Bongiorno_Cameron_Reading Reflection 1
Storytelling
Hello all! This is my very first blog post ever, and I ask that you be patient with me as I reflect on this week's module about storytelling. When I think of storytelling, the first thing that comes to mind is the many stories my mom shared about growing up in Charleston from the 1940s through the 1960s. I loved hearing her tales of summers on Sullivan's Island, wearing heels and dresses to football games, and shagging the night away. Her storytelling may not have been the caliber of professional storytelling today, but it engaged me and helped me understand how she became the incredible woman she is now. I especially loved learning more about my grandparents - their careers, community involvement, travels, and most importantly, the values that they passed on to her. As my mother reminisced about her adventures during her childhood and adolescence, I compared them to my own experiences at those same ages. As Colenso (NLP Dynamics, 2018) stated in his video, this sharing of stories connected us. I will treasure them always.
I learned so much about storytelling this week through the textbook chapters, articles, and videos that were a part of this module. Since I have never really put much thought into storytelling and as this is my first course focused on it, much of the information I studied was new to me and very interesting. From my background knowledge, I already knew that storytellers were people who shared stories orally with others, but I have never considered their role to be as important as "historian, genealogist, and news-bearer" (Greene & Del Negro, 2010, p.6). I found it fascinating that the practice of storytelling was first described in written text by the Egyptians as early as 2000 B.C.E and that the height of storytelling took place in Western Europe during the Middle Ages (Greene & Del Negro, 2010). I loved discovering that the professional storytellers called bards were both men and women.
I consider it forward-thinking that both genders could be part of such an important practice then and continue doing so even to this day. Since I was a Spanish teacher for twenty years and a lover of language, it is only natural that I enjoy finding out the origin of words and phrases. Greene and Del Negro (2010) explained that the phrases "to spin a yarn" and "weave enchantment" are synonymous with "tell a tale" as storytelling was an enjoyable way to pass the tedious hours for those who were tasked with spinning and weaving. It all makes so much sense to me now.
I have heard about the brothers Grimm and read some of their fairytales but never before realized their importance in relation to storytelling to children until now. I imagine that this return of storytelling's popularity in the nineteenth century influenced Friedrich Froebel of Germany to include storytelling in the kindergarten program he created in 1837. It surprised me when I discovered that kindergarten and storytelling programs in American public schools were modeled after Froebel's own program in Germany. (Greene & Del Negro, 2010). We have much to be grateful for the German emigrants who brought these amazing ideas with them to America. "Organized storytelling, that is, formal presentations of stories, to groups of children" began to appear in libraries in the United States around 1900 (Greene & Del Negro, 2010, p. 12). Professional storytellers such as Marie Shedlock, Anna Cogswell Tyler, Gudrun Thorne-Thomsen, and Ruth Sawyer among others were an integral part of developing story hours in libraries, and some of them even taught courses or offered training in the art of storytelling (Greene & Del Negro, 2010). Fortunately, story hours continue to be an important and popular part of library programming to this day.
The storyteller who stood out to me most during my textbook reading is Pura Belpré. She moved from Puerto Rico to New York City in the early nineteenth century and began working in the public library there. She became known for telling wonderful Puerto Rican folktales, hosting bilingual story hours, for her written works, and using puppets in her storytelling (Greene & Del Negro, 2010). The American Library Association even created an award in her honor for outstanding Latinx writers and illustrators of children's books who wonderfully share and celebrate the Latin cuIture within their books. (Association for Library Services to Children, 2023). During the Children's Materials course with Professor Thore this past summer, we read five picture books that received the Pura Belpré awards. I also read a children's picture book that was a biography of Pura Belpré, Planting stories: The life of librarian and storyteller Pura Belpré.
It was wonderful, and I would recommend it as a great read-aloud to use with students in the library. I believe I found a connection with Pura Belpré because of my previous study and teaching of the Spanish language and Hispanic culture.
Before reading our textbook, I really only thought of storytelling as a form of entertainment. I had not considered the many purposes and benefits that storytelling offers. In the library setting during the early twentieth century, the purpose of storytelling was to encourage reading and to promote quality literature to children. (Greene & Del Negro, 2010). Based on observation and research, storytelling in the present day does that and so much more. For example, Ferlatte states that storytelling creates a larger community of people and that it can be used as a teaching tool (Ihlas Koleji, 2013). In her article, Agosto concedes that "storytelling helps children to become better listeners and better readers while building vocabulary" (Agosto, 2016, p.21), but she proves through her research with second-grade students that storytelling also promotes visualization, cognitive engagement, critical thinking, and story sequencing ability with those participants. Most surprising to me was that storytelling can also be used as a tool during counseling of children who survived some sort of trauma. The counselor can use storytelling to create a stronger relationship with the traumatized child. Through many counseling sessions and practice with storytelling, the child can progress from telling a story in third person to relating their own personal story of trauma (Mendoza & Bradley, 2021). The power, purpose, and many benefits of storytelling are amazing to me.
