Montjoy_Emily_ReadingReflectionBlog1

 Storytelling & FABLES

What is storytelling?  Lewis Carrol called stories "love gifts". (Greene, page 42) "Storytelling is no longer just for children... as we seek to understand one another, what binds us together is beginning to seem more significant than what makes us different." (Greene, page 10)

"When our ancestors first tried to understand the world around them, they told stories."  "Stories have power, and the stories we tell today do just as much to try to explain our world as did the myths of so long ago."  "Storytelling is a part of who we are as humans." Best Practices in Empowering Learners and Teachers: The Importance of Story and Storytelling in the Classroom by Wayne R. Cherry Jr. Cherry also shares in his article that storytelling encompasses the 4 C's created by the National Education Association: critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity.  Additionally, he explains that the brain acts differently during storytelling, "The brain actually experiences the story in the same way it would as if you were inside the narrative itself."  (Cherry, 2017) This creates empathy for others and more understanding and compassion as well.  As a librarian, the benefits of storytelling are numerous.  Storytelling helps explain ideas and the world we are living in and shares the history of our ancestors so we can connect the past to the present.  Storytelling engages the listener in an authentic way, tapping into areas of the brain that young listeners need to develop.  Storytelling is a fun and creative way to do that in the library!  Storytelling builds empathy and compassion for others which are important traits all children and young adults need to develop as they learn to interact with the diverse world around them.

As a school librarian, any aspect of literacy that I can use to support teachers and students in the library is going to be a win-win for us all.  In the article, "Why Storytelling Matters: Unveiling the Literacy Benefits of Storytelling" by Denise Agosto, I was excited to see someone sharing the research behind storytelling and it's positive effects.  She writes, "storytelling helps children to become better listeners and better readers while building vocabulary."  (Agosto, 2016) She also mentions that children have a deeper engagement with live storytelling than with traditional reading aloud.  I would have to agree because students are more drawn to active demonstrations and performances.  They seem to always need to be entertained as teachers and librarians are competing with games and technology for their attention. Other studies have found, "storytelling to build community among students and teachers, to enhance memory recall, to support early literacy development, and to promote creative thinking."  (Agosto, 2016) There seems to be ample evidence to support storytelling in our libraries.  Agosto also shared several follow up activities to use in response to the storytelling time that will be great additions to close and wrap up a storytelling session: follow up questions, personal connection building, reenactments, retellings, connections to books, connections to other stories, response drawings, and response writings.

Agosto writes, "Live storytelling can bring joy to children and encourage them to view libraries and literacy in a positive light." (2016)

In chapter two of our textbook, the authors quote Anne Carroll Moore, "Poor story-telling is more disasterous than poor story-writing." (Greene, page 14)  This line jumped out to me because I thought of the numerous benefits of storytelling, but if the storyteller is boring, you risk losing the audience and all of the amazing benefits that come with storytelling.  Finding authentic, engaging, and interactive storytellers is important for librarians to consider when inviting a storyteller into the library.  Additionally, if teachers and librarians conduct their own storytelling sessions, it is imperative that they too encompass characteristics of a quality storyteller.

The authors also pointed out that during the early 1900's immigration was widespread, and "librarians looked on storytelling as a way of integrating many diverse heritages and of teaching English and the English language orally." (Greene, page 24)  As a teacher and now a school librarian, I come in contact with many nonEnglish speaking students.  When I read that librarians from the 1900s were using storytelling to teach English and incorporate various cultures into their storytelling arena, I thought, what a perfect way to reach my own students who do not speak English.  Many books are available in bilingual publications.  One example is this book written in dual English and Spanish text.  Because fables are very short, storytellers could use these with ease when stepping into the storytelling area to share diverse text and expose the audience to various cultures.  Also using diverse storytelling experiences not only introduces other cultures to your audience, but also is a way to create an inclusive environment and storytelling experience for all of your students and patrons.

