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Away with the faeriesStorytelling in Schools
Contact details: Anne Murray
Senior Educational Psychologist
Derbyshire Educational
Psychology Service
Storytelling project
6 year 4 boys struggling with aspects of literacy
ESL; Social difficulties; telling lies; anxiety & low
confidence
Chosen for a special project
Outcomes: language development, narrative
structures and increased confidence with writing
45-60 minutes after break
Weekly/bi weekly September – Feb
Teaching Assistant in school supported the project
Meetings with parents
Language development
Brain research has led to increased understanding of neurobiological bases of language
Effects of positive and negative experience and environmental factors
Development and timing of differentiated language functions can have significant positive impacts
University of Oregon programme: Changing Brains
Benefits of storytelling
Expert Panel and its Development within the
National Curriculum Dec 2011
Positive connection between oral development, cognitive
development and a range of educational attainment
Correlation with improved word reading, reading
comprehension,
Development of phonological awareness, oral
vocabulary, syntactic knowledge
Promote listening, attention, & engagement
Understanding of narrative structures
Benefits of storytelling cont.
Supports the development of collaborative pro-social skills
Social and communication skills: turn taking, deep listening, asking questions, mutual support
Emotional Literacy : insight and empathy, safe container for exploring fantasy, enhanced well being
Moral and spiritual development: ethical decision making
Your brain on stories
Left hemisphere function: “The Interpreter”
Narrative used to organises memories into
plausible stories
Accuracy less important than coherence
Fill in the gaps of memory with plausible
inventions
Over-simplification
Good entry point to engage learners
The story is toldeye to eye,
mind to mind and
heart to heart
Specific skills taught during the project Listening/ Attention
Asking questions
Memorising stories and rhymes
Group chanting
Leading call and response
Telling brief personal accounts -1 minute,
Telling stories for 3 minutes and longer
Improvised stories with/ without props
Telling group stories to audience
Developing awareness of narrative structures
Developing awareness of needs of listeners
Storytelling process Listening to adult told stories; Listening to each
others improvised or learned stories;
Delivered group performance to younger children
Feedback to each other
Shared understanding of Information about narrative structure: plot, character, conflict, resolution, sensory descriptions
Range of themes, styles and topics
Developed awareness of how the teller controls the story “Nobody knows what you are going to say.”;“You can tell a
story about anything.”; “The power of 3 things, 3 wishes; etc.”
The stories we told
STORIES
Stone Soup
How the Rhino Got His Horn
Rainbow Fairy
Jack the Sailor
The Inukshuk of
Labrador
Pandora's Box
Black Plague at
Eyam Village
3 Little Pigs in Buxton
The Boy Who Wasnt
Afraid of Anything
Mary Green and the Sleeping
Giant at the Roaches
Jack the Sailor
Chose and Learned the story and the actions
Sang sea shanties to introduce the story and
told a shared story to younger children
Memorisation
Performance
Found talking down to younger audience easier
Shared experience
It’s OK to ‘Just do it’ See notes for story
My observations of the group during storytelling
Breathing together; Laughing together; Shared mood changes
They sat motionless, quiet and relaxed. Eyes on the teller, unfocussed
Unaware of selves and company
Listening for long periods- up to 20 minutes; Unified sustained interest
Unconscious engagement & sense of flow
Conflict between desire for resolution of story & continuation
‘Heads connected by wi-fi’ :Shared Internal representations
Could visualise and feel the experience ‘Ouch’!
Left the classroom behind; Used strategies to block out interruptions & were not easily distracted
Engaging the listening brain with stories
What happens to your brain when you listen to a
story that you can understand?
Talker and listener have almost simultaneous brain
activation/mirroring
Sometimes listener’s brain activates in anticipation
Everyday conversations shared constructs, implied
meanings
Foreign language: no comprehension- no activation
Big stories and little stories
Big Story
Crafted/Structure
Storytelling for
audience
Legends
Fairy Tales
Epics
Myths
Little Story
Family Stories
Anecdotes
Account of
events
Examples
Pupil Response
Engaged: prepared, ready, willing, excited
Collaborated and co-operated, supported
each other
Took ideas home:
Woke dad up to tell him a story at 6.00
Told a story to his whole family on Christmas Day
Gathered stories from family members
Began reading all the Greek myths
‘I need a pen!’
6 part story for
Christmas-linked to
Classroom project
Visuals only
Pen free zone
One boy demanded a
pen as he felt he had
to write down his story
too.
STORY CYCLE
STORY
Listening
Triggering
Insight
InspirationInfluence
Telling
Pupil Quotes
I know how to tell stories
I am not to scared to tell a story
I learned how to tell a story
I am not shy to tell a story
Now I can tell loads of stories and If I get
butterflies I carry on
Teacher Report
Increased confidence
Increased participation in class
Write more independently
Better listening
Increased amount of writing
TA Feedback
Increased confidence in asking and
answering questions in class
More ready to take a risk
Feel more positively about selves and school
Parents
Generally pleased with the project
Increased confidence
Writing more and trying new words
Storytelling is a great way to engage with
child
Would like to know more about storytelling
And then a few months later
After an in-service day a woman came up to me and introduced herself as the parent of one of the boys. She had not come along to any of the parent meetings and had not given any feedback. She said “ About that story telling– I thought it was a waste of time. But I had to tell you I think it has made a big difference to him…more confident…doing better in school…
21st Century Stories Reality TV
Television Soaps- Eastenders (stories often use plots from Greek Tragedy )
Movies
Celebrity Magazines
Online identities: Twitter, Facebook
Role Playing: Avatars
Interactive Video games
Children/Teen Literature
Music Narratives: Adele
Audio Books
Phone texts
Web Cams
Parents completed story trees
Reflected the importance, and presence of stories in their lives Story
Tree
Roots : Where do your stories come from? How did you learn
them?
Ground: Who listens to your stories? What is your favourite story to
tell?
Trunk: Can you remember and tell stories? What do people like
about them?
Branches: How might you develop your story telling skills?
Leaves: what are your favourite stories? What makes them special?
Fruit: What have you gained from storytelling?
Talked to child about it. Told stories at home.
Personal reflections
Storytelling is an effective no/low cost
positive intervention to use with all children
It has helped promote inclusion for a diverse
group of children
We are hard-wired to tell stories: Anyone can
do it with minimal effort
Finally—next time have 30 paper boats pre
pared before daring to tell a group of adults
the story of Jack the Sailor again!!!
