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The art of storytelling is probably is old as the use of language. Before the development of writing, stories were passed down by word of mouth, forming a tradition of oral literature. It takes imagination to tell stories and, of course, imagination to listen.
Sample some of the following activities to learn more about storytelling.
People
To See Things To Do Teacher
Resources Bibliography
Places To GoThe following are places to go (some real and some virtual) to find out about storytelling.
American Folklore
Virtually travel to the American South of the 1800s and explore the origin of the Brer Rabbit tales. They had their roots in Africa. Most slaves captured in Africa and transported to the Americas brought nothing with them but their language, histories, and the stories they had heard all their lives in Africa. African folktales generally contained animals as their principal characters. Tales from Africa that had once contained elephants, hyenas, and lions morphed into American tales that contained rabbits, bears, and foxes and became known as the Brer Rabbit stories.
Virtually travel to the American South of the 1800s and explore the origin of the Brer Rabbit tales. They had their roots in Africa. Most slaves captured in Africa and transported to the Americas brought nothing with them but their language, histories, and the stories they had heard all their lives in Africa. African folktales generally contained animals as their principal characters. Tales from Africa that had once contained elephants, hyenas, and lions morphed into American tales that contained rabbits, bears, and foxes and became known as the Brer Rabbit stories.
Arabian Nights
Travel to ancient Persia and revisit the tale of Scheherazade. She is the young woman in the tale, One Thousand and One Nights. In this story, the king of Persia had developed a bad habit of marrying a young woman, spending one night with her, and then beheading her and marrying a new person. Scheherazade was the lovely young girl whose storytelling skills were so superb that she kept the king entertained night after night with her fascinating tales so that he didn’t have the heart to cut off her head. One Thousand and One Nights contains such well-known tales as Sinbad the Sailor, Ali-Baba and the Forty Thieves, and Aladdin and His Magic Lamp.
Travel to ancient Persia and revisit the tale of Scheherazade. She is the young woman in the tale, One Thousand and One Nights. In this story, the king of Persia had developed a bad habit of marrying a young woman, spending one night with her, and then beheading her and marrying a new person. Scheherazade was the lovely young girl whose storytelling skills were so superb that she kept the king entertained night after night with her fascinating tales so that he didn’t have the heart to cut off her head. One Thousand and One Nights contains such well-known tales as Sinbad the Sailor, Ali-Baba and the Forty Thieves, and Aladdin and His Magic Lamp.
Der Struwwelpeter (Shaggy Peter)
Travel to Germany in the 1800s and listen to the Struwwelpeter stories. The goal of these children’s stories was to teach good manners and lessons of appropriate behavior. By today’s standards, they are somewhat shocking as well as amusing.
Travel to Germany in the 1800s and listen to the Struwwelpeter stories. The goal of these children’s stories was to teach good manners and lessons of appropriate behavior. By today’s standards, they are somewhat shocking as well as amusing.
Keepers of History
Travel to west Africa and meet individuals called griots. Male griots and female griottes have the important role of being official storytellers for their cultures. They know and tell the history of their people in pure oral tradition. It is their job to keep their people’s history and culture alive.
Travel to west Africa and meet individuals called griots. Male griots and female griottes have the important role of being official storytellers for their cultures. They know and tell the history of their people in pure oral tradition. It is their job to keep their people’s history and culture alive.
Kiss The Blarney Stone
To become a great storyteller, travel to Ireland and visit the Blarney Stone. If you kiss the Blarney Stone, you will receive the gift of eloquence.
To become a great storyteller, travel to Ireland and visit the Blarney Stone. If you kiss the Blarney Stone, you will receive the gift of eloquence.
The Moonlit
Road
Tip toe down the Moonlit Road. It's a collection of scary stories from the American south told by professional storytellers.
Tip toe down the Moonlit Road. It's a collection of scary stories from the American south told by professional storytellers.
National
Storytelling Festival
Travel to the National Storytelling Festival and rub shoulders with the best.
Travel to the National Storytelling Festival and rub shoulders with the best.
Old-Fashioned Jump Rope Rhymes
Visit school playgrounds and listen to the stories of jump-rope rhymes.
Visit school playgrounds and listen to the stories of jump-rope rhymes.
Timpanogas Storytelling
Festival
Visit scenic Mt. Timpanogas and experience one of the best storytelling festivals in the U.S.
Visit scenic Mt. Timpanogas and experience one of the best storytelling festivals in the U.S.
Will Rogers
Visit the Will Rogers Historic Museum. He was a storyteller and entertainer from the early 1900s who told such good stories that he was able to captivate audiences across the United States. He told stories at the 1904 World’s Fair, on Broadway as part of the Ziegfield Follies, on his famous radio program, in a newspaper column, and at one-man sold-out performances.
Visit the Will Rogers Historic Museum. He was a storyteller and entertainer from the early 1900s who told such good stories that he was able to captivate audiences across the United States. He told stories at the 1904 World’s Fair, on Broadway as part of the Ziegfield Follies, on his famous radio program, in a newspaper column, and at one-man sold-out performances.
