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

Follow Up: Teachers Reflect on Their Experiences

About three weeks ago, Julie and I were finally able to schedule the final workshop with the teachers we have been mentoring since December. This workshop was postponed for over a month because of weather and other scheduling problems in the school. When we came together, teachers were clearly enjoying their down time, talking about personal issues, illnesses, car trouble, etc. It reminded me of the very first workshop we taught at the school, except with no teacher nerves. Everyone seemed relaxed. We began by asking teachers if there had been any connection to the storytelling lessons since our last student workshops. SM, the fifth grade social studies teacher, said that she is currently teaching about slavery and the Underground Railroad and her students continuously refer to The People Could Fly. DM, the 5^th grade ELA teacher, said that she thinks her students are more aware of descriptive language in everything the read and write. Other teachers commented on positive changes in their students that they attribute to the Storytelling Program. Many of them also mentioned that they believed they had changed as a result of their storytelling experiences.

After the discussion, Julie and I did some storytelling. I told The Three Languages and Julie told Juan Bobo and the Pig. These stories, as we hoped they would, invoked a discussion about learning styles and the fact that students who don’t excel academically are usually capable of learning and, even, excelling in other areas.

Next, we asked teachers to write a detailed assessment of the program. What follows are some excerpts from my teachers’ assessments.

SP (Special Ed, push-in support in Grade 6 ELA)

Storytelling Arts – or how I learned to get over myself and bring whimsy and critical thinking to my classroom. I wasn’t sure what to make of a workshop called “Storytelling Arts” and I wasn’t sure if it would really apply to the older grades. I was sure that I would never be able to do it, myself. I have avoided the stage since I bombed that drama audition my freshman year in high school…

The biggest surprise – no, relief – was how these two great storytellers managed to create a safe space and encouraging environment that allayed my stage fright and made me feel comfortable in taking on the storyteller role myself… I appreciated the careful progression of support, how the steps of the workshop unfolded slowly and with a great deal of encouragement and support with helpful feedback. I did not think I could do this, but I’m now actually excited to try it in other classes.

The students in my class were challenging listeners and have difficulty focusing, even for Storytelling Arts, but they really seemed to enjoy having the stories and responding to them. They could hardly wait to talk about the various story elements and to make connections to their lives and stories and movies they know. When there was a comprehension issue in storytelling, questions could be addressed immediately. There is no flipping back to page 82 or rewinding a video or audio, and the story action could be rephrased immediately. The story is dynamic, no static.

A surprising and exciting development was how, unprompted, some of the students became storytellers, themselves. They wanted to share narratives or anecdotes, even students who are shy and/or reluctant writers wanted to share something. It also provides an outlet for outgoing, “look at me” students.

MW (Grade 6 ELA)

The Storytelling Arts program has brought joy to my LAL classroom in several ways. My students have voiced individual feelings in a warm and caring environment, enjoyed mesmerizing stories told by Paula and myself, and showed pride in making connections with their new found knowledge. The ability to “hear” each child’s voice and to address everyone’s needs in an accountable talk wrap-up was a valuable time to learn about each other, as well as hone communication skills. The stories we told were a part of a larger thematic unit and students’ knowledge was apparent as the unit progressed.

Students were constantly writing and speaking about the universal themes in our Dream/Sleep unit. I found it interesting that words and phrases which were only used during oral time, later appeared in students’ writing.

I now tell stories with ease, almost daily. I feel comfortable telling a short, symbolic tale to start off a lesson and my students love to hear me tell them.

SM (Grade 5 Social Studies)

I was pleasantly surprised by how much the students learned through storytelling… Through storytelling, we were able to connect it to what we were learning in Social Studies. It is a way for the students to be able to visualize examples of what was going on during the times of slavery. For example, the story, The People Could Fly, helped students get an idea of how slaves were treated. It also helped them to hear figurative language, use context clues, and determine the meaning of phrases. I thought it was wonderful how one story could cover many aspects of learning.

