Explore myths, legends, and storytelling at Scotland’s Year of Stories events in Glasgow, Inverness and Edinburgh to integrate traditional storytelling with new technologies and modes of sharing and demonstrate how the culture of storytelling connects people across time and geography.
One learning experience was a bespoke storytellers workshop. Our presenter modeled storytelling, gave us tips on ways to include students in the storytelling experience, and allowed us to practice the skill. It was a powerful experience because I was able to see a true storyteller using their craft and then was guided in an opportunity to do my storytelling and get feed back from an expert. I walked away with more tools in my toolbox for teaching students to be good storytellers.
I learned how to step outside of my comfort zone. Going to another country, navigating many unknowns and things that just didn't go as planned, and interacting with new people showed me that I can do these things and that I shouldn't miss out on any other experiences because of fear or anxiety. Professionally, I learned what it's like to be in my students shoes. Creating my own story and sharing it publicly was difficult for me. It opened my eyes to ways to accommodate for my students.
There were lots of unexpected experiences. Our bespoke workshop presenter didn't show up on the day we were scheduled for him. This caused us to have to be flexible and move activities around. It actually allowed up to experience more things than we had planned. We ended up having to fill an extra day and our AirBnB host suggested The Wee Museum of Memories and it ended up being an amazing experience that connected to our storytelling focus. We found so many unexpected "treasures" along the way
Students will increase their reading comprehension through reading traditional tales while recrafting them using the lessons based on the Storytelling Centre's workshop materials. Students will learn about other storytellers through ELA units. Students will use the writing process to create stories and then present them orally in the style of a storyteller.
Students will create a storytelling map that integrates existing stories, local history, and original stories. Students who complete their writing sample, will go on a field trip around Madison County to record their stories on location. Students will also participate in the family storytelling event at our spring family literacy night, too.
We plan to extend our fellowship beyond the classroom by hosting a family storytelling event in the spring. Students will also publish their integrated storymaps to our school's social media and share it with our public library's archive department.
I was able to use different strategies to help them become better writers. I was also able to connect my experience with a unit from our reading curriculum since some of the stories were from authors from Scotland and England. It helped the students make a more meaningful connection to what they were reading.
While I wanted to help my students become better story tellers for writing purposes, I was able to realize that being an oral story teller is just as important and some students are more successful orally than written. It also connects to our speaking and listening standards for ELA.
Our school media specialist and I brainstormed different ways to include writing and story telling during library, Makerspace, and extension groups time. I also connected to a local historian who has a small Huntsville history library and I am planning to talk with him more about bringing something to our school connecting story telling with our students and families.
It helped me to open my eyes to the importance of story telling (not just as a required assignment with a prompt). I've explored other cultures and have enjoyed learning about the histories of my hometown and the country of my ancestors.