The Teacher/Librarian as Storyteller
First, selecting materials – Some general suggestions: Select material that has been told as a story in the past. This means that you are going to be looking for the Grimm brothers, Aesop, folktales, etc. You do not want to be doing material that was written to be read. Literary pieces like Hans Christian Andersen and Oscar Wilde should be read aloud. The language is far too beautiful to approximate and memorizing tales is rather dull and boring. When you are considering a piece for telling a rule of thumb is that if the story you are looking at would work well as a read aloud for third graders, it will work as a told story for fifth graders. Basically, add two years when you are telling. This has to do with the fact that in a told story the audience is working as hard as the teller in the imagining of the story. Therefore, simpler stories work better. Select stories that you love, not stories that you think would be “good” to tell. If the story works, you are going to be asked to tell the story many times. It would be pointless and soulless to do a story that you are telling merely because the message is important. Be sensitive to cultures. When you are working with a tale from a culture other than your own, especially one that you are unfamiliar with, be careful, kind and considerate. You may decide that the Crow in the story would work better as a pigeon but the culture you are representing may revere the Crow. This also goes for violence in stories. Sometimes we want to tall a tale but we want to clean it up and give it a happy ending. If that is the case, then create an original story to do that and there is a guide later for that. Remember the rule that Jane Yolen places on her material. If you want to do one of her stories, one of her rules is that you can’t change the ending. It’s a fabulous rule.
Talk Abouts
When you have selected a story, you want to see if it has any “legs.” Basically, is the story worth telling? So, test it out with some talk abouts. A Talk about is just a sharing of the story as an “Oh, by the way…” type style. You just say to someone over lunch or maybe to a single child, “Hey, I read this story and I thought it was pretty cool.” Now share a brief synopsis of the story. What you are looking for is any moment of silence as you talk about the story.
If the story causes a listener to become silent, the story has “legs.” Furthermore, as you are recounting the story, look inside yourself. Do you like telling it? Does it interest you? If the story interests you but it seems to fall flat, you might try it out on another person or two just to make sure.
You Have a Story to Tell – Shaping the Tale
First read the story through carefully three times. You can read it more than that but three times is the minimum. Now, put the story aside and make a list of all of the details that you can remember in the story. The list should consist of entries of one, two or three words. If the story features any detail which must be recounted exactly, go to the text and
copy it exactly. The best example I can think of is the giant’s “Fee Fie Foe Fum.” You have to get just right because it rhymes.
Using the list as your guide, tell the story again. Here is where computers are invaluable. Log your list into a computer because as you add and change the list editing is a snap. Every time you tell the story, go back to the list and log ideas that have occurred to you during the latest telling. Each time you tell a story you will discover new things abut the character, the plot, the every fabric of the story.
Warning: Working on a story can be a long and sometimes boring proposition. You will be tempted to give up or to switch stories. You might lose faith in the tale. Don’t give up. Getting bored with a work of art is part of the process.
If you have not done so, it is time to get up on your feet. Leave the clipboard on the floor in front of you. It is there but get used to digging yourself out of any holes you fall into. Do not try to memorize. It is boring. Instead, try to see the story like a series of pictures in our head and tell me what you see.
When you are not performing the story try to visualize it. Keep the check list close by in case you think of something new.
The rule to working on a story is to tell it out loud at least 10 times. That may seem like a lot but it will help you to mater the tale. There is so much to work on when you work on a story that I will offer you ten telling suggestions.
Ten Rehearsal Variations for Developing a Story:
One: Plot: Just tell the story focusing on the actions, the sequence of exactly what happens.
Two: Story Shape: Until now you have been working your story list beginning at the top and working toward the bottom. Be bold. Draw a circle around one of the details in the list; any detail will do. Now I want you to start with the detail that you circled and bounce around the list telling the story in a new order. You don’t need to use all of the details. An example might help.
to the but
up to
Jack and the Beanstalk: In a traditional telling of the tale, the story begins with a destitute mom sending young son, Jack to the market with their cow. Does it need start there? What if your version opened with the giant falling, careening through clouds, holding onto the remnants of a vine? It might begin, “As the giant, a large quite misunderstood fellow, fell through the air, he spied that awful lad and what must be his mother standing below. As he flailed his arms trying to line himself flatten the little urchin, he reflected back on how he had come to be in the
predicament. See? The plot remains the same but a change in sequence leads to a fresh and rather unique telling.
Shhhhhhh! Here’s a Little Storyteller’s Secret:
If you have a story, especially an original tale or a life experience and it is truly delightful but it doesn’t have a snappy ending. Instead of th i i    thi
Three: Visualize: Describe place and characters in particular detail. Be most specific. Stack where questions on where questions.
Once you have a specific place, trust your imagination
and let it go.
More questions:
• • • •
Where? Where? Where? Where?
a house a bedroom in the corner by a desk.
• • • •
What was on the desk? What was in the top drawer? What was the character wearing? What was the pattern on the wall paper? (I love adding wall paper patterns.)
Be specific. Paint a picture. As you tell the tale, try to look at see each item you are describing. If, within the tale, the character is standing in room, turn and point at each aspect of the room as you describe it. As you add details something magical happens: your imagination and subconscious are free to subtly add elements to enrich the tale by adding bits and pieces of you. Pretty cool.