Not only is storytelling a great way to connect content, but it also helped with teaching the students about being good and doing good for others. This is so important with students at this age and teaching them through storytelling helps them to remember and apply it into their everyday lives.

DM (Grade 5 ELA)

The Storytelling Arts program opens a door to learning that benefit the students in several ways. It helps them improve their listening skills, it allows them to build visualization skills, and it encourages creative thinking. All of these aspects of learning are extremely important in the development of well-rounded children.

As the storytelling program began, I admit I was skeptical as to the success of its implementation. Many of the children find it difficult to listen for any length of time, so how would they react when asked to sit still and absorb a story? I was pleasantly surprised when I noticed that the kid who usually have the worst time with these activities paid the most attention to the stories, and easily remembered the details and concepts from the narrative! I will definitely use storytelling in my curriculum to improve listening skills.

Also I found that the students had an easier time visualizing aspects of the stories they heard when compared to just reading text. They remembered details and important content without much reinforcement. Finally, I was most encouraged by how much my children’s’ creativity was enhanced by the stories. They were eager to include similar elements and details in their own writing and they were more confident in their own storytelling.

EZ (resource, special education in grades 4 and 5 ELA)

Storytelling was a magical experience for me, both as a listener and a teller. It has touched my inner spirit and has led me on a path toward something I may want to do in the future as I venture towards retirement from thirty-four years of teaching. As a listener, I was impressed by how engaging the stories were… I was skeptical that students would relate to stories or find them “hokey.” Their receptive engagement, however, was heart warming. It seems they were even better engaged when the stories were told to them rather than read aloud. (As a support teacher, I do a lot of reading of the passages aloud.

The lessons that correlated with the stories were amazing. Writing a “stop action” description piece really helped the students with writing descriptively, with rich details that gave a clearer picture of the tale.

Teachers also made suggestions for improving the program

SP: In retrospect, if I could ask for anything more, I think I would, perhaps, have only requested a packet. Perhaps it is ironic that I am asking for print … but I sometimes regretted the quality of my own notes and could no find the title of the story, book, or resource I remembered mentioned.

SM: The only criticism I have is the way it ended. I felt there was not an exact closure for the students… a small project, or if they could create or learn a story to tell to the class groups.         

DM: There is one aspect of the program I would change and that is having the (teacher) workshop sessions scheduled during class time. Although I thoroughly enjoyed those meetings, the disruption to the classes I teach was a major challenge to address. Overall, I would recommend this program because I believe the benefits far outweigh the scheduling issues. When my most reluctant learners are excited about language arts, then I know my time is invested well.

We ended the workshop with stories about storytelling. Although this was our last teacher workshop of the year, it was not the program’s culminating event. That will take place in June when these focus teachers present ‘fishbowl’ sessions in which their peers will observe as they model storytelling lessons with their students. We are also in the process of planning a follow-up program for next year.

Making Time for Success

     

 

Illustration by A.B. Frost

When I walked into the fifth grade classroom on January 16^th, the students cheered, “Yay, we have storytelling!” They were not mistaken. There was going to be storytelling in their class that period but, although I had been their storyteller for over a month, I would not be telling. I took an audience seat at the back of the room to listen as their English Language Arts teacher took the stage to perform a rollicking interpretation of Br’er Rabbit and the Tar Baby. No one who walked into the room during that telling would have guessed that the woman in front of the class was not the professional storyteller. She moved naturally in the tale, changing posture and voice to create characters, and building the story landscape with a turn of her head or a sweep of her arm. The performance was flawless.

And it didn’t end with the story. After receiving accolades from her class, the teacher began the lesson she had designed to follow the telling, a lesson that incorporated aspects of the fifth grade literature, writing, and social studies curricula. Students discussed the story with their teacher, and then with each other in small groups. Each group talked and wrote about some aspect of the story. How did the story motifs and archetypes compare or contrast to those in other Trickster tales? Why was Trickster such an important character in African American slave stories? What is Trickster’s power?

