Storytellers

Rationale for Storytelling in the Curriculum

Storytelling is the most basic form of teaching and learning. Aesop's fables, fairy tales, folklore, the basics of the world, right and wrong, good and bad spelled out in an interesting and timeless manner. Stories are so valued that we're still retelling them all today.

When one thinks of stories in school, usually it is in the context of the language arts -- reading stories or writing stories but not telling stories. Through telling stories people gain presentation skills, knowledge of their subject, and learn through teaching and sharing with others.

Often the written aspect of storytelling is emphasized in our schools because of the ease in which it can be assessed. But, when the student becomes the teller of the story, they research the background of the story, relate to the feelings of the characters, interpret the solution to a problem, and evaluate the result of an action.

Whether telling or listening, we all learn through stories. A story is a "narrative [that] patterns things out of chaos" (Hearne, 2002). From the beginning, the unexplained and the explained all had their own story. From God to storms, from animals to stars, everything had a story. We all have stories now. "Stories organize experiences and record important happenings" (Koki, 1998). A person has the ability to ride on a magic carpet to tour the pyramids (visualize a place), to have breakfast with bears (situation), and to be Christopher Columbus (character in a story). It is possible to make connections with danger, hope, humor, magnetism, subtraction, war, or Impressionism. A story "helps children make connections between the familiar and unfamiliar" (Hoogland, 1998). 

Learning is a result of stories children hear and tell. "Story as a space for exploring connections, for expanding one's horizons and for expression is different from viewing story as a particular content to be taught. Children inventing their own stories or responding to those of others, or exploring connections between story and experience are doing much more than expressing themselves" (Hoogland, 1998). Through stories, children are sharing what they have learned.

In school, children make connections, gain knowledge, and learn in the language arts, science, math, social studies, art, music, physical education, etc. Isn't that what the curriculum in our schools is all about?

In learning history and social studies, "[s]tories help children become personally interested in the past as well as the present" (Combs, 1994). The story of a little girl as she and her family immigrate from Russia in the early 1900s provides information to children that they can relate to. The experience of fleeing from tyranny to democracy, told in story, invites the teller and listener to understand the sacrifice people make for freedom. "As children listen to mom's comments about making ends meet...as they try and earn money for things they want to buy...as they examine family artifacts such as a letter from a grandfather about the stock market crash..." (Combs, 1994) they learn. While learning about our diverse culture, whether from mom's comments, folk and fairy tales, or history books, tellers and listeners gain a deeper understanding of the foundations of who we are, where we are and what we believe. A storyteller can take us back to the Civil War and describe how enslaved Americans were treated; the story can explain how the stars mapped the way to freedom in the north and how a people persisted until they found their way.

The contribution of story can lead from social studies to science. The life-cycle of a chameleon, weather, electricity -- all aspects of science are based in an exploration of how, what, why.  In science, a story is an explanation. When body systems are taught and the journey of food is told as it passes through the digestive system, children learn the what, when, where, why and how of that story. The study of simple machines naturally invites discussion of cause and effect, a concept echoed in all stories. The stories of science in physics, geology, astronomy, chemistry is another chapter in the story of our world.

When teaching mathematics concepts, the story problem of a boy or girl on the way to the grocery store has possibilities.  Beginning with $11.65, after loaning a friend $5.23 -- will he or she have enough money to buy three boxes of cereal at $3.49 each?  How do two apples and three apples make five apples?  Why do I need to carry when subtracting 39 from 125?  "Because" is not an explanation.  It is in the explanation that the story is told.  Stories and sharing are one more way to learn and teach.

In school and in life, everyone is called upon to speak and present information -- whether it is knowledge that has been gathered for a report or an ice-breaking joke, storytelling can be utilized and practice provides invaluable experience. Many state standards now require an oral component as a part of the educational program, as evidenced at StateStandards.Com. At the national level, NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English) published the Standards for the English Language Arts as well as A Position Statement from the Committee on Storytelling.

Perhaps the value of including storytelling as a part of the language arts curriculum is being realized, but the stories that we tell in education do not need to end with language arts.  Paula Marie Usrey working through the Northwest Educational Laboratory developed a rubric for storytelling that could easily be adapted for any group and subject. The concept of using the skill required for storytelling as "an important indicator of reading and listening comprehension" (Miller, 2002) is a valid one, as seen in this kindergarten Story Retelling Rubric. Heather Forest takes this concept a step further and has developed a rubric for the listener, A Listening Skills Rubric. She has also designed A Storytelling Rubric found on her website, titled Storytelling Across the Curriculum where she addresses storytelling in math, science, and social studies.

Storytelling is an unspoken part of our curriculum. Students in the primary grades share their stories in "show and tell" or as the "star of the week." In many schools, students write their stories down in their journals each and every day. These students have not been identified as "storytellers," but they are. Storytellers learn to question what they read, they learn to share information, they learn to write and speak cohesively, and they learn to add substance to whatever is produced. The time has come to bring the oral tradition of storytelling up to the forefront and to take advantage of its power and influence. The story of our world and our education system is moving forward.  No one should be left behind. We all have a part to play and a story of our own to tell.

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