Sheffield_Todd_ReadingReflection1

 What is Storytelling?

The question at hand is how we define storytelling. Greene and Del Negro call it the "oldest and newest of the arts," and highlight how humans have the innate impulse to communicate with each other, including telling stories to one another (2010). Even in in the earliest time periods, humans have the desire to chat amongst each other, and this includes telling events and stories to each other. Ruth Sawyer recalls an example from the Inuits of Greenland, of a chant about overcoming and slaying a bear (Green & Del Negro, 2010). Denise Agosto noted that a strong bond exists between the story teller and the listeners (2016). Storytelling goes beyond mere exposition: it tells tales that captivate, engage, and intrigue.

The first generally accepted instance of storytelling comes from Ancient Egypt, the Westcar Papyrus, where three sons exchange tales with one another for entertainment (Greene & Del Negro, 2010). The first known story was the epic of Gilgamesh, an epic about Gilgamesh of Sumeria (Greene & Del Negro, 2010). Gilgamesh lived on after the collapse of Sumerian civilization, so far as being referenced in Greek and Hebrew myths and scriptures (Greene & Del Negro, 2010). Quality, larger than life, captivating stories thus can outlast the people who wrote them. A good story told, in other words, can immortalize a society beyond the lives of its people. To this day, even modern audiences who never experienced life in Sumeria can enjoy tales like Gilgamesh, letting these societies live on metaphorically. I feel that this connects directly to Greene and Del Negro's mention of the innate impulse between humans to communicate with each other.

My experiences with Storytelling

Unlike many of my colleagues, I have not worked as a school librarian. However, I have interned before as an intern at a place called Mission San Luis, which was a living history museum for the Spanish mission to the Apalachee natives of Tallahassee, Florida. While there, I provided daily tours to elementary and middle school students. This involved walking them around the mission, explaining what happened there and why it did, and allowing them to act like interpreters who lived the history out for viewing. The students enjoyed the tours, and often admitted they enjoyed the tours more than what they learned within the classroom. It is important for literary professionals to use storytelling to captivate student audiences (Underdown-DuBois, 2011). Underdown-DuBois suggests that storytelling in a format similar to this helps literary professionals entertain as well as inform, and that ideal storytelling moves on from holding a book and reading/paraphrasing from the author (2011). My internship at Mission San Luis confirms this idea as very wise advice for literary professionals.

From the Mission San Luis website.

Even at my last position, in a way, storytelling was crucial to my work. I had previously worked as a Reference Librarian for a law school up in Atlanta, and chief among my duties were supervising student assistants and meeting the needs of library patrons. Denise Agosto mentions an important result of storytelling: the joy it brings (2016). Whenever I spoke with students, staff, faculty, or whomever, I talked with them during work. While I focused at the task at hand, I would ask them how their day was going, if anything of note went on in class, and so on. In other words, I let them tell me stories about their daily lives. It opened these patrons and students up to me, helping instill a friendly but still professional atmosphere. In turn, I would respond with my own stories, and this helped improve the atmosphere of the library as well as allowing to make friends and professional contacts life-long.

Fables and Storytelling for Children

Given this blog post's focus on storytelling with children and students, I decided to reread some fables I remembered from my younger days. Erin Flynn talked about that while a quiet classroom is ideal for productive work, it is not always ideal for a child's total intellectual and personal growth (2016). Indeed, storytelling could help remedy the rising issues of poor language development and poor instructional quality (Flynn, 2016). I do remember how much I enjoyed story time and reading as a child, so I pursued memory lane with Flynn's article in mind.

I used the Library of Congress's The Aesop for Children to reread old fables I knew as well as for finding new ones during the week. Allow me to show you some examples, including with illustrations.

The Hare & The Tortoise, a race that proves diligence wins over speed alone.

The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing, where a wolf learns that deception can become his own undoing.

The Cat & The Fox, a fable that shows cunning does not mean much if it violates common sense.

This resource with the Library of Congress was an excellent way to find old fables as a child and also learn about ones I have yet to read. They contain simple language that children can understand, and also teach them about concepts and morals to improve their lives. This reminds me of the fables made by Grimms' Fairy Tales, a collection of short stories by Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm. Though these original versions could be considered risque by modern standards, the collection archives folkore and stories for all to read and enjoy.

An illustration of the story "Hansel and Gretel", found on Britannica.

WORKS CITED:

About the Aesop for Children. Read.gov - Library of Congress. (n.d.). Read.gov. https://read.gov/aesop/about.html

Agosto, D. E. (2016). Why Storytelling Matters: Unveiling the Literacy Benefits of Storytelling. Children and Libraries, 14(2), 21. https://doi.org/10.5860/cal.14n2.21

Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia (2023, August 29). Grimm’s Fairy Tales. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Grimms-Fairy-Tales

Ellin Greene, & Janice Del Negro. (2010). Storytelling : art and technique. Libraries Unlimited.

Flynn, E. E. (2016). Language-Rich Early Childhood Classroom: Simple but Powerful Beginnings. The Reading Teacher, 70(2), 159–166. https://doi.org/10.1002/trtr.1487

Mission San Luis. (n.d.). missionsanluis.org. https://www.missionsanluis.org/

Underdown-DuBois, C. (2011). Bringing Storytime Alive with Acting and Storytelling Techniques: an Interactive Article [Review of Bringing Storytime Alive with Acting and Storytelling Techniques: an Interactive Article]. Tennessee Libraries, 61(2).