During the next period of the day, a sixth grade history teacher leaned comfortably against her desk to tell her students the myth of Sedna, the Inuit goddess of the Underworld. Her movements were sparse, her voice expressive, but calm. Her style of telling was completely different but that of her fifth grade colleague, but again, the telling was flawless. Students sat motionless. Every eye was on their teacher teller. At the terrifying climax of the tale, it seemed as if every breath was suspended, then exhaled in concert as Sedna settled at the bottom of the sea to rule her new kingdom. This lesson also ended with an activity that was designed to both extend the story and address the teacher’s other instructional objectives.

Similar scenes were played out that day in kindergarten and fourth grade classrooms where teachers were using oral storytelling to enrich student learning. The lessons were part of a project funded by the Countess Moira Foundation and designed and implemented by Storytelling Arts artists. In early December, Julie Dellatorre and I began teaching and mentoring a group of elementary school teachers who had been selected by their principal to pilot a program designed to teach them to use oral storytelling and traditional tales to deepen student learning.

On the day we first met them, some of these teachers were apprehensive about the amount of time the project might take from their other teaching responsibilities. We assured them that they would be able to use what we were teaching to help them meet their instructional objectives, and then we told them stories. Julie began with Young Kate by Eleanor Farjeon. When the story ended, there was a moment of silence followed by a rush of conversation. The teachers were hooked. As the project progressed, their enthusiasm did not wane. They learned to tell stories, selected stories, and embedded storytelling in their lesson plans. For me, the project produced a perfect collaboration between teaching artist and classroom teachers. We taught and learned from each other and, as in all good collaborations, the whole was much more than the parts. I found myself delving more deeply into the stories I was researching and learning. The experience has improved my own telling in all of the workshops I’ve been teaching this winter.

So, what made this project work? I have been involved in many residencies that were designed and taught by good teachers and artists, and although they have all been successful on some level, I don’t think that they have given me the sense of accomplishment I feel in this project. That’s not to say we haven’t had faced obstacles. The project site shares the problems of many urban schools: low student performance, conflicting and confusing top-down mandates to building administrators and teachers, and the ever-present pressure imposed by the status of standardized student assessments. Then there was the weather. Most of our workshops were scheduled during the deep freeze that has ushered in this new year. Two or three days were postponed because of snow, and because of this, the two culminating events of the project have yet to be rescheduled. But in spite of these frustrations, my spirits are high.

I think that the two most important factor in this project’s success were the understanding of our funders that successful arts education programs take time, and the willingness of the school administrator to arrange a schedule that gave us adequate time for teacher education in and out of the classroom. The main goal of this project was professional development: giving teachers the skills necessary to be successful teacher tellers. To accomplish this, we planned teacher workshops at the beginning, middle, and end of the residency. In between teacher workshops, Julie and I worked with the teachers for fifteen days in their classrooms. Teacher workshops and classroom lessons were designed to scaffold teacher education. In the first five student workshops, Julie and I modeled our craft, in the second five, we collaborated with teachers to plan and implement workshops, and in the last five, classroom teachers did most of the telling and all of the planning. The final – yet to be accomplished – activity will be a day of fishbowl lessons modeled by our focus teachers for their colleagues who were not involved in the project. The model lessons will be supplemented by a professional development workshop taught by Storytelling Arts artists, Julie Pasqual and Gerald Fierst.

Although the two factors mentioned above may be most important in this project’s success, there are other things that made it strong. They are, in two words, collaboration and communication: involvement of more than one artist and collaboration between teaching artists through every stage of the process, from initial planning to the final assessment; ongoing communication between the arts organization administrator, the school administrator, and the artists; thoughtful selection of participating teachers by the school administrator; and true collaboration between classroom teachers and teaching artists.  

Also, the ultimate success of a project like this takes years. During this first year, Julie and I have learned things about the school culture that will help us improve a second year program. Then, as every storyteller knows, it takes three times to get it perfect. I have my fingers crossed.