Why Stortelling in the Schools? Elementary School and Family Shows Middle and High School Programs

Elementary Schools and Family Shows

  • For All to Share - Participatory, multicultural folktales. Focus on tricksters, peace tales, specific cultures, earth stewardship, strong women and gentle men, your theme! PreK-5.
  • How Bear Got Its Short Tail - World How & Why Tales. PreK-5. Follow-up story making and telling workshop optional.
  • We Share a Common Story - American Immigration. Students hear, collect and share family immigration history stories. Gr.s 2-8. Residency for Gr. 3-8 only.
  • Halloween Tales From around the World. Residency on making and telling Halloween tales culminates in student storytelling festival and written work. Gr. 3-8
  • A Trunkful of Tales - Personal and Family History Stories. Follow-up workshop on gathering, writing and sharing personal and family tales. Gr.s 1-5.
  • Programs designed to support and enhance your curriculum.
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Middle and High Schools

  • The Day it Snowed Tortillas - Multicultural folktales. Focus on specific cultures, rites of passage into adolescence-adulthood or curriculum focused issues available.
  • The Calabash of Wisdom - World wisdom tales from many cultures, (many found in Elisa's book), perfect for building empathy, awareness and responsibility.
  • Halloween Tales From around the World. Residency on making and telling Urban Legends culminates in student storyelling festival and written stories.
  • We Share a Common Story - American Immigration and Forced Migration. Students hear, collect and share family immigration stories. Residency for grades 3-8.
  • Programs designed to support and enhance your curriculum.

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Why Storytelling in the Schools?

Storytelling is surely the oldest educational tool known to mankind. It is so effective because it is fun, and because it is a natural form of communication and knowledge gathering for our narrative oriented brains. We remember facts whether of history, science, literature or geography much better if they are made meaningful by characters, settings, problems and solutions, the stuff that stories are made of! The Curriculum frameworks in Massachusetts and a growing number of other states have recognized that fundamental to literacy are the skills of listening and speaking. Storytelling builds the muscle of the imagination, the part of our brain that we use to make images of what we are hearing or reading. Storytelling is more animated than reading and thus draws the students to listen more attentively and to retain more information. Studies have shown that children who engage in story learning, and telling improve their vocabulary faster than those who do not. Storytelling inspires students to want to know more. Students as storytellers develop confidence in their oral skills, as they engage audiences and use their bodies, voices and imaginations. Stories are a very effective means of teaching tolerance and appreciation of differences, as the listeners walk in the shoes of each character. The curriculum frameworks also call for inclusion of the study of folktales at many grade levels. Teachers who share stories about themselves create a safer classroom as students get to know them as people. Everyone needs to be listened to and storytelling opens up the perfect avenue for this to happen. Best of all storytelling is an accessible art form. Everyone can learn to tell a story well!
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Elisa Pearmain M.Ed Storyteller & Author
PO Box 634 Lincoln, MA 01773 (781) 259-0492

E-mail Elisa today!