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Post #6: Blog Share - Down the Rabbit Hole

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Over the past year, several people - a librarian, a colleague, and an MLIS classmate - have recommended The Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller to me. Three recommendations for the same book? I added it to my Amazon order.  As I was awaiting delivery, I decided to Google the author and thus began the trip down the proverbial rabbit hole that became this blog post. Otherwise known as….Why is Jennifer awake at midnight listening to a podcast and crying over the passing of author Gary Paulsen ? When I Googled Donalyn Miller, I found her website . In all honesty, Miller's website leaves a bit to be desired. It’s dated, but then again Miller's The Book Whisperer was published in 2009. The most recent blog post on the website is from 2016. My guess was that Miller had probably moved on to other forms of social media, perhaps Twitter or Instagram . When I clicked on the website section titled Books , I noticed that Miller has a more recent publication co-authored with a teacher, Colb...
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Storytelling Reflection (Post #5 - Interactive Storytelling)

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There Was An Enthusiastic Audience... Calandro, L. (2017). There was an old lady who swallowed a bat! Cartwheel Books.      The inspiration for my final storytelling selection came about by discussing this course with a coworker as we monitored student dismissal at school. She invited me to read a story with one of the kindergarten groups she sees on a daily basis as part of the RTI program. The teacher had already read There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves with her students during the previous week and suggested that I consider reading a different version of the story with them - emphasizing a connection to the previous story, predictable story patterns, and rhyme scheme. After acquiring the book, There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat; I planned the storytelling lesson. I practiced reading the story several times before meeting with the students. Although nothing about reading the story by myself could prepare me for the energy and enthusiasm that the stu...
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Storytelling Reflection (Blog #4 Storytelling with Props)

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Storytelling Reflection - It’s Fall Y’all  In planning for my storytelling experience, I decided to select a story with a seasonal tie-in.  The Legend of Spookley the Square Pumpkin written by Joe Troiano and illustrated by Susan Banta is well received by children. The easy rhyming pattern and colorful illustrations contribute to its enjoyability as a read-aloud. In our course readings, the addition of poems and fingerplays to enhance the storytelling experience has been mentioned several times and so I decided to start the session with a short poem that I remembered from my days teaching preschool, a version of Five Little Pumpkins .     My daughter helped me create an interactive prop with rotating pumpkins sitting on a fence made out of craft sticks. We planned jack o’lantern type expressions for the backside of the pumpkins that would be revealed as the pumpkins were turned one by one and reflect the tone of the pumpkins in the poem.  I practiced r...
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Storytellers All Around (Blog Post #3 Reading Reflection)

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Photo Description: Starting with the photo in the top left, 5th graders are participating in an Ellis Island role-playing experience in Social Studies. In the top right photo, students are practicing a reader’s theatre script. In the photo below, a first-grader reads aloud during snack time to her classmates. The photo in the bottom right is of Kindergarten storytime with hybrid class sizes and social distancing. And finally, the photo in the bottom left is of a Google meet with a mystery guest reader on St. Patrick’s Day. (photo credit: J. Walter, 2021) Storytellers All Around      While reading Chapter 10 in Greene and Del Negro, I couldn’t help but daydream about how storytelling could be a larger part of the curriculum in the school where I work. As an arts magnet school, we already have the fine arts focus including drama, dance, music, and visual arts,  However, none of the pictures featured above are part of those programs. These photos are documentation of ...
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The Man, The Myth, The Legend (Post #2 - Free Choice)

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Santa Claus: A Legend-ary Character Reading through a large stack of folktales, legends, and myths over the past few weeks, I couldn't help but think of the evolution of the 4th century Saint Nicholas into the modern Santa Claus.  This  video  briefly summarizes modern-day Santa's ancient origins.   It is possible that I made this mental leap because my father was a member of the Fraternal Order of Real Bearded Santas  for several years. Yes, this is a real thing, and trust me - these gentlemen take their cheerful roles quite seriously.   Storytelling and the Classroom Teacher This week I came across an art teacher on Instagram. Her name is Cassie Stephens (cassie_stephenz on IG). Although Mrs. Stephen’s colorful fashion and lesson plan ideas are the primary focus of her Instagram content, there are several videos on her YouTube channel where she skillfully demonstrates her talents as a storyteller in the classroom.     Teachin...
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Once Upon A Time (Post #1 - Reading Reflection)

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  "We tell stories to make sense of our world."                                  E.  Greene & J. M. Del Negro (2010) A Brief History of Storytelling In order to trace the beginnings of storytelling, one would need to travel farther back in time than the familiar opening line of well-known fairy tales. One would even need to look past the first recorded instances of storytelling that date between 2,000 and 1300 BCE (Greene & Del Negro, 2010). According to E. Greene and J. Del Negro in Storytelling: Art and Technique , one would need to listen to the oral chants of early man as they recount experiences of everyday life (2010).  From that point forward the art of storytelling has a varied, yet persistent presence in man's life.   Greense and Del Negro (2010) also illustrate how the role of storytelling has evolved through the centuries. In ancient times and throug...
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