Storytelling in the Literacy Classroom

Questions for the Reader ?

Why is storytelling an essential human activity? What are the ways in which it offers a unique tool to connect people with each other, with their past, and with the most pressing questions regarding the meaning of their existence? How can it be used today to create community, to address difficult questions and to facilitate a process of education that is experiential and meaningful to all children and to different styles of learning? What can we learn from the values of traditional cultures and the central place of story to their identities and everyday lives?

The Value of Listening In traditional societies, storytelling was an integral piece of the culture of the tribe or community. The listeners were habituated to accept and receive the stories as their form of education and as their meaning making structures within their community. The act of storytelling was woven into the fabric of life and used throughout the life of the community, from ceremonies to daily gatherings. Telling stories kept hopes and identities alive as people struggled with the realities of the often brutal experiences of life.

Engaging the Listener Reaching the listener should be possible as long as the stories chosen speak on some level to the listeners concerns and life experiences. The beauty is the chosen story does not need to ever spell out the concern being addressed, as long as it speaks a universal truth that can resonate deep into the soul of the listener, bypassing pure cognition and critical judgment.

Storytelling & Progressive Education Storytelling marries well with progressive education, where an important tenet is learning through meaningful experiences. In listening to story the child builds empathy and compassion as he/she uses imagination to experience multiple points of view, different cultures and historical perspectives. Progressive education advocates for a merging of modalities to make as many connections as possible for the developing child utilizing all of his/her languages of meaning making. Storytelling introduces a deeper way to use language in that the language in story engages the whole person.

Storytelling & Social Emotional Development I am a strong believer in the importance of cultivating social and emotional intelligence in our children as an integral and central component of educating the whole child. Therefore I have been especially drawn to the aspects of storytelling that speak to the listener’s capacity for empathy building and understanding emotional complexity.

Creativity at the Heart of the Curriculum There is far too much emphasis on fact retention in modern education and far too little focus on engaging the heart and mind and the creative spirit. At the same time, creative thinking is applauded although there is little understanding as to how to foster and cultivate it. Storytelling then becomes a tool that is cost effective and quite easy to bring into the curriculum while fostering the inherent ability all children have to use their imagination and creative thinking to make meaning of their experiences.