or Teaching Without Pressuring the Teacher to Teach or the Child to Learn
Stories and songs are natural teachers and create natural paths to literacy.
Stir a child’s imagination with stories, songs, and poems, and you feed the roots of learning. Once memorized, a single sentence from a piece of prose, a song, or a poem, creates a model for many hundreds of sentences to come.
The linguistic significance of these models looks deceptively simple, but every sentence or stanza, no matter how short, is packed with grammatical and syntactic models. Let’s take a closer look at one simple stanza from my song, Bug in My Hand:
There’s a bug in my hand,
and it climbed on my nose,
and it played a bass drum,
bum, bum, bum, bum.
Here are a few of the grammatical (syntactic) structures in this one short stanza. Read more »
Recently I was asked again what books I recommend for a school age. They asked me for a detailed list of books hmmm What follows is the 11 anthologies that I would suggest for classroom use – These books are not just for teacher or students. I will return to a picture book selection next week. – These are all amazing collections of stories form around the world that every teacher should have at there fingertips. Read more »
Eric James Wolf, professional storyteller and host of the Art of Storytelling Show, is available for print, radio and television interviews to speak on how scary stories can be used to teach important life skills to children.
Scary stories and ghost stories have been used for thousand of years to gather interest in young people towards learning a new subject. Eric Wolf says “From ghost stories to strangers giving your child candy; scary stories have been used to help young people identify danger in the world.” Useful scary stories and ghost stories are based on truth, teach valuable skills and leave the audience feeling empowered against the villain or evil of the story.
Eric Wolf host and producer of the Art of Storytelling Show with over 100,000 downloads to date is the longest running, most successful show ever produced dedicated solely to perfecting the art of storytelling.
Press Play to hear Esyllt Harker speak on stories out of Welsh History and land of Wales. on the Art of Storytelling with Brother Wolf.
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Stories out of Welsh History and Land of Wales.
On the teller…
Esyllt Harker is a versatile singer and storyteller, performing in English and/or Welsh. Her material draws primarily on her strong Welsh roots – myth, legend and history mix with gleaned fragments found in the features and memories of the land. She is noted for her Read more »
Press Play to hear Dr. Sherry Norfolk speak on why would should use storytelling in school settings on the Art of Storytelling with Brother Wolf.
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Why storytelling should be in Schools.
Sherry Norfolk Writes…
Last year, I taught a 3rd grade storytelling and creative writing residency in St Louis. The kids I worked with were typical – meaning that every child was different from every other child. They each had unique interests, skills and abilities. They each had different life experiences and different needs. Typical class, right? So; what? Why am I telling you about these typical kids?
Because they WERE typical! Because in that class, there were some kids who HATED to write and some kids who NEVER paid attention in class and some kids who HATED to get up in front of people for any Read more »
Fill out the form and press play to hear Granddady Junebug aka Mitch Capel speak on poetry and storytelling on the Art of Storytelling with Brother Wolf.
Tired of the tin sound? Purchase a HQ Mp3 File of Interview #067 Mitch Capel Grandaddy June Bug
for $2.23 Poetry and Storytelling
Grandaddy Junebug writes… Good storytelling is like poetry to your ears…good poetry is storytelling at it’s best. Storytelling and poetry go together like hand in glove. Ninety percent of the stories I tell are in rhyme so I coined the term “sto’etry” to describe my unique style of telling.
At the tender age of three, my paternal Grandmother read to me the story poem “A Cabin Tale” from the “Life And Works Of Paul Laurence Dunbar”. The genius of this work coupled with the joy in my Grandmother’s eyes and the passion in her delivery left an indelible impression in my heart. Since 1985 I have been performing the works of Dunbar, myself and others at festivals, schools and other venues throughout the United States.
Storytellers in general are unaware of the vast potential poetry can add not only to the repertoire of the teller but, also to the “flavor” of the performance. This is especially true with venues for children. A vast majority of young audiences are familiar with the “Rap” genre of music and are, therefore, more inclined to not only enjoy the performance with greater appreciation but also to digest more of the content of the morals and affirmations. “Sto’etry” is “Rap” without the music with each child supplying his or her own “beat” to the vocals, which, in turn actually seems to garner more satisfaction as one seems to “enjoy the book more than the movie”. Older audience members are also appreciative of this style because most, in their youth, were taught the values of poetry and the importance of memorizing and reciting for different groups within their respective communities.
Come with me as we explore the unlimited possibilities poetry can add not only to storytellers, but, to story listeners as well.
Most storytellers shy away from utilizing poetry in performance because of the need to “memorize” verbatim as well as the inability to “ad lib” during the show. It is true that poetry lends itself to a certain rhythm, however, once you’ve crawled into the skin of the poet your voice becomes the vehicle and your words become the steering wheel that guides the listeners (travelers) on the journey. A good storyteller wouldn’t have any problem “playing” to an audience or “ad libbing” while utilizing the “sto’etry” style of telling. Read more »