We're having a fantastic storytelling year at Tuscany Heights Elementary School in San Antonio, TX. Our storytelling club meets after school twice a month and is filled with group storytelling practices, mini lessons, and several opportunities to share "mostly" polished stories inside and outside the school.
In our last session, I introduced to the 2nd - 5th graders another form of telling using two tellers to share one tale. Folk tales with two main characters and fables lend quite well to tandem telling. I used two stories from Margaret Read MacDonald's book Teaching with Story: Classroom Connections to Storytelling to share with our 30 students. The first was "Grandfather Bear Is Hungry" (pp. 14-15) and "Pig and Bear Big Business" (p.90)
After modeling tandem telling with another storytelling sponsor, the kids chose their partners and practiced in the various nooks and crannies of the library. As much fun as we had, it was evident to all of them that this was harder than they thought.
We'll be meeting back again on Tuesday to review a few tips:
1. Decide when to narrate and when to be the character
2. Decide what to do when you are not speaking (eye contact with the character speaking, turned around if not introduced yet, hunched over if you are a small character, etc.)
3. Gestures and voice toward the audience
4. Sharing some repeating phrases together
A volunteer sponsor and I will share out the wonderful "No News" told by Connie Regan-Blake and Barbara Freeman. The kids always get a kick out of this hilarious cause-effect southern disaster tale. You can find this story in Best-Loved Stories Told at the National Storytelling Festival, 20th Anniversary Edition (p. 217)
In our last session, I introduced to the 2nd - 5th graders another form of telling using two tellers to share one tale. Folk tales with two main characters and fables lend quite well to tandem telling. I used two stories from Margaret Read MacDonald's book Teaching with Story: Classroom Connections to Storytelling to share with our 30 students. The first was "Grandfather Bear Is Hungry" (pp. 14-15) and "Pig and Bear Big Business" (p.90)
After modeling tandem telling with another storytelling sponsor, the kids chose their partners and practiced in the various nooks and crannies of the library. As much fun as we had, it was evident to all of them that this was harder than they thought.
We'll be meeting back again on Tuesday to review a few tips:
1. Decide when to narrate and when to be the character
2. Decide what to do when you are not speaking (eye contact with the character speaking, turned around if not introduced yet, hunched over if you are a small character, etc.)
3. Gestures and voice toward the audience
4. Sharing some repeating phrases together
A volunteer sponsor and I will share out the wonderful "No News" told by Connie Regan-Blake and Barbara Freeman. The kids always get a kick out of this hilarious cause-effect southern disaster tale. You can find this story in Best-Loved Stories Told at the National Storytelling Festival, 20th Anniversary Edition (p. 217)
Getting our "tandem" on
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