First
Edition
READ ALL ABOUT
IT!!!!!!!
Spring 2004
Storytelling is a useful tool for teens
working with young children
The three-year-old you are baby
sitting won't stop crying. The
group of
campers you are in charge of are not looking forward to an overnight
camp out. The handful of second graders you tutor are bored out of
their
minds.
What do these situations have in common?
A lot.
If you are a baby sitter, camp counselor, volunteer or tutor, these
situations will be familiar.
What can a teen like you do about it?
A lot.
Storytelling, believe it or not can help tackle tough situations like
these and turn them in your favor. A restless three-year-old might calm
down with a soothing bedtime story. And the unhappy campers going on a
camp out? Prime them with a story and promise more by the campfire.
What
about the bored second graders? A story can spruce up a lesson about
anything.
Guess what you already are. Really. The daily casual conversations you
have about friends, family,
boyfriends, girlfriends, even your excuse to your parents about why you
didn't get your chores done are stories.
Which makes you, you guessed it storyteller. Now that you know you
have the ability, there are some important details for you to be aware
of that can make the storytelling experience enjoyable for you
(the teller) and your audience (the listeners).
The best part about this is that you
don't have to memorize the story.
All you need to know are the “bones” or the main structure of the
story. The details can always be “fleshed out” by you. Don't worry if
your story doesn't sound exactly like the author wrote it. It doesn't
have to. One of the most enjoyable parts of being a storyteller is that
you get make the story your own. So use your own imagination.
You can practice telling your story
any way that you feel comfortable.
Some people like to use a tape recorder or video camera and play back
how they sound or look. Others like to practice telling to photos of
friends or family. You can even practice telling to your polite and
nonjudgmental stuffed
animals!
You can practice telling over the phone or in front of a
mirror, in the shower, or in the car on the way to school.
The choice is up to you.
You'll be surprised at how much fun it is to practice and how much more
fun it is to tell.
Ready
to Tell
Don't be nervous. Remember you
aren't relating a memorized version of a
story. You are simply communicating a story you love and sharing it
with a group of children. No pressure.
What happens if you're having a bad
hair day or you mess up the story?
No biggie. Just keep telling. If you
are telling a tale you love, the
audience will already be swept up in the story itself; concentrating on
the
visual images you are painting for them. You won't be the focus, the
story will. If you forget an important detail, don't sweat it. Don't
stop the story or apologize. Just casually fill in the blank and keep
the story going. A good way to do this is the ever popular “Well,
everyone knew that…” or “Now, I should have reminded you that….”.
Pauses are also good to use if you need time to think about what comes
next in your telling. Pauses can help build suspense in stories and
prepare the audience for an especially dramatic part of a tale. They
are a natural part of the storytelling experience. Use pauses to your
advantage.
Ok. I've got the storytelling part
down, but what do I do with the rest
of me?
Depending on the type of tale you are
telling you may or may not want
to use gestures. Storytelling doesn't have to be turned into a dramatic
performance to be effective. Let the story be the focus. Gestures or
body language should add to the story (if you choose to use them) not
distract the audience. Practicing in front of a mirror or using a video
camera can also help you see what movements might naturally work with
the story you are sharing. Subtly is key here. Don't go overboard. Eye
contact is also important. You can refocus restless kids and hold your
audience's attention by looking listeners right in the eye.
Remember to look all the listeners in the eye, not just one kid in
the group. The story is for everyone and you probably don't want to
freak anyone out here.
Types of Stories
Not sure what types of stories to
tell?
Here are some
popular types of tales
to share with youngsters.
Folk
tales
American Folklore Ghost stories, Tall tales, State folk
tales and more! This site features
retelling of American folk tales collected from all 50 states. http://www.americanfolklore.net/
Children's Literature – Resources for
Storytellers http://www.ucalgary.ca/~dkbrown/rstory.html This site is compiled by a librarian
and offers a list of web sites that
cater to storytellers who tell to kids.
Stories, Folklore, and Fairy Tales
Theme Page This site lists other web sites that
are useful for choosing tales to
tell according to type and theme. http://www.cln.org/themes/fairytales.html
Other
Tale Types to Tell
See page 4(includes links to poetry, jump rope
chants, jokes
& tongue twisters, scary stories & more!)