Picture Books
The genre of books that I am going to focus on in this blog is picture books. Picture books hold a special place in my heart as they bring back memories of reading them to my daughters from birth through early elementary school. Reading picture books enabled me to share my love of reading early on with my children, and they also fostered a physical closeness as we looked at them together. I never tired of reading them with my girls. Until this summer in the Children's Materials course, I had not realized the amount of quality picture books there are available now. It has been several years since I have read them with my girls, and I was pleasantly surprised to see the diversity and acceptance that many of the current picture books include. I am excited that through these picture books, children can more easily see a reflection of themselves and their worlds. I am also excited that picture books are considered a form of storytelling, especially since I believe that doing a read-aloud is less difficult or anxiety-inducing for me than telling a story. Also, I have discovered through our textbook reading aloud has great purpose. "Becoming a Nation of Readers: The Report of the Commission on Reading (1985) concluded that the single most important activity for building the knowledge required for eventual success in reading is reading aloud to children" (Greene & Del Negro, 2010, p.53). Wow! That statement is powerful!
Since reading picture books aloud is also a form of storytelling, the reader must prepare ahead of time just like storytellers. Once the person conducting the read-aloud has selected a book, they must read the story aloud over and over in order to become familiar with the plot, characters, and vocabulary. They must also practice the variations in voice that they will incorporate while reading the story. In addition, they should practice inserting pauses to create suspense. The reader must know the book very well in order to be able to make eye contact with the listeners during the reading (Greene & Del Negro, 2021). I find it challenging to effectively hold the book so that the listeners can see the illustrations while still fluently reading the text. To discover more suggestions when reading picture books, I watched a video in which Neil Griffith reads aloud the book Itchy Bear and afterward provides tips and techniques for this type of storytelling (Early Learning Centre, 2015). I have linked that video here.
I appreciate that Greene and Del Negro (2010) said that "reading aloud gives the potential storyteller a sense of security and confidence" (p.56). I hope this statement proves true for me!
References
Agosto, D. E. (2016). Why storytelling matters: Unveiling the literacy benefits of storytelling. Children and Libraries, (Summer), 21-26.
Association for Library Services to Children. (2023). Pura Belpré Award. https://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/belpre
Early Learning Centre. (2015, March 18). Reading to children: Tips and techniques [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_knEh11hc4
Greene, E. & Del Negro, J. M. (2010). Storytelling: Art and technique (4th ed.). Libraries United.
Ihlas Koleji. (2013, May 27). International storytelling conference: Many stories but one world [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iduMoffZ_54
Mendoza, K. & Bradley, L. (2021). Using storytelling for counseling with children who have experienced trauma. Journal of Mental Health Counseling, 43 (1), 1-18. https://doi.org/10.17744/mehc/43.1.01
NLP Dynamics. (2018, August 24). The power of telling your story [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrmbXADpm2Y
Picture Books:
Gilmore, S. (2021). Terrific!. Greenwillow Books.
Mora, O. (2019). Saturday. Little, Brown and Company.
Myers, M. (2021). Not little. Neal Porter Books.
Naylor-Ballesteros, C. (2020). The suitcase. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Nelson, V. M. (2016). Don't call me grandma. Carolrhoda Books.
Papp, L. (2016). Madeline Finn and the library dog. Peachtree Publishers.
Perkins, M. (2019). Between us and abuela: A family story from the border. Farrar Straus Giroux.
Hi Cameron!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your blog post! Like you, this was also my first-time blogging! I loved that you started out sharing your personal experience with storytelling. I bet your mom told the best stories, and without even knowing it, set the foundation for you as a future storyteller. (How cool is that!) Learning all the information in this module was also very new to me, and so interesting! I also had heard of the Brothers Grimm, but never realized just how significant they were to helping spark the storytelling movement. I agree that storytelling can truly benefit young learners, and not just entertain them. Storytelling is definitely a tool to use to help students learn about literature, learn how to read, and help with student's emotions. I also agree with you that picture books are so amazing! They really can allow us to share and connect with people in so many ways. Reading aloud to children, specifically, is SO important! I think using picture books as a tool for storytelling is such a great idea.
Your first blog post was awesome! I truly enjoyed reading your post, and it flowed so smoothly. I too, thought of my family during this week's unit. From a young age, I can remember my grandmother telling me stories about her childhood, career, and life in general. What I loved most about those stories was the excitement she had during her storytelling. Even today, she tells a story and captivates her listeners. She grew up in a home that was haunted, and she always waited to share those stories when it was dark outside to help set the mood. One night on vacation, she was telling her usual scary stories. Our entire family was hanging on every word she said. Unknowingly, my father snuck out of the house, went around the house, and started banging on the slide doors that we were sitting next to. You can imagine the horror and panic that struck us in that moment. Additionally, her stories inspired my school projects and writings in school. I share all of this to say, storytelling can lead to memories that last a lifetime. I am so thankful that storytelling has played a major role in my life.
ReplyDeleteHi Cameron, I found your post very informative. You were very in-depth with your history. I loved to see the connection with how as a Spanish teacher you were drawn to Pura Belpre. I will definitely check out the book about her history. I did not read that one in Children's Materials class. I did choose a bilingual picture book for this week, because I feel we have a shortage of books for our ELL students in most schools. For some reason when I did my post I did not add my picture books, because I thought that was last week's readings. After seeing everyone's reflections on picture books I really hate I missed that opportunity.
ReplyDeleteIn addition, when you mention practicing your voices for storytelling, Underdown-Dubois (2011), in Bringing Storytime Alive with Acting and Storytelling Techniques: an Interactive Article, gave tips to use vocal warmups and stretches to your pre storytelling routine as a way to loosen up. I found the comparison to acting intriguing and it actually made a lot of sense to me, because storytelling is a sort of performance.