteller tell (sic) can be true.”

·      “Storytelling is time when you need a community to talk and discuss about storytelling People participating is a sign of community.”

·      “The story I chose was Anansi’s Six Sons. This story tells us that to have a good community everyone has to do their part. All of Anansi’s sons helped him in their own way...”

·      “A story that involved community was Tipingee. When the girls teamed up and saved Tipingee from becoming a servant, they worked together as one little community.”

·      “Most storys (sic) or folk-tales are about a community coming together or working together just like a community would. The things we need to have to have a successful community is another thing we learned from storytelling. Story telling helped us learn more about communitys (sic) work and how important it is to have a successful community.”

·       “I think we have changed in a happy way because we enjoy storytelling and love hearing the fun stories and activities we do. That’s why I think storytelling has changed our classroom and also we learned about different cultures.”

·     

Sarah Satkowski (teacher) This was written in the time, at the same time, allotted to students.

     “Over the three storytelling sessions with Julie and Paula I think that our classroom community has changed dramatically. To begin, I feel that listening to stories leveled the playing field and really allowed everyone equal access to understanding and engagement. The content of the stories we heard facilitated conversations around many of the pillars of community and allowed us to examine our roles in communities. I believe the most challenging aspect of this experience has been our willingness to share, increased comfort level with one another and our ability to empathize. (Something that is often sorely missed in middle school.)

     Overall--- I think we are all better community members because of storytelling.”

Post by Julie Della Torre

It's All About Community

It’s the beginning of a new school year. Classroom teachers  are considering the building of healthy classroom communities, a spaces that works for everyone. A number of us here at SAI have been hired to work at a school that is welcoming a whole new sixth grade student body along with a few new sixth grade teachers. Everyone is talking about forging strong communities in the school as well as the classroom.

Each storyteller will be paired with an individual teacher for three storytelling sessions. The purpose and goals of these workshops are to introduce students to the art of storytelling, the structures and components of storytelling and how stories are conveyed in a myriad of ways. We will be telling stories and demonstrating how comprehension and emotion are conveyed through such things as voice, facial expression, body movement, specific vocabulary, sentence construction, etc. At the conclusion of the workshops, the students will produce a piece of writing which the classroom teacher and the storyteller will develop collaboratively.

We have been asked to frame our workshops around the concept of community. Hmmm. Personally, I can’t wait to talk with my teacher to find out how she defines, discusses and works with ‘community’. Will she focus on community values, community rules, community support, and individual responsibilitiesin a community? There are so many ways to contemplate community.

Of course stories are the perfect vehicle to look at community. All stories have come out of community. Storytelling is a community event. I've spent the summer trying to find a way to narrow my list of stories in order to choose the perfect few ‘community’ stories I will tell.

As it happens, one of my summer reads was Radiance of Tomorrow by Ishmael Beah. One theme the book explores is ways of rebuilding a community devastated and dispersed by war. One of the ways evoked is through storytelling and keeping the stories of the community. An elder woman, Mama Kadie, the community's story keeper, mentors Oumu, a young girl.  “It isn’t about knowing the most stories, child, it is about carrying the ones that are most important and passing them along. I have already decided to tell you all the stories I carry.” (p35)

A powerful scene in the book occurs when the children of the village find a dead body in the river... the river where they go to bathe and get drinking water. That night all gather as Mama Kadie tells a story of the water spirits and how they behave. All listening are trying to make sense of the horror of the day.

Another book I read this summer was Heroes and Heroines by Mary Beck. This is a collection of Tinglit Haida legends. Beck writes in her Forward:

"The myths and legends were told and retold at potlatches, less formal gatherings, as family pastimes, even as bedtime stories. But their entertainment value was secondary. Here, as elsewhere, the important function of myth and legend was to pass the knowledge and traditions, morals and mores from the old to the young, maintain social cohesion and continuity, keep the culture alive and flourishing... In their parallels to the myths and legends of other cultures, they reinforce the one-world concept. Through them we see that human needs, reactions and values are essentially the same everywhere, and that human beings, wherever they live, have found similar ways of explaining life and transmitting their concepts." (Ix, x)

So, in the service of building a narrative community, which stories will I pass on? Which stories will best illustrate the benefits and difficulties of living in a community? Which stories will provoke engaged discussions around the various aspects of community?

We storytellers must keep in mind that we are NOT teaching ‘community.’ That is the role of the teachers. We are teaching the communication skills inherent in the oral art of storytelling. However, as professional storytellers we can search out and choose stories that complement, enhance and extend  the work of the teachers.

Two stories come to mind right away. One is ‘Stone Soup’ and all of its variants. Here is a story that reveals the deliciousness of collaboration and working together in community. The other is Aesop’s ‘The Ant and the Grasshopper’ or it’s literary cousin, Fredrick by Lionni.  What are an individual’s responsibilities in society? What is equal pay for equal work? How do we handle those who may not  be ideal community members?

Excellent discussions of both Stone Soup and Fredrick can be found at the site TeachingChildrenPhilosophy.org.

I would love to hear what others are thinking about ‘community’ and what stories are rolling around in their minds. Please respond.

Julie Della Torre