Literacy Development in the Storytelling Classroom

by Sherry Norfolk, Jane Stenson, Diane Williams

Overview

This resource offers a series of grade-appropriate lessons that link storytelling in the classroom with the development of essential language skills.

Literacy Development in the Storytelling Classroom shows just how powerful a tool storytelling can be for building vital language skills—not just reading and writing, but speaking, listening, visual literacy, and information literacy as well. It is an exceptionally rich and rewarding resource that helps teachers and tellers work together to focus story time on language development.

Moving grade-by-grade from pre-K to middle school, Literacy Development in the Storytelling Classroom offers both research-based ideas and specific lesson plans for using storytelling to promote literacy learning. Lessons seamlessly integrate material from traditional domains of social studies, science, math, and language arts, while incorporating elements from the creative arts, such as music, visual arts, drama, dance, and folk crafts as both storytelling vehicles and curriculum extensions. The stories themselves in this collection are drawn from the full spectrum of the world's cultures—every child is represented, and every child will benefit from the concepts and lessons in this remarkable book.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781591586944
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	06/22/2009
Pages:	342
Product dimensions:	6.90(w) x 9.80(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Sherry Norfolk, MLS, is a storyteller and teaching artist on the rosters of several state and regional arts councils, as well as Young Audiences, Woodruff Arts Center (Atlanta) and Springboard to Learning—Young Audiences of St. Louis.

Jane Stenson is on the early childhood faculty at the Baker Demonstration School in Wilmette, IL, and adjunct faculty at National-Louis University, Chicago, IL.

Diane Williams is arts industry director and accessibility coordinator for the Mississippi Arts Commission.

Table of Contents

Foreword Patricia C. McKissack xiii

Acknowledgments xvii

Introduction Sherry Norfolk Jane Stenson Diane Williams xix

Chapter One Foundations and Inspiration 1

Classroom Crossings: Serious and Sweet Tim Tingle 1

Storytelling in the 'Hood Susan Danoff 5

Leaving Our Children Behind: Literacy and National Standards Judith Black 11

Assessment of Storytelling Ann Bates 17

Leaping the Biggest Hurdle: Helping Shy Adults Overcome the Fear of Public Speaking Delanna Reed 23

Storytelling in Schools: Quantitative Studies and Innovative Projects Kate Dudding Jackie Baldwin 28

Chapter Two Preschool and Kindergarten 33

The Inextricable Link Between Language and Literacy Donna Washington 33

What Do You See? Visual Literacy and Story Structure Cathy Ward 38

The Root Children: Fiction or Nonfiction? Jane Stenson 41

Bringing the Story to Life with Puppets Marilyn Price Marilyn Price 43

(I Got Those) Low-Down, Dirty, Emergent-Reader Blues Andy Offutt Irwin 46

Story-Songs, Stepping-Stones to Literacy Pam Lindsey 50

Adventure to the Unnamed Planet Randy Taylor 54

The Turnip: The Great, Big, Enormous Power of Story Sherry Norfolk 57

Move It! Sarah Howard 62

The ESL Storytelling Class Catherine Crowley 65

Young Children Can Instinctively Navigate the Storytelling Landscape Diane Williams 70

Chapter Three Primary Grades 77

Stories Make a Difference Jane Stenson 77

Canada Geese Mary Gay Ducey 79

If You Can Read, You Can Cook Nancy Perla 81

Grandma, My First Teacher: Lessons Learned Outside of School Dovie Thomason 86

My Grandmother's Bouquet of Friends Limeul Eubanks 88

Storyboarding and the Computer Jane Stenson 91

DrawingStories Diane Williams 100

Storytelling with Origami/Fold-and-Tell Stories Kuniko Yamamoto 105

Rainsticks and Rhythms: Storytelling with Craft, Rhythm, and Movement Lynette (Lyn) Ford 110

Li'l Willie and His Diddley Bow: How One Boy's Imagination (and Practice) Helped Him to Learn to Play an Instrument Charles "Wsir" Johnson 116

Creating an Amazing Ten-Minute Group Story Annette Harrison 120

Finding and Using Patterns in Story Sherry Norfolk 123

Goldilocks and the Three Bears, or ... Mary Kay Will 129

Gingerbread Fun Jeri Burns Barry Marshall (The Storycrafters) 131

Doggone Good Stories of Aesop Darlene Neumann 136

Dora and the Diamonds Flora Joy 140

Immigration and Literacy in America: Sometimes It Pays to Speak Another Language Antonio Sacre 148

