WHY TELL STORIES?

To stimulate imagination and creativity.
It is part of our heritage.
To learn to speak to groups.
To learn to share feelings and experiences with others.
To appreciate good literature.

Steps in preparing a story
1. Find the right story for you. Find a story that fits your personality and that you will enjoy learning and telling. Read many stories before you make your final selection.
A. Folk tales are a good choice for beginners. They have a universal structure and the language is simple and strong.
B. Myths and hero tales are harder to tell. Intricate stories, involving many characters and several plots besides the main plot are also hard to tell.
C. Stories of adventure, humor, courage, wonder, love, beauty and tenderness are good choices.
D. Simple, universal subjects, forceful language and pictorial stories are good choices.
E. Some types of stores:
1. Folk tales (ancestral tales), repetitive or cumulative tales, animal tales, how and why stories, adventure and romantic stories, droll and humorous stories.
2. Literary tales -- short stories written by an author.
3. Myths, fable, epics, legends.
4. Family stories
5. Modern folk tales.

2. Learning a story
A. Write a copy of the story or photocopy it
B. Carry the copy of the story with you and read it over any chance you get.
C. Read the story slowly at least three times before you begin telling it to yourself.
D. Visualize the story as you read it. Picture the people and places.
E. Learn the order of events in the story. The plot is a straight and narrow line from which you should not stray. You probably will want to write the order of the events down on a piece of paper to help you remember.
F. Read the story out loud so that you can hear it. Think how the words sound and how the people in the story would say them.
G. Start telling yourself the story. When you forget something stop and read the story again.
H. After you feel you know the story well, tell it to yourself by looking in the mirror to practice eye contact.
I. You will probably want to memorize the story instead of putting it in your own words.
J. It can take a month to learn a story well.
K. Practice telling the story well to a small group.
L. Tell the story to a larger group.

3. Telling the story
A. Be patient with yourself. At first your voice will sound funny to you. Some people practice with a tape recorder to get used to hearing their own voice.
B. Maintain eye contact. That is the main difference between storytelling and acting.
C. Speak respectfully to your audience. Don't talk down to them.
D. If you get lost or forget where you are, stop and think about the plot so you can get back into the story.
E. Timing is important. Work on your pacing. You can draw attention to an idea or word or phrase by slowing down or pausing or speeding up. Don't rely on getting louder or softer. Drama is created through timing.
F. Don't get excited and talk too fast, too slowly, too softly, use too high of a voice or use distracting gestures.
G. Don't over act. As a beginner, you should not change your voice too much for each character. You aren't supposed to be acting; you are supposed to be telling about something that happened.
H. Wipe out 'ers', 'ums', 'you know' and 'ahs'.
We think storytelling would fit in these standards and criteria.
 

Standard 1: Demonstrates ability to enhance academic performance and support for implementation of the school district's student achievement.
1d. Accepts and demonstrates responsibility for creating a classroom culture that supports the learning of every student.
Standard 2: Demonstrates competence in content knowledge appropriate to the teaching position.
2c. Relates ideas and information within and across content areas.
2d. Understands and uses instructional strategies that are appropriate to the content area.
Standard 3: Demonstrates competence in planning and preparing for instruction.
3d. Selects strategies to engage all students in learning.
Standard 4: Uses strategies to deliver instruction that meet the multiple learning needs of students.
4b. Uses research-based instructional strategies that address the full range of cognitive levels.
4c. Demonstrates flexibility and responsiveness in adjusting instruction to meet student needs.
4e. Connects students' prior knowledge, life experiences, and interests in the instructional process.
Standard 6: Demonstrates competence in classroom management.
6a. Creates a learning community that encourages positive social interaction, active engagement, and self-regulation for every student.
 

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(This article can be found on EBSCO.)
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