What are the benefits of storytelling in the primary classroom?

 “The telling of a story is such a universal part of human connection and learning that it may as well be that ‘story’ is one of the most basic ways that the human brain structures and relates human experience.” (Eder, Cajete and Natural Child Project; 2010, p. 7). Everything that humans do, and experience revolves around some kind of story. Through storytelling, children learn about the importance of cooperation and respecting all people regardless of their physical size or social status. In addition, storytelling helps to further strengthen a sense of community by bringing adults and children of different ages together. The psychological influence of television and various other forms of mass media in modern life is partly due to the fact that these are vehicles for storytelling (Eder, Cajete and Natural Child Project; 2010).

 Even before, when our ancestors first tried to understand the world around them, they told stories (Cherry, 2017). “Stories were the first way in which humans relayed their history, their knowledge, their understandings, their hopes, longings and visions” (Eder, Cajete and Natural Child Project; 2010, p.7).

A main aspect of storytelling is the use of a child’s imagination. We as practitioners and influencers in a child’s life can ignite a child’s imagination and demonstrate the endless lengths stories can go. “Children’s imaginations are the most powerful and energetic learning tools” (Egan, 1990, p.2). It can be argued that imagination is more important than knowledge. “For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world” (Einstein, 1931, p.97). However, it is clear that research has largely neglected imagination, because “imagination is, after all, difficult stuff to get any clear hold on.” (Egan, 1990, p.2). Some may argue that storytelling and imagination includes a large oral element which allows children to use, practice and develop their language skills, sometimes broadening their vocabulary. Storytelling offers the early years and primary teacher’s a route into language that is not covered by any other form of teaching (Wyse, et al., 2013: 102 – 103). In storytelling and story acting the interplay between spoken and written langua ge is important. Storytelling allows children to express themselves through speech, attended to and supported by an adult; and story acting encourages children’s attentive and focused listening. Children also observe the process of writing and recognise the importance of this in capturing their stories (Cremin et al., 2016).

 In a university seminar, we explored the use of Roald Dahl books and storytelling to make a 10-minute academic activity fit for a primary school class to complete. My group chose the book ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ to create a quick activity for a primary school class. We decided for the first 2 minutes, the children were to read chapters of the book where characters were introduced and described. Then gave them the task of matching the name to the ‘emoji’ where elements of the characteristics of each character were presented. For example, we had Augustus as an emoji thinking about chocolate. Then we would make the children use the 5 W’s (Who, What, Where, When and Why) to create their own story and experience of receiving a golden ticket and then to describe which character they would most like to be. I feel as though this activity, although there are a lot of elements, explores a child’s communication and literacy skills. This activity incorporates imagination and creativity which some practitioners find challenging to use in the classroom.

Storytelling and drama share some features but are distinct art forms. Both kinds of narrative experience allow children (and adults) to bring the known word and the world of the imagination together (Bearne and Reedy, 2017). Drama in storytelling has been defined by Franks (2010) as ‘the active and integrated engagement of mind and body, involving imagination, intellect, emotion and physical action’. Drama and role play can expand the use of a child’s imagination by including props such as images, masks and puppetry, but also can be explored in education through theatre trips, assemblies and school shows (Cremin, 2015: 26).  The use of props can make the stories more realistic for children and create an image in their mind. “Storyboxes are a powerful way to support and extend storytelling - and learning – in the classroom. Boxes like these challenges the tellers to construct (often collaboratively) a story using all the objects.” (Bearne and Reedy, 2017).

In a group storytelling project in university, we used something similar to a story box, a story sack to use its resources when reciting a story to the class. The story my group selected was titled ‘The Turtle and the Island’ and inside the story sack was a turtle puppet.  The story sacks and the resources helped us to gain an understanding of why they are important and how using props can help keep the audience visually engaged. Young children often find it easier to relate to stories and concepts if they have something concrete in front of them that help them understand what’s being discussed or told (Kidmuication, 2012). A story sack helps you to illustrate the story in more ways than just a picture on the page.

References

·        Bearne, E. and Reedy, D. (2017) Teaching Primary English: Subject Knowledge and Classroom Practice. Routledge.

·        Cremin, T. (2015) Developing creativity in drama, in T. Cremin, D. Reedy, E. Bearne and H. Dombey (eds) Teaching English Creatively. Abingdon: Routledge, pp. 25-40.

·        Cremin, T., Flewitt, R., Mardell, B., Swann, J. (2016) Storytelling in Early Childhood: Enriching Language, Literacy and Classroom Culture. Routledge Ltd.

·        Eder, D., Cajete, G. and Natural Child Project. (2010) Life Lessons through Storytelling: Children’s Exploration of Ethics. Indiana University Press.

·        Edgan, K. (1990) Teaching as Storytelling. London: Routledge.

·        Einstein, A. (1931) Cosmic religion: With other opinions and aphorisms. Covici-Friede.

·        Franks, A. (2010) Drama in teaching and learning language and literacy, in D. Wyse, R. Andrews, and J. Hoffman (eds) The Routledge International Handbook of English, Language and Literacy Teaching. Abingdon: Routledge, pp. 242 – 253.

·        Kidmuication (2012). Telling Children’s Stories Using Storysacks. Accessed: 15/12/2018. Available at: http://kidmunication.com/telling-stories/telling-childrens-stories-using-storysacks/ 

·        Wyse, D., Jones, R., Bradford, H. and Wolpert M. A. (2013) Teaching English, Language and Literacy. 3^rd edn. Abingdon: Routledge.