"Stories are told as spells for binding the world together." - John Rouse in The Completed Gesture

One of the most important elements of storytelling I believe is the ability to connect individuals.  In chapter one of our textbook the authors write, "Perhaps storytelling fills the need for intimacy not easily found in our mobile society." (Greene, page 10)  People are naturally social beings.  Our world today is so technology-driven that often we lose the personal touch and connection due to the advanced world we live in.  Although it makes many aspects of our lives more simple and efficient, one area that has suffered is physical connection between people, face-to-face interactions and conversations, and the ability of people to tell, share, and retell rich stories.

"Storytelling is a deathless art, lively and diverse,, which like music, refreshes and revives those whom it touches even in its farthest reaches." -Frances Clarke Sayers

This week I read a collection of fables.  As an English Language Arts teacher, I always enjoy reading fairytales, folktales, tall tales, fables, myths, and legends to my students, but I have very little experience with actual storytelling (memorized storytelling without a book or text) to my students other than those tried and true go-to tales that I have heard a million times, stored in memory, and can share with my daughter.  Previously, I was a 4th grade teacher for 17 years, and I was always pretty surprised when some of my students had not heard traditional tales and stories like The Tortoise and the Hare or The Boy Who Cried Wolf.  Using fables in the library is a great way to use storytelling and capture your audience.  Not only are they entertained with a great story, they may learn a lesson, or moral, to apply to their own lives.  Aesop's Fables are the most well known and are often retold with variation.  I appreciate when fables (and fairy tales and folk tales) are told with a different cultural spin.  This website provided several examples of retellings of traditional stories, like Burro's Tortillas, a southwestern retelling of The Little Red Hen.

Diverse Fables & Folktales

Also, many authors take traditional tales and retell them with their own original spin, like The Little Red Fort, a retelling of the classic story, The Little Red Hen.

I love to see how authors will take an old Aesop Fable, and turn it into a beautiful picture book.  This wordless picture book, The Lion and the Mouse, by Jerry Pinkney won a Caldecott Medal.  

Eric Carle's retelling of the Tortoise and the Hare is called The Rabbit and the Turtle.  The illustrations are vibrant and unique to Carle's own art style.

This fable, But Who Will Bell the Cats was one that I had never read before.  I found two different authors who retold this fable.  I thought an interesting lesson would be to compare and contrast these two retellings allowing students to find similarities and differences and critque the author's story.

The Whale Who Wanted More was another new-to-me fable.  I loved the message the reader takes away from this story, and I think it would be an important one that could be shared with students.

Using fables in your storytelling arena can be beneficial because it exposes your audience to classic and traditional stories and are short enough for the storyteller to memorize and short enough to engage the audience without losing their interest with a long story.  Also, as I mentioned earlier, they are benficial because they provide an opportunity to teach a lesson as well.  Also since fables are shorter, they can easily be retold with a different spin.  This is a fun activity that librarians could challenge their patrons to choose a fable and practice telling it as a story, and writing and sharing their own retelling with a personal twist.

"Unfortunately the current emphasis on "teaching to the test" too often means literature-sharing in the classroom is neglected. (Green, page 39) "By making a connection between storytelling and books--by telling a story and indicating the book from which it comes and pointing out that hundreds of other wonderful tales can be found in books--the storyteller is introducing the reading as a source of enjoyment throughout life." (Greene page 43)  Librarians have an important role in student and patrons' lives, helping to foster a love of reading and creating life-long readers and lovers of stories. 

Citations:

Agosto, D. E. (2016). Why Storytelling Matters: Unveiling the Literacy Benefits of Storytelling. Children and Libraries, 14(2), 21. https://doi.org/10.5860/cal.14n2.21

Cherry, Wayne R. (2017). Best Practices in Empowering Learners and Teachers: The Importance of Story and Storytelling in the Classroom, 46(2), 50-55. 

Ellin Greene, & Janice Del Negro. (2010). Storytelling : art and technique. Libraries Unlimited.