Storytelling is an ancient art. Hundreds of thousands of years before writing was invented stories were told to entertain and to teach the youngsters of many cultural groups. In those days, stories were the only way to preserve cultural understanding and morals from generation to generation.
The modern storyteller usually only attempts to entertain. However, the use of storytelling as a teaching tool is "built into" the art and only requires a slight re-emphasis from the entertainment-only mode. Therefore, storytelling can be an extremely important resource for the modern educator. Storytelling is normally considered a "traditional" resource and usually gets used half-heartedly by the teaching staff. This approach doesn't capture some truly outstanding benefits which may be obtained by using storytelling in a routinely scheduled and structured approach.
Storytelling is unique as an educational resource in that the approach can range from the purely traditional to the most technologically modern. For example, storytelling can proceed with only the storyteller and the students involved or it may be conducted with students interacting with on-line storytellers through the Internet.
Storytelling has the unique capability of letting the students interact as listeners or as storytellers themselves. In both cases storytelling promotes increasing student skills in listening, reading and comprehension.
Storytelling may supplement several areas of the curriculum. These include language arts, science, social studies, music and art, and character education. Storytelling through the Internet adds the capability of on-line contact, either individually or small group, between the students and nationally recognized storytellers.
Our approach at DeKalb County, GA's Rowland Elementary has been to use storytelling frequently and in a structured approach. The selection and presentation of the involved stories is conducted with the specific objective of promoting the students' skills in listening, reading and comprehension. The students participate in the oral presentations of the stories themselves. The stories essentially are dramatic activities which encompass the non-verbal communication of body language, gestures and facial expressions. Therefore, the students absorb these elements mostly without their being an item of specific focus. And best of all, the students enjoy the activity.
More emphasis and a more specific focus on the previously mentioned skills occurs when the student becomes the storyteller. Better reading and comprehension skills are necessary to tell a story than to listen to one. More attention to dramatic elements, especially the non-verbal ones, must also occur.
On balance, the student who participates in storytelling as a listener or storyteller, or both, becomes a better communicator in all areas.
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