The Art of Storytelling: A Collegiate Connection to Professional Development Schools

Abstract

Professional Development Schools provide diverse experiences for students in Schools of Education pursuing degrees in teacher education. These experiences include early observation opportunities, tutoring options, content methodology in current practice, seminars and finally, the culminating student teaching experience. This early, interactive link between the professional development schools and schools of education has proven beneficial for all parties involved. Attempts to encourage further collaboration should be ongoing. With that goal in mind, the collegiate course Children's Literature and Storytelling provides an ideal opportunity to create another valuable connection between the college students and the elementary students that would potentially benefit both groups. Elementary school students are invited to campus to become the audience for interactive storytelling activities presented by the college students. The preservice teachers become more proficient in the ability to use the learned techniques in their own classrooms and use them to improve their students' cognitive abilities. Elementary students view the experience as a positive one. They indicate an increased interest in reading and the art of storytelling as a result of the interaction. Current research concerning the art of storytelling reiterates what teachers who employ storytelling techniques in their classrooms have suspected all along. Training in how to share a enhances cognition in many specific areas. Children involved in programs which utilize storytelling exhibit increased attention spans, improved listening skills, accuracy of recall, better of sequencing, predicting and fluency in writing (Reed, 1987). Schema theorists emphasize the importance of framework in understanding text. A sense of story aids in the comprehension of the many different types of stories to which children should be exposed (Golden, 1984). We know that children are active participants in their acquisition of language. Their language patterns are learned in social contexts while they are interacting with other children and adults. They actually construct language as they learn (Strickland, 1989). Studies continue to confirm that the development of vocabulary and syntactic complexity in oral language are more advanced in children who are frequently exposed to a variety of stories. Psycholinguists define reading as an active process based on this interaction that is simultaneously creative and predictive. Predictive-creative thinking is demanded of an audience when they mentally participate in the construction of a while listening to the tale (Roney, 1989). In light of the overwhelming evidence concerning the positive influence of storytelling in the classroom, student teachers should be encouraged to employ storytelling techniques in their own teaching. The collegiate curriculum in Children's Literature and Storytelling should include specific activities that would facilitate an understanding of storytelling techniques. The course should include: 1. Tips on how to choose an age appropriate to share with children. 2. Techniques for learning a -- Read, Analyze, Retell, Visualize. 3. How to commit the beginning and the end of the to memory. 4. Practice in drawing a map of the from beginning to end. 5. Instruction in storyboarding. 6. Practice in telling the aloud and establishing eye contact with the audience. 7. Direction in pacing the telling of the and varying the tone of voice. 8. Direction in the use of gestures and facial expressions to help tell the tale. 9. Reminders to employ the vocabulary appropriate to the culture, location and time of the story. 10. Encouragement to stay relaxed and confident in order to enjoy the story. Discussion and elaboration on how these techniques relate to cognition and comprehension should be emphasized. …