Sheffield_Todd_Storytelling_Experience2

 Storytelling Experience 2

Why I chose the story I told

    First and foremost, I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Mission San Luis as an intern, especially my tour guide duties. It made my MLIS experience all the better, as well as more fulfilling. Revisiting those memories and sharing one of them with the class allowed me to give an authentic, fulfilling storytelling experience. Since I was able to grab a childrens' book for the free choice assignment this week, that also influenced my choice. When you are given freedom, it behooves you to use it. I performed the best out of all of my story times with the storytelling without a book, the week prior to the free choice assignment. As such, I decided to play to my strengths and tried storytelling without a book again. Perhaps it is the tour guide influence in me, but I do surprisingly well without the book as long as I am familiar enough with the story and rehearsed it appropriately.

I interned at Mission San Luis during my MLIS program with Tallahassee, from January to April 2020.

Story preparation

    Even for storytelling without a book, I still prepared for my story. I decided to tell everyone about Santiago del Campo, my favorite living interpreter (well, Santiago was the character's name) at the museum. The character of Santiago was a blacksmith, a smith who works with black metals like iron and steel. I always enjoyed his portion of the tour the most, and so did the children in the tour. To this end, I pulled out my notes from my internship and studied. I reread through everything that Santiago focused on during his presentation. I reread through the historical context behind the information he presented. I also remembered how he would let a student in the group make a nail with his tools, with his supervision of course. That last part I focused on because I remember how it brought the living history to life, and how the touring students loved that part the most.

    Once I gathered myself and read through the information, I practiced and rehearsed a few times. I kept revising my presentation in my head and in front of my mirror. Since this was storytelling without the book, I did not permit myself to look at notes during the video I made. Without a book means without a book, and I also wanted to test my recollection skills. Since I had stuttered a bit and had to openly correct myself in the previous storytelling without a book, I wanted to avoid making those mistakes again. To that end, I took longer time with studying and rehearsing what I was going to share. After enough rehearsal, I decided to go ahead and test myself out by reading in front of my computer. Eventually, the rehearsals made me too nervous as I repeated everything, so that was the point I felt it was time to read for real for the assignment.

Student volunteers with the blacksmith.

The actual storytelling

    I cleaned up my room, turned on my camera and put on my headset to begin. While I still feel shy in front of a camera, I feel that I have improved and this course is partially responsible for this improvement. I actually went through multiple recordings, something I did not do as much in previous assignments. The storytelling without a book assignment I did before this free choice was when I began an intentional recording of more than one recording for these assignments. I bring this up because I noticed my stuttering and tongue getting twisted. The challenge of storytelling without a book is mainly confindence in your ability to remember and recite without an aid there. I remembered my difficulties with the assignment initially, so I actively went through three or four renditions. I felt most confident with my last recording after viewing them all and went with that rendition. 

    For this storytelling experience, I felt that my priorities reflected well in the final product recorded for class. I remembered to detail every detail needed and why it mattered. I did not witness or recall any major mistakes in my storytelling, at least compared to the prior assignment. I explained why the blacksmith and his duties mattered to the people of the mission. However, most of all, I pride myself in my discussion of why I chose this story for this week. The children typically enjoyed the blacksmith's site the most, especially the student who got to make the nail. Just as I explained in my video, that lively, fresh sense of history captivates students better than just learning about facts in a classroom. Even someone more book-minded myself enjoyed the authenticity of the living history museum's interpreters, seeing the history come to life the best way we can. It was wonderful to discuss because it helps teach invaluable lessons for us storytellers, myself included.

Readying the forge.

Conclusion

    I still have plenty of room for improvement with my storytelling techniques. This has been a surprisingly touch class for me, and I am not afraid to admit it. I have difficulties speaking confidently to others, especially using my voice. However, my internship at Mission San Luis was a step in the right direction in this regard, and I believe this class will help me further. Comparing this bookless storytelling to my last bookless storytelling video, I believe improvement has already been made. My goal moving forward is to knock out our digital storytelling assignment and excel with it. If I can continue making improvements with my storytelling, then this class will be just as valuable and treasured as my time at Mission San Luis was. I also hope I continue to improve with storytelling not using a book because that is how tours usually work. If I wanted to work at a place like Mission San Luis full time, storytelling without a book is an essential skill I need to hone and perfect. Fortunately, these storytelling assignments allowed me to progress in that regard.

All images belong to Mission San Luis and their photo gallery, found here.

Nonfiction weekly readings:

Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader by Michael Benson

Largemouth Bass by Dan Oster

Palestine: Peace, Not Apartheid by Jimmy Carter

Political Development in Emerging Nations: Is There Still a Third World? by Howard J. Wiarda

The Century by Peter Jennings and Todd Brewster