Four – Senses: Go through the list of senses: Sight, Smell, Taste, Touch, Hearing and look for any place you can add a sense detail. Smells are particularly wonderful. Tastes can be wonderfully strange. We know the porridge is hot or cold but what might Bear Porridge Taste like? Be bold. Throw ideas into the mix, if they are not interesting, they will fall out.
Back to Jack and the Beanstalk – Imagine what the cottage smelled like if they had no barn and the cow lived with them. How delightfully gross!
Five: Physicalize – Get on your feet. Play with movement and gesture. Outline the tip of every object in the story with your fingers. Focus on a telling that just addresses movement and gesture. If you have really worked the story, you might consider whispering the words and focus on communicating as much of the story as possible through gesture.
Six: Point of View: Is this story being told in the First Person – (The “I”). The Second Person – (The “You”) or the Third Person – (The “He”, “She”, “It” or “They”)? The point of view has a profound affect on the story.
In an “I” story the teller becomes as important as the story. They are very powerful. Be careful. The audience will believe this really happened to you. You can also do a modified “I” tale. In this sort of tale, you introduce a character, maybe by donning a hat or simple costume piece, and that character tells the tale from his or her personal experience. This works well for Legends, Tales from History, and, especially, Tall Tales. You might consider this sort of approach if you like voices.
The Third Person tale is most common in storytelling. It allows the teller some distance from the story. It allows the teller to be omniscient where in the “I” or the “You,” knowledge is limited to the direct experience of the narrator/teller.
Second Person (“You”) stories are rare but hugely effective. You will most often hear “You” stories during family gatherings as when a strange old auntie will share, “I remember when you were just a wee thing…” Kids love these. Well, most of the time they love them. For your purposes, teachers, coaches, and adults can find these stories types of stories effective at the end of a year, a season, or any particular shared ordeal. The story might begin, “When you kids walked in here at the beginning of the year I thought I was going to be sick.” (Just kidding.)
Seven: Tone What genre tale are you telling? Could you combine genres? Is this a scary story, a gothic tale, a fairy story, a comic tale, a noodle head story? The key is answering the question, what do you want to the audience to feel? Now, what details can you add to accent the tone and induce the felling? For example, if you want to make a story scary, add darkness, shadows, fog, and candles.
Eight: Who is the Focus of the Tale? Who is this story happening to? It is best to offer this example. In Little Red Riding Hood, if you focus the story on grandma, the tale might become a tortured tale of the neglect of the aged. However, if you focus on the wild child Little Red, the story morphs into a narrative on pre-adolescent angst. It is the same plot but the story changes based on whom you choose to focus.
Nine: Character Voices And Conversation – The voices were covered already. Conversations, especially back and forth exchanges are great fun in story. If there are two characters, you turn your head back and forth, maybe your body, too, as if you are switching characters. If you want a conversation with three people then turn right,
left and the third voice is presented by looking straight forward, as if the third character is listening and taking in the other two. You can also play with scale, large and small. The small character looks up to talk to the large one, while the large one looks down. This can be done subtly as in a conversation between a bully and a victim. On the other hand, in a conversation between a giant and a child, the giant might have to get down on his hands and knees and almost press his ear into the floor. The visual is fun for the audience.
Ten: Audience Participation: This will be discussed in further detail later in this guide. Basically all you need to know is that children love audience participation. Look for opportunities for repetition. In almost all of the classic tales, there are threes. Threes are perfect for repetition bits. Make sure that every sound you want to audience to do along with you is accompanied by a gesture and that every gesture you want the audience to join in on is accompanied by a sound. Last, another rule of three. If you want the audience to do something along with you, you do not have to stop and teach them. In fact, that can be deadly. Instead, simple do the sound and movement three times within the story. If you want to have them join in immediately simply do the sound three times in a row. In my version of the Ants and the Grasshopper I have the ants digging. So, as I swing my arms in a digging motion, I say, “Dig, dig, dig.” Then I say, “Everybody!” The children eagerly participate. Why three? I believe it is because the first time they see you do the action, the children think, ‘Wow, that’s cool.’ The second time you do it their ego jumps in and says, “I could do that!” The third time you do it, the ego says, “I want to try!” So when you say, “Everybody!” the children gleefully participate.
Possible Story Projects:
“New” Traditional Stories: You might just create a list of all of the possible folk tale figures and use them as characters in stories. The list might include: Giants, Fairies, gnomes, trolls, fairy godmothers, witches, and peddlers. As you will see in the story building section, the key to creating stories is to have a problem. Again, later in this work book I will talk about using the problems of your students as the source of story creation. All of the problems that your students are facing will make wonderful pivot points for original tales. For instance, the problem might be first day of school fears. Imagine a giant going to your local elementary school for a first day. In the story all he has to do is get through the day and you will have a story.
New lives for Traditional Characters: Through the years, many many Jack stories have been written. You might find it fun to give traditional characters new adventures. What happens to the Three Pigs after the incident with the wolf? You might combine characters. What happens in Snow White and the Prince move in next door to the pigs? Could be fun.
The Simplest Tales – There and Back Again This format for a story has been used from the very beginning. There are endless variations from The Wizard of OZ to Owl Moon. The characters go somewhere, have an experience and return. The form always works. In most cases something is learned but the learning can be as simple as “There’s no place like home.”