People To SeeBarry
McWilliams
Listen to the stories of Barry McWilliam. Find out about his storytelling techniques. His Effective Storytelling: A Manual for Beginners is an excellent resource with many applications to classroom teaching.
Listen to the stories of Barry McWilliam. Find out about his storytelling techniques. His Effective Storytelling: A Manual for Beginners is an excellent resource with many applications to classroom teaching.
The Call of Story
Visit with 6 prominent storytellers: Carmen Deedy, Syd Lieberman, Dovie Thomason-Sickles, Donald Davis, Waddie Mitchell, and Rex Ellis and get ideas for honing your storytelling skills.
Visit with 6 prominent storytellers: Carmen Deedy, Syd Lieberman, Dovie Thomason-Sickles, Donald Davis, Waddie Mitchell, and Rex Ellis and get ideas for honing your storytelling skills.
Jay O'Callahan -
Where Imagination Meets the Spoken Word
Meet Jay O'Callahan, professional storyteller. Read his advice on creating stories.
Meet Jay O'Callahan, professional storyteller. Read his advice on creating stories.
Things To DoAaron
Shepard's Storytelling Page
Resources for storytelling (or story telling), including the acclaimed series Gifts of Story.
Resources for storytelling (or story telling), including the acclaimed series Gifts of Story.
Best
Practices: Instructional Strategies and Techniques: Storytelling
Get motivated to have students tell stories. This site has tips to get them started as well as storytelling rubrics.
Get motivated to have students tell stories. This site has tips to get them started as well as storytelling rubrics.
By
Word of Mouth: A Storytelling Guide for the Classroom
Make plans to incorporate storytelling into language arts activities. "Storytelling is one of the most basic ways of sharing knowledge, of making sense of experiences, and of seeing oneself in relation to others. In the classroom, storytelling is an important activity with strong links to literacy."
Make plans to incorporate storytelling into language arts activities. "Storytelling is one of the most basic ways of sharing knowledge, of making sense of experiences, and of seeing oneself in relation to others. In the classroom, storytelling is an important activity with strong links to literacy."
Reaching
Students Through Storytelling
This site has some great ideas to help get students started. "Storytelling in the classroom provides an open door for children of all ages to reveal gifts and talents, insights and creativity, critical thinking and development of skills that help us all understand others. Storytelling adds depth that traditional methods of learning do not always inspire."
This site has some great ideas to help get students started. "Storytelling in the classroom provides an open door for children of all ages to reveal gifts and talents, insights and creativity, critical thinking and development of skills that help us all understand others. Storytelling adds depth that traditional methods of learning do not always inspire."
StoryArts
Educational Web site, designed for teachers, librarians, and students,explores the use of storytelling in the classroom to enhance speaking, listening, reading and writing skills.
Educational Web site, designed for teachers, librarians, and students,explores the use of storytelling in the classroom to enhance speaking, listening, reading and writing skills.
StoryTeller.Net
Storytelling is truly an art. Read style tips from professional storytellers and hear RealAudio clips of their stories.
Storytelling is truly an art. Read style tips from professional storytellers and hear RealAudio clips of their stories.
Storytelling
Concept to Remember
Storytelling helps children learn to listen, enlarges the listener's vocabulary, extends a student's knowledge of the worlds of fact and fantasy, stimulates the listener's imagination, and creates an appetite for words.
Storytelling helps children learn to listen, enlarges the listener's vocabulary, extends a student's knowledge of the worlds of fact and fantasy, stimulates the listener's imagination, and creates an appetite for words.
Teacher Resources Virtual Field Trips are teacher and student-created
tours of curricular topics. (You can learn how to use this UEN Virtual
Field Trip tool created by UEN for Utah educators).
Bibliography- Barton, Bob and Booth, David. Stories in the Classroom. Pembroke Publishers.1990
- Barton, Bob. Tell Me Another: Storytelling and Reading Aloud at Home, at School and in the Community. Pembroke Publishers. 1986
- Cassady, Marsh. Storytelling Step By Step. San Jose, Calif.: Resource Publications, c1990.
- Cullum, Carolyn N. The Storytime Sourcebook: A Compendium of Ideas and Resources for Storytellers. New York: Neal-Schuman, c1990.
- Hamilton, Martha. Through the Grapevine: World Tales Kids CanR & Tell. Little Rock: August House Publishers, 2001.
- Lipkin, Lisa. Bringing the Story Home: the Complete Guide to Storytelling. New York: W.W. Norton, c2000.
- Pellowski, Anne. The World of Storytelling. Bronx, NY: H.W. Wilson, 1990.
- Pellowski, Anne. The Storytelling Handbook. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995.
- Shelley, Marshall. Telling Stories to Children. Batavia, Ill., USA : Lion Pub. Co., 1990.
- Simmons, Annette. Secrets of Influence from the Art of Storytelling. Cambridge, Mass.: Perseus, c2001.