Press Play to hear this interview that was recorded as a conference call on April 22nd, 2008 at 8PM ET when I spoke with Jan Andrews and Jennifer Cayley on The Power of Folktales in Children’s Lives on the Art of Storytelling with Children podcast.

Folktales bring us the wisdom of the ages. They have been honed and shaped over centuries. They are there for everyone, functioning on the one hand as entertainment and on the other through offering so many layers of meaning that they are accessible to all. Adults may proclaim that Jack and Ti-Jean, Cinderella and Red Riding Hood (and all those other lesser-known heroes and heroines of the stories we ought to be telling more often) are archetypes. Children simply recognize in these long-lived characters various aspects of their own being. Folktales become then one of the Continue Reading »

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Press Play to hear this interview that was recorded as a conference call on March 4th at 8PM ET when I spoke with Mark Morey on the Art of Mentoring.

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Press Play to hear this interview that was recorded as a conference call on February 5th, 2008 at 8PM ET with Brother Wolf and Joyce Slater on how to tell stories with teenagers who have newborns.

Joyce Slater writes…

Storypartners for Teenage Parents is an intergenerational storytelling/mentoring residency for high schools. It is designed to promote communication between teenage parents and parents of another generation. Like it or not parents have similar experiences no matter when they became a parent. This program gives all participants a chance to tell his/her own story to someone who is there to listen to them.

Before the residency begins, possible mentoring partners are interviewed and screened. After the mentors are chosen, they participate in a workshop designed to help them tell their own personal stories. The students participate in a similar workshop before the two groups meet.

The residency lasts two to three weeks with monthly follow-up gatherings for the mentors and the students. The facilitator meets with the parents and the mentors separately and together to develop the process of telling their own stories of child rearing. The facilitator also uses stories to illustrate topics of discussion, like love, hope, disappointment and fear. Sometimes music is Continue Reading »

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Press Play to hear this interview that was recorded as a conference call on 11/27/2007 with storyteller Elizabeth Rose and Brother wolf discuss how to empower teachers to Use Storytelling in the Classroom.

Elizabeth Rose writes…
In this podcast, Elizabeth shares her ideas on how to use storytelling in the classroom in a realistic way in order to help teach the mandated state curriculum. Many of the skills that teachers are held accountable for can be taught with the use of storytelling. Children respond to stories in the narrative form. Many teachers do not believe in their own storytelling abilities. More teachers need to be empowered to test their storytelling skills with their classes; the rewards are great.

Children also have the capability of becoming great storytellers. So many skills can be learned through storytelling such as plot, sequencing, vocabulary, story structure, characterization, point of view, figurative language, listening skills, the list goes on and on and on. Elizabeth will discuss the value of having youth storytelling clubs and educating more people about the opportunities for youth storytellers, such as the National Youth Storytelling Showcase. Continue Reading »

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Press Play to hear this interview that was recorded as a conference call on 11/13/2007 with storyteller Heather Forest on sharing musical folk tales with young children.

Heather Forest writes…
I am looking forward to conversing on the topic of sharing musical folktales with young listeners. Music and children are an exuberant match. I have found in my storytelling experience with young people that melody, rhythm, rhyme, and repetition of musical refrains keeps young listeners listening. When my son Lucas was a three-year-old and already quite experienced listening to stories, he loved our story times and would often clammer, “Mama, sing me a story!.” From his listening point of view, speaking and singing in storytelling were all part of song. I named my first recording for young listeners “Sing Me a Story” after his way of Continue Reading »

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Recorded on Tuesday the 24th of October - Fran is an amazing storyteller who will dazzle you with her narrative skill and storytelling heart!

Fran Stallings writes…

My main concern with this topic is the observation that many of our Environmental tales are DOWNERS. While our storytelling ancestors probably used them as Continue Reading »

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Post written by Judith Black who was a Guest on the show on Tuesday May 15th at 7pm. Missed the call? Don’t worry - you can listen right now by clicking the play button.

The Dove and the Dragon: Binding Adult Objectives and Children’s Needs in Storytelling

Adult sensibilities and child needs infrequently travel the same orbit.

Adult: “Now sweetie, why don’t I tell you that nice story about the little girl who loves visiting the dentist?”
Child: “No mommy! I want the one about the little girl who goes into the wrong house in the forest and the wolf eats her up.”
Adult: “How about the lovely fairy tale where the princess frees the imprisoned prince and opens a shelter for the kingdom’s peasants?”
Child: “How about the one where the beautiful princess marries the prince and lives happily ever after in a big rich castle.”
Adult: “Let’s tell the one about the kind dragon, who helps the villagers find water.”
Child: “Na, I want the one about the slimy green dragon who rips up all the people into itty bitty bits and gobbles them up.”

The chasm is so deep and wide that they opt for a video tape, a shander* in storytelling circles! (Shander: A Yiddish expression meaning an act of debased dishonor)

Adults edit and censor the stories they share with children. In so much as we are the adults these are our choices to make. Making them solely out of our wants and objectives instead of based in our children’s needs, might Continue Reading »

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Post written by Manitonquat (Medicine Story) who was a Guest on the show on Tuesday April 24th at 7pm. Missed the call? Don’t worry - you can listen right now by clicking the play button.

Selections from the book RETURN TO CREATION, by Manitonquat (Medicine Story):

What we need to investigate and learn together is healing. In a time of great sickness nothing else should concern us. Healing the earth, healing society, healing our communities, healing ourselves. To paraphrase a saying, if we are not part of the medicine, we are part of the disease.
You have come to the circle which this book represents to hear me speak. Perhaps you wish to learn something about Native American healing from a medicine man. Maybe you wish to experience a healing yourself. Well, I hope you do learn something, and I hope you get in touch with the spirit of healing. I must tell you, however, that the healing power for you is only within you. A medicine person’s real job, whether it be with a ritual, with herbs, with steam or water, with song or dance or with story - whatever the medicine, the real work is to convince you of your own healing power. That is the healing power of Creation which is within each of us.
Sickness of any kind is a dissonance in the harmony of nature, a noisy intrusion into the Song of Creation. A certain amount of dissonance and conflict is expected and desirable. They are a spur to consciousness. Our most essential teachers are Continue Reading »

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