The PeachSeed Storytelling Guild Newsletter

A Collaborative WebSite of Educational Resources

December 19, 1998

Fourth Annual Storytelling Conference

The fourth PeachSeed Storytelling Festival and Conference for Young Tellers will be held at Rowland Elementary School in DeKalb County, GA Saturday March 6, 1999 from 9 a.m. to 3:45 P. M.

Attendance is expected to be around 300. Children who participate will enjoy hearing stories from other young storytellers and professional tellers, Cindy Bee and Curtis Richardson. Each child may attend up to four workshops to increase their own storytelling techniques.

Some titles of the workshops included:

Beginning Storytelling
Using Voices in Your Stories
Poetry
Retelling Fairy Tales in Modem Settings
Music in Your Stories
Using Cut Paper Techniques in Your Stories
Selecting and Learning Stories
African and African-American Stories
Using the Internet for Storytelling

A major sponsor of the conference is Mrs. Anne Wallace, Librarian/ media specialist at Rowland, who may be reached at Anne50W@aol.com.

Storytelling Club Activities

The Rowland Elementary School Storytelling Club meets every Tuesday morning at 7 a.m. - 8:10 a.m. in the library media center. The children, who are members of the club, take turns making sure the club is a success each Tuesday.

A calendar is provided in the Library/media center for the members to sign for their turn of duty or to schedule their time to tell a story. Someone is responsible to write the Storytelling meeting time on the portable children's chalkboard and to place it outside the meeting location. Another child has an announcement made to the children waiting before school in the cafetorium. Others arrange the seating for the audience and the tellers. Another child is responsible for keeping the calendar current and reminding everyone of their jobs. And of course, there is a different volunteer each time as the master of ceremonies. As the master of ceremonies, this student starts the storytelling event with an African Piano welcome and introduces each storyteller.

The children tell stories that they have read, heard other tellers tell or have listened to on programs such as Wishbone or Reading Rainbow. The club limits the telling of "scary stories" to October.

All of the children in this club are storytellers at all times. Sometimes they are the listeners (audience) and sometimes they are the teller. They are always respectful of each other. The listeners do not interrupt the tellers by moving, or talking during a story. The teller always tells a story that is a pleasure for the listeners to hear.

The sponsor of the club is Mrs. Anne Wallace, Librarian/ media specialist at Rowland, who may be reached at Anne50W@aol.com.

Steering Committee

David Shatten, 6th Grade Instructor at Glen Haven Elementary School in DeKalb County, GA, member Southern Order of Storytellers, Storytelling for Children Instructor, Storyteller.
Anne Wallace, Library/Media Specialist at Rowland Elementary School in DeKalb County, GA, member Southern Order of Storytellers, Storytelling for Children Instructor, Storyteller.
LaDoris Bias-Davis, parent of student in DeKalb County School System; member Southern Order of Storytellers, Storyteller.