Comments on: Fran Stallings talking about environmental storytelling… http://www.storytellingwithchildren.com/2007/10/19/fran-stallings-environmental-storytelling/ An international conversation of storytellers on the Art of Storytelling with Children Fri, 05 Sep 2008 22:27:37 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Monty Harper http://www.storytellingwithchildren.com/2007/10/19/fran-stallings-environmental-storytelling/#comment-17885 Monty Harper Wed, 23 Jan 2008 21:32:41 +0000 http://www.ericwolf.org/?p=66#comment-17885 Hi Fran, It was cool to hear your voice out there in podcastland! I enjoyed it! Hi Fran,

It was cool to hear your voice out there in podcastland! I enjoyed it!

]]> By: Tim http://www.storytellingwithchildren.com/2007/10/19/fran-stallings-environmental-storytelling/#comment-11758 Tim Thu, 13 Dec 2007 17:00:00 +0000 http://www.ericwolf.org/?p=66#comment-11758 Eric, great conversation, as always, although this time it felt like you only just skimmed the surface of environmental storytelling with Fran. Part of it, I think, is that your passion for the subject, kept scattering the conversation off in various directions. Thankfully, Fran's posting above helps in clarifying the main points covered during the hour. For me, the most fascinating part of the interview, was Fran's "fact-tale" about the restoration of the San Pedro River in Arizona. Simply relating the history of human interaction with that ecosystem got across so many points... from the interconnectedness of species to the impact of development to the law of unintended consequences. Even though Fran wasn't "telling" in that moment in the interview, the story itself was so compelling... a clear demonstration of the power of "fact tales." These type of tales are not only inspiring (moving beyond the "downer" story to hope), and fascinating (with the various uses of the watershed and the various inhabitants filling out the story just as cultural details and narrative turns flesh out a folktale or fairy tale), but because fact-tales are based on observable recorded evidence, they allow the audience to exercise their analytical skills and draw conclusions. Not only does this clearly make a place for these types of stories in a science curriculum, but this also reinforces and validates the listeners' visualization and imagination skills they used in listening to the story. Some constructive criticism: I know you get a lot of like-minded listeners, but on this particular interview, it seemed that you assumed a base level of understanding from your listeners. It's a given that you and Fran share a common body of knowledge, some of which you wouldn't need to make explicit since it's so obvious and basic (for you two, and for other environmental educators). In some of your other interviews (Mary Hamilton, Doug Lipman, Sean Buvala), you made a concerted effort to have your guests explain their ideas with the assumption that the audience could have little to no experience with their specialty. I missed that in this interview with Fran. I've led outdoor experiential educational experiences for youth, so I wasn't in the dark, but I can imagine some of your listeners might have missed out on some points. (E.g. you and Fran agreed on the importance of place-based storytelling, without explaining clearly what that was, and why it was important). Still, I hope you'll have Fran back for an environmental storytelling, part two! There's a wide spectrum of storytelling and storytellers that fall under the umbrella of environmental storytelling... so I'm sure you could fill another hour with ease. Three areas you could dive into in more depth next time: 1) different types of storytelling in various types of venues for environmental storytelling (i.e. schools, camps, zoos, gardens, community events, national parks); 2) where environmental storytelling meshes with school curriculum (you guys just briefly touched on science and character education); and 3) Fran's or your own success in the last issue in the interview: working in partnership with community organizations to move beyond awareness and into action. Looking forward to catching up on more interviews via my iPod! Regards, Tim Eric,
great conversation, as always, although this time it felt like you only just skimmed the surface of environmental storytelling with Fran. Part of it, I think, is that your passion for the subject, kept scattering the conversation off in various directions. Thankfully, Fran’s posting above helps in clarifying the main points covered during the hour.

For me, the most fascinating part of the interview, was Fran’s “fact-tale” about the restoration of the San Pedro River in Arizona. Simply relating the history of human interaction with that ecosystem got across so many points… from the interconnectedness of species to the impact of development to the law of unintended consequences. Even though Fran wasn’t “telling” in that moment in the interview, the story itself was so compelling… a clear demonstration of the power of “fact tales.” These type of tales are not only inspiring (moving beyond the “downer” story to hope), and fascinating (with the various uses of the watershed and the various inhabitants filling out the story just as cultural details and narrative turns flesh out a folktale or fairy tale), but because fact-tales are based on observable recorded evidence, they allow the audience to exercise their analytical skills and draw conclusions. Not only does this clearly make a place for these types of stories in a science curriculum, but this also reinforces and validates the listeners’ visualization and imagination skills they used in listening to the story.

Some constructive criticism: I know you get a lot of like-minded listeners, but on this particular interview, it seemed that you assumed a base level of understanding from your listeners. It’s a given that you and Fran share a common body of knowledge, some of which you wouldn’t need to make explicit since it’s so obvious and basic (for you two, and for other environmental educators). In some of your other interviews (Mary Hamilton, Doug Lipman, Sean Buvala), you made a concerted effort to have your guests explain their ideas with the assumption that the audience could have little to no experience with their specialty. I missed that in this interview with Fran. I’ve led outdoor experiential educational experiences for youth, so I wasn’t in the dark, but I can imagine some of your listeners might have missed out on some points. (E.g. you and Fran agreed on the importance of place-based storytelling, without explaining clearly what that was, and why it was important).

Still, I hope you’ll have Fran back for an environmental storytelling, part two!

There’s a wide spectrum of storytelling and storytellers that fall under the umbrella of environmental storytelling… so I’m sure you could fill another hour with ease. Three areas you could dive into in more depth next time:
1) different types of storytelling in various types of venues for environmental storytelling (i.e. schools, camps, zoos, gardens, community events, national parks);
2) where environmental storytelling meshes with school curriculum (you guys just briefly touched on science and character education); and
3) Fran’s or your own success in the last issue in the interview: working in partnership with community organizations to move beyond awareness and into action.

Looking forward to catching up on more interviews via my iPod!

Regards,
Tim

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