March is Reading Month 2012, Tip #11: Storytelling!

Storytelling!

Last year, I wrote about using your hand to follow a story arc when telling a story.  It's my favorite trick for writing narratives and also for scaffolding retellings. But today, I was thinking about my absolute favorite storyteller: my Pappap. Granted, if you asked him to tell a story during a Pirate's game, he'd say "I'll tell you a story about Jack McGlory, and now my story's begun. I'll tell you another, about his brother, and now my story is done."

But if it was story time, he would tell some doozies. He told them over and over again- and it was fun to hear what changed and what stayed the same. Most of his stories were about his grandchildren. I wish I had asked him more about his own stories, too. I don't think Pap ever knew how much he taught me about being a writing teacher.

March is Reading Month, Tip #11: Storytelling!

Storytelling!

Storytelling is a fabulous way to nurture a reading and writing life! One trick that I use as a writing teacher is to tell a story across my hand, starting at my thumb. Following your five fingers across your hand naturally creates a story arc . It's such a handy trick. (Oooh- that was a bad one.)

The flexibility of telling a story across your hand is amazing: for a small child, sentences can even be broken into phrases and stretched across your hand, working up to a few sentences, and then a few paragraphs per finger. And you always have your hand with you! Also, adding to a familiar story is a great way to experience revision.

This is a little story I tell over my fingers to Claudia. (She loves stories from when she was a baby.) My thumb is number one and my pinkie is five. Telling a story across my hand helps me keep on track and follow a clear story structure.

Creaky Gran
1- We walked into the living room. Gran put out some toys.
2- Claudia and Francis sat down and played with the toy cars, rolling them on the road rug.
3- Claudia looked up at Gran with her big eyes and then tapped the floor. “Do you want me to sit down?” said Gran and then she sat down on the floor to play.
4- When it was time to get up, Gran was stuck.
5- I held her hands to pull her up off the floor and Francis pushed up her backside. “My old bones get a little creaky these days, “ said Gran.

The dinner table, waiting rooms, bedtime, and bath time are big storytelling opportunities for our family. And tonight, after the kids are in bed and Mr. TRWH has started the dishes, I will go to the Ann Arbor DIstrict library for a storytelling event: the First Story Collider Event outside of NYC! Everyone loves a good story.

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions

I think Writing Workshops are fabulous in Kindergarten. (I started mine the first day of Kindergarten.) I think making books by putting ourselves on the page is an important thing for little ones to do. But in my work- and sometimes at my house- I am seeing kids needing more oral language storytelling experiences to both help them write and communicate their hopes and dreams. I do not think that holding off on the workshop is the way to go; I think we should teach (and celebrate) writing and storytelling along side each other.

Playing and storytelling will help them write. And think. And grow. And have a good time.

So today, I am making some decisions:
A decision to read more.
A decision to tell more stories.
A decision to listen to more stories.
A decision to facilitate extended periods of time for play, both independent and in a group (2 or more).
A decision to scaffold storytelling with my children.
A decision to cultivate a cadre of family stories.
A decision to be "checked in" when I am with my children.
A decision to participate in dinner conversation, even when dinner is at 4:30 or 5:00, and even if I am exhausted.
And also a decision to better nurture my own reading, writing, and storytelling.

And a constant reminder that the dramatic "scene" work we have with towns, roads, train tracks, and action figures is the very valuable work for a reader and writer (and should be left up for a period of extended play). Literacy is not just interacting with text: it's experiencing life and making meaning.