What could be better than one storyteller? Two storytellers telling one story! We had so much fun at our last club meeting, Feb. 13th. A few kids, like the two in my picture, had already teamed up to tell their fable tale of the Lion and the Mouse. The young students that they had performed for certainly took notice and were totally engaged. So, I decided to move the entire club in that direction, just to show them other fun venues of telling stories. One of my favorite, funny to the bone tales I've ever heard is "No News", written and told by Barbara Freeman and Connie Regan-Blake. You can find this story in the following book: Best-Loved Stories Told at the National Storytelling Festival.
ACTIVITY: Once we read the bare bones to "No News", the students paired up with their notecards and pencils in hand and went to work on their own versions of "No News." We had 30 minutes to create our first drafts and then met back to share out as many of our tandem tales as possible. Oh my! We laughed so hard at the voices that were used, the expressions on each of their faces, and the circumstances that were set up! Although we are in the developing stages of our tales, I've got to tell you that "No News" motivated these kids to write extraordinary pieces. I can't wait to hear the polished tales in two weeks!
I did find a barebones example that another storyteller, Richard Martin, used at this website: http://www.tellatale.eu/tales_no_news.html. Check it out!
Here's an exceptional website that will convince you to try tandem telling with your students or try tandem telling with a colleague. Wouldn't the kids go crazy after hearing both of you - the perfect way to model so many aspects of reading prep, practice, team work, and presentation!
Site:
Storytellers-Developing and Using Tandem Stories and Reader's Theatre
ACTIVITY: Once we read the bare bones to "No News", the students paired up with their notecards and pencils in hand and went to work on their own versions of "No News." We had 30 minutes to create our first drafts and then met back to share out as many of our tandem tales as possible. Oh my! We laughed so hard at the voices that were used, the expressions on each of their faces, and the circumstances that were set up! Although we are in the developing stages of our tales, I've got to tell you that "No News" motivated these kids to write extraordinary pieces. I can't wait to hear the polished tales in two weeks!
I did find a barebones example that another storyteller, Richard Martin, used at this website: http://www.tellatale.eu/tales_no_news.html. Check it out!
Here's an exceptional website that will convince you to try tandem telling with your students or try tandem telling with a colleague. Wouldn't the kids go crazy after hearing both of you - the perfect way to model so many aspects of reading prep, practice, team work, and presentation!
Site:
Storytellers-Developing and Using Tandem Stories and Reader's Theatre
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