Spiced-Up Storytelling: Adding a Second Language Carrie Sue Ayvar 152

Idiomatic Expressions, Storytelling, and the English-Language Learner Sadarri Saskill 154

Pop, Plop, and Tell: Having Fun with Vocabulary Kim Cheves 160

Read, Spell, and Tell Lynn Rubright 164

Reading Nature: A Treasure Hunt Heather Forest 171

Liar! Ben Rosenfield, PhD 175

Garrett Morgan: The Traffic Light Genius Mama Edie Armstrong, MHS, CCC/SLP 179

Chapter Four Elementary Grades 183

Imagination and Community Jim May 183

The Pipeline Blues: Crafting an Historical Story of Indirect Persuasiveness and Citizenship Beth Horner 188

Persuasive Writing: Moving Beyond the Five-Paragraph Essay Jackie Downey Juli Ross 193

Story Scavenger Hunts Mary Hamilton 199

Student Storytelling in the Classroom and Beyond Sue Black Beverly Frett 202

Every Picture Tells a Story: Visual Narrative and Caldecott Medal and Honor Winners Janice M. Del Negro 207

The Shape of Music: Revealing Visual Narratives Within Artworks Mike Gnutek 213

Tailypo: Creating Vivid Characters Bobby Norfolk Pam Beagle-Daresta Sherry Norfolk 217

Hidden Memory: A Family History Project Anne Shimojima 224

Storytime Family Style-Building Generational Bridges Teresa B. Clark 228

What's in a Name? Sadarri Saskill 232

Beginning Reading-A Family Affair: Mainsteaming Korean Students Through ESL Storytelling Luiz DaSilva 236

Using Picture Books as a "Jumping-off" Place for Storytelling Darlene Neumann 239

From Myth to Superhero: Connecting Ancient Stories to Our Modern World Tracy Walker 243

Exploring the Westward Expansion Through Storytelling (Using Learning Centers) Evornia Kincaid 246

Teaching History, Language, Literacy, and Cultural Pride Through Storytelling, Music, and Movement Mama Edie Armstrong 251

Chapter Five Middle School and Beyond 255

Use Your Words: Reimagining Literacy Greg Weiss 255

Creative Book Making: Stories of the Seasons Susan Gundlach Lea Basile Lazarus 259

Historic Accounts as Narrative Prose Diane Williams 277

Waking the Mythic Mind Megan Wells 285

A Poetic Approach to Storytelling Oni Lasana 288

Taking the Right Myth-Steps Larry Neumann 293

Stealth Teaching: Engaging Reluctant Writers Sherry Norfolk 296

Appendix of National Standards and Abbreviations 299

Suggested Resources Judy Sima 303

Index 315

About the Editors 325

About the Contributors 329

Editorial Reviews

This is a valuable addition to any K-6 school library media center or professional development library where there is an interest in cross-disciplinary lessons complete with a library or information literacy component.” —ARBA

“This excellent essay collection connects storytelling to music, poetry, art, social studies, math, science, and physical education and provides sample stories and hands-on lesson plans for pre-school through middle school-plus classrooms. . . . It is a fascinating collection with useful, creative surprises for classrooms and library programs.” —VOYA

“For teachers of primary, elementary, and middle school grades, teachers and storytellers Norfolk et al. present 64 essays, lesson plans, and activities designed to enhance literacy development using storytelling. The contributing teachers and storytellers, who are mostly from the US, also discuss key aspects of speaking and listening, reading and writing, visual literacy, and information literacy, and provide plans that address national standards, assessment, using puppets, ESL classes, integrating art, rhythm, and movement, vocabulary, using picture books, and other ideas.” —Reference & Research Book News

“Educators at any level will find this book a valuable resource to guide them in crafting lessons rooted in storytelling. For schools looking for innovative ideas, the editors offer a tried and true way to engage students. For teachers desiring to hone their personal storytelling skills the book provides multiple opportunities with strong educational underpinnings. Recommended.” —Library Media Connection

“This work has very original, stimulating material principally for classroom teachers, but it could have relevance for teacher librarians and for public librarians conducting holiday programmes for children and early teens. Many of the discussions from the contributors offer inspiration and fresh approaches through a very wide interpretation of storytelling.” —Australian Library Journal

From the Publisher