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 1/27/2008 with Alex the Jester (Alex Feldman) talks about how to use your physical relationship with your audience to build your success on the Art of Storytelling with Children Podcast.

Connecting Quickly (and Managing Behavior) through Physicality.

When telling for young audiences, even the most brilliant story is vulnerable to young audiences if the situation is compromised, or your delivery is not ideal for the setting. In this discussion, Alex reveals how his wild and mesmerizing style is methodically built, brick by brick. Small details can reap huge Continue Reading »

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Press Play to hear this interview that was recorded as a conference call on 1/27/2008 with storyteller Priscilla Howe about how to make a living as a storyteller.

Priscilla writes…

“Is this…the only thing you do?”
“Are you a teacher?”
“Can you really make a living as a storyteller?”

I hear these questions regularly as I go about my storytelling life. Yes, storytelling is the only Continue Reading »

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Press Play to hear this interview that was recorded as a conference call on 1/15/2008 with storyteller Steve Denning about how storytelling can be used to effect change in any work place setting.

Steve Denning writes…
In 1998, I made a pilgrimage to the International Storytelling Center in Jonesborough, Tennessee, seeking enlightenment. As program director of knowledge management at the World Bank, I’d stumbled onto the power of storytelling. Despite a career of scoffing at such touchy-feely stuff—like most business executives, I knew that analytical was good, anecdotal was bad—my thinking had started to change. Over the previous few years, I’d seen stories help galvanize an organization around Continue Reading »

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Press Play to hear this interview that was recorded as a conference on 12/30/2007 with storyteller Bobby Norfolk The Brain is Hardwired for Stories.

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Press Play to hear this interview that was recorded as a conference on 12/18/2007 with storyteller Michael J. Caduto talking about how stories are giving and receiving.

Michael J. Caduto writes…

I always start my storytelling performances by focusing on the circles and cycles that we share. Storytelling is a circle: a story needs someone to speak the words and a listener to imagine the story into being. This vital exchange breathes life into stories as they become animated in our mind’s eye. So the gift of storytelling is a mutual experience—an exchange of wisdom and a mindful act of creation.

There is also the circle of our gathering—of giving and receiving—in which everyone is arranged in a shape which symbolizes reciprocity and reminds us that we are all in balance. Whatever we share goes around between us all.

The circle is also a symbol our relationship of giving and receiving with the natural world. Everything in nature works in cycles. The basic principles of ecology and sustainable natural processes are based on exchanges of minerals, carbohydrates, genes, gases and other life-sustaining elements. Without this essential mutuality, ecosystems, and the life therein, could not survive. These are the cycles that we must live within in order to 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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Press Play to hear this interview that was recorded as a conference call on 11/06/2007 with storyteller Mark Wagler talks about reshaping classrooms with narrative pedagogy.
Mark Wagler writes…

In the early 70’s, when I first felt the call of oral stories, I imagined being a traveling storyteller, a minstrel performing for new audiences in new places. After telling stories, teaching storytelling, and directing story collecting projects in more than 700 schools and at hundreds of museums, universities, festivals, libraries, historical societies, conferences, and other learning environments, I got tired of living on the road. I realized that many of my stories focused on a deep sense of community, and hungered to stay at home. In teacher workshops, I talked about deep applications of storytelling in all aspects of the Continue Reading »

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K. Sean Buvala writes
My techniques to facilitate storytelling with adolescent boys.

It might be difficult to understand the benefit of storytelling to adolescent boys if the unique nature and difference of the teller’s art is not understood. Storytelling to this population requires some specific techniques.

1. Make storytelling presentations without precursor, introduction or warning. I refer to this technique as “stealth” storytelling. In other words, announcing that “we are going to have a story” may result in the audience of boys turning off their ability to listen. My stories to a group of boys just begin with little or no framing or introduction. To begin by saying, “I almost ran a drunk over in the parking lot last night” has much more power than, “Let me tell you a story that I think will help you…”

2. Tell personal, true tales. Boys benefit by hearing how adult men (and women) have handled the “shadow” or difficult Continue Reading »

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