Blog Post #6 - Reading Reflection #2

Storytelling - Program Planning

Reading Reflection #2

Throughout this learning process and storytelling experiences, the one thing that has become crystal clear is that storytelling requires time and planning, as well as a knowledge of materials and resources. You not only need to determine the story to be shared, but where the reading will occur, what audience the reading is geared towards, the use of props (or not), and how to "provide the opportunity to engage all members of the family in a literacy activity (Haver, 2014, p 214).  On top of all of this, you have to be able to read your audience and be able to make adjustments, if needed.  This requires the librarian to have more than one "trick up their sleeve".  

With storytelling, it is important within the planning stage to lay out the plan for the year.  While making this plan, the storytelling librarian needs to make sure that their program is inclusive.  Students and parents should be able to see their families and children represented.  Some excellent websites to reference are 1000 Black Girl Books Resource Guide, Inclusive Story Time, and Every Child Ready to Read (Preschool Children with Special Needs).  Family Reading Nights are a great way to partner with teachers and school parent organizations to promote reading, encourage a school/family partnership, and model good story time and reading ideas to be replicated at home.  Pinterest can supply a plethora of ideas: Parent Reading Nights.  The idea of storytelling and planning events is an exciting aspect for me, as a perspective school librarian.  The challenge to these grand ideas is encouraging the adult participation, including other teachers and parents.  Margaret Haver points out that "marketing" is key to ensure the success of programs (Haver, 2014, pp. 214-216). One such local Charleston program to encourage the family is through our local minor league baseball team: Charleston Riverdogs - Read Around the Bases.  Here are other local Charleston County/Berkeley County reading program resources:  Charleston and Berkeley County Reading Partners.

Another challenge with story telling, especially within the home, is allowing children/students to have a hand in selecting the materials, especially for older students.  Susan Grigsby encourages "fostering independence" and having students to create personal bibliographies (Grigsby, 2014, pg. 23).  With this knowledge in hand, the school librarian can build and create a collection that represents the students.  This gives students ownership over the stories read and shared, which increases student buy in and interest in reading.  Student survey resources:  Knowledge Quest: Survey the Students and Free Digital Reading Interest Surveys.

Another challenge is to encourage students and patrons to become the storytellers.  Digital storytelling is a great resource that has garnered a needed quality through the COVID pandemic.  Through the digital storytelling experience, a wide array of resources like WeVideo, Powtoon, StoryBird, and StoryJumper, just to name a few, have been introduced to a new group of storytellers, including myself.  The use of digital storytelling may be one answer to encourage the struggling reader and writer.  Another idea to grab the struggling or shy reader is the idea of an audience not of the "human-nature".  Paws for People: Paws for Reading is a program that has been used in hospital and schools alike.  

Local Charleston Area Reading Programs:

Local Connection - Charleston Animal Society (Paws for People)

Wrapping up our readings and lectures with Module 11 - Program Planning, it seems like a natural progression from the first weeks and modules.  Storytelling is an area that I feel that I thrive and hope to hone over the years.  There will never be a replacement for our beloved read alouds, but opens the way for new digital and creative means.  As stated before, planning is key, as well as knowing your audience.  

LIST OF FUN FOLKTALES TO SHARE:

Anansi Goes Fishing - AFRICA http://www.storyarts.org/library/nutshell/stories/anansi.html 

Li Chi Slays the Serpent - ASIA  https://dlwstoryteller.com/li-chi-slays-the-serpent/ 

The Calabash of Poi - THE PACIFIC  https://www.learningtogive.org/resources/calabash-poi 

The King with Horse Ears - EUROPE (Irish) - https://spellbinders.org/the-king-with-horses-ears/ 

Mariana and the Merchild - S.America (Chile) -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezf8hZB5D_U  

Maushop the Good Giant - N.America (Native American) - http://geowonderland.blogspot.com/2015/10/maushop-good-giant-native-american.html

Reference

Grigsby, S. (2014, September/October). The story is more important than the             words: A portrait of a reader-focused library program. Knowledge Quest:             Trends and Foundations: A Closer Look. 43(1), 22-28.  

Haver, M. (2014). Books, children, dogs, artists: Library programs for the entire                family. Medical Reference Services Quarterly, 33(2), 211-217.                                          https://doi.org/10.1080/02763869.2014.897523.

Blog Post #5 - Storytelling Reflection #2 - Interactive

 

Interactive Storytelling Reflection

That's Good!  That's Bad!

Last storytelling experience - That's Good, That's Bad - Storytelling Experience #4

With my previous storytelling experiences, I have come to feel that all storytelling has the capacity to be interactive, in some form or fashion.  I would say that three of the four stories that I have completed through this learning experience have lent themselves to be interactive whether with or without a book and/or props.  Including the audience in the experience is key to good storytelling experiences.

To select my final story for my interactive experience, I decided to select a children's fiction picture book, as this genre lends itself to a more interactive experience.  The selection process for my final storytelling was a trip down memory lane.  During this storytelling experiences, I have come to realize that  good literature and good storytelling have this effect of past connections to the literature.  In looking back, I turned to favorites from my experiences with my own children and past classes, which brought several stories to mind:  Chick-A-Chick-A-Boom-Boom, Is Your Mama a Llama?, and Froggy Goes to Bed.  Looking through our "family library" of books, That's Good! That's Bad! popped out and I knew I had a winner.

With this experience, I decided to attempt my first live storytelling.  This was a new challenge and required a pre-prompting of expectations, along with a very simple visual of the interactive reading response on the board.  My main concern with this new challenge, I had to be aware that my audience may not be as engaged with the book as younger students, but this was not the case.  It excited me to see how engaged my 6th graders were with this simple text.   As with previous reading, I did want to point out a learning standard or example, in this case onomatopoeia, which my students were able to define and recognize in a non-threatening manner.  This proves that there continues to be a place for read-alouds, even in the upper grades. 

In doing some searches about interactive read-alouds, I came across this excellent resource for grade levels K-7.  This website provides a lesson matrix that connect to standards in comprehension, structural elements, vocabulary and literary language, literary elements and devices, genre, and writing traits. Heinemann Interactive Read Alouds  What a great way to give precise examples of reading and writing standards in a non-threatening and engaging way.  

While looking for clip art for my blog, I was surprised to find out that Margery Cuyler's book from 1993 has three sequels:

That's Good, That's Bad in the Grand Canyon  (2002)

That's Good, That's Bad in Washington, DC  (2007)

That's Good, That's Bad on Santa's Journey  (2009)

This gave me the idea of having students create their own experiences and research of a historical event, place, etc through this non-threatening manner.  What a great way to teach how to hook your reader and engaging them in learning new content.  

Plus, I also found this similarly written text, but not by the same author or illustrator. 

There is so much value in the read aloud and we, as educators, must not assume that students are too old for a good read aloud, even if they are picture books.  As I said previously, I was able to take a walk down memory lane, why shouldn't we share that journey with our students.