Extension
Ideas
Extension activities can help
kids respond to a story or leave them with a special memory of the
story you
told. Here are some ideas:
Mementos can be given at the end of a story
that tie into its
theme.
For example: If you are
telling story like The Carrot Seed
by
Ruth Krause you can give out seeds for kids to plant at home. Passing
out cookies after telling If You
Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Joffe
Numeroff is another idea.
Craft activities
Examples:
If you told The
Fat Cat: A Danish Folk Tale by
Jack Kent you could
extend the story by having the children make hand puppets out of brown
lunch bags that mimic the cat that eats everything and everyone in
sight!
After telling
Bringing the Rain to Kapiti
Plain: A Nandi Tale by
Verna Aardema you can help children make rain sticks out of paper towel
rolls, packing tape rice and paint.
Art projects
.
Examples:
Children can use crayons, markers, finger
paints, or watercolors
to draw a response to a favorite story. If you told a story about
winter you can use cotton balls and cotton swabs to add detail to
pictures.
If you told Millions of Cats by Wanda
Gag you could have the
children cut out pictures of cats from magazines, newspapers,
etc., and make a millions of cats collage.
Creative Writing
Examples: making their own story based on the
one they heard
or write a continuation of a story or supply a different ending
to the one they heard.
Sources: kid stuff! Easy craft
activities and projects for kids
http://www.make-stuff.com/kids/index.html, MacDonald, M.R. (1993).
The Storyteller's Start-Up Book. Little Rock, AR: August House
Publishers, Cooper, C.H. (1998). The Storyteller's Cornucopia. Fort
Atkinson, WI: Alleyside Press, Raines, S.C., & Canady, R.J. (1989).
Story Stretchers Activities to Expand Children's Favorite Books. Mt.
Rainier, MD: Gryphon House.
Need ideas to take storytelling a
step further ?
Check out these print and
web resources (see page 5)
Stories are to share and tell.
While we encourage the art of sharing
stories, we want to encourage respect in our community. You deserve
respect, respect others.
A storyteller's personal, family, and
original stories are her/his
copyrighted property. It is unethical and illegal to tell another
person's original, personal, and/or family stories without the
permission of the author/storyteller.
Folklore and folk tales are owned by
the public, but a specific version
told by an individual teller or found in a collection is the author's
or teller's copyrighted property. If you like a folk tale a storyteller
has told, ask that teller for a reference or where it can be found.
Research the story by finding other versions, and then tell it your
way.
Published literary tales and poetry
are copyrighted material. They may
be told at informal story swaps, but when you tell another's story in a
paid professional setting, you need to research copyright law.
When telling anywhere, it is common
courtesy to credit the source of
your story.
If you hear anyone breaking these
rules of etiquette, it is your
responsibility to discuss the rules with them and to tell the
storyteller whose tales they are telling.
Pass stories, share stories, and
encourage respect within the
storytelling community. Please feel free to copy this etiquette
statement and pass it out or read it at storytelling events. This etiquette statement was compiled
by Barbara Griffin, Olga Loya,
Sandra MacLees, Nancy Schimmel, Harlynne Geisler , and Kathleen Zunde.
Source: http://www.eldrbarry.net/rabb/joy.htm#etiq
Keeping
Track
By the time you start telling
your first story, you'll be eager to
learn another and another and another... Sure your memory seems ok now, but
there's something you can do to
ensure you can keep track of the fabulous stories you tell now and the
stories you might be dying to tell later. What can you do? Keep a story
file.
You can keep track of the stories you have told by writing down
important
information about the story (title, source information, age range, and
brief description) on index cards, in a notebook, on a computer, it's
up to you. Now when a child you know begs for a favorite story you'll
have all the information you need to remember just which one he/she is
talking about.
Extra
! Extra !
Still want to do more with
storytelling? Check out this link to Voices Across
America, an organization focused
on promoting storytelling clubs for youth in schools and communities
nationwide. http://members.cnetech.com/kctells/
Sources:
Cooper, C.H. (1998). The Storyteller's
Cornucopia. Fort Atkinson, WI: Alleyside Press and Harrison; Schimmel,
N. (1992). Just Enough To Make A Story. Sisters’Choice Press.
MacDonald, M.R. (1993). The Storyteller’s Start-Up Book. Little Rock,
AR: August House Publishers.
Types of Stories 
Source
Etiquette 