Storytelling general

a tale of audiences

Posted on January 28, 2013 at 8:19 pm

As a storyteller I get to experience a number of different types of audiences from very young children to adults. As such, I get to see many different types of reactions and behaviors attached to those different audiences.

Spending time recently as a substitute teacher has allowed me to practice my storytelling craft with captive audiences that are just kids. I’ve been telling to Kindergarten and first graders as well as 4th, 5th and 6th graders. I’ve discovered that as I tell stories to these groups with no adults around, that I generally get full attention as the students get involved in my tales. I even get applause when I complete a tale. Students are excited when they see that I am going to be their teacher. I’m sure the storytelling piece is part of it. Continue reading a tale of audiences…

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From farmer to hunter

Posted on December 13, 2011 at 2:58 pm

I spent 33 years of my life as an educator on Long Island. Most of those years were spent in the same school district. During my tenure as an educator I would begin each year with an unknown group of children that I was to work with. I had a planned curriculum and a design on how I wanted to approach that class or classes. The first few days were always a learning curve as I assessed the students needs and personalities and adapted what I had planned to do to the climate of the group. As the school year progressed I continued to adapt to the needs of the group, doing more open ended projects with the more independent classes and more structured assignments with the more difficult ones. Each day I went to school I knew what I was getting into or what might happen since I had been with the same group over time. One could consider me a farmer of sorts. As I cultivated the field of learning, I could work the soil, pull out the weeds, and fertilize and support each plant when needed to allow them to grow. Granted there were obstacles along the way, but I was usually in control.

Then I retired. Though I’m still an educator, it is interesting that the two career paths that I am following now has changed my persona from a farmer to more of a hunter.
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Give credit

Posted on August 6, 2010 at 5:38 pm

I recently read an article in the New York Times about plagiarism and how students nowadays are becoming more and more clueless as to what constitutes infringement of other people’s intellectual property.  If it is posted on the Internet, it must be in public domain right? No.
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in the beginning…

Posted on July 14, 2010 at 11:52 am

I started teaching in 1973. For my birthday in 1974 a friend of mine gave me a guitar. I knew some basic chords that I had learned when I was a teenager and this new guitar inspired me to sing folksongs and incorporate them into my teaching. Granted the students (6th graders) that I was teaching were not going to be impressed with the Kingston Trio’s “Tom Dooley”, but they did get into songs like “This Land is Your Land”, “The Titanic”, “Ballad of Jesse James”, and  “Battle of New Orleans”.  The summer of my third year of teaching a fellow teacher, Jerry Silverstein, took me to the Philadelphia Folk Festival for the first time, and I was introduced to a whole new set of tunes to use in class. Singing with kids became an important part of my teaching. I continued singing throughout my career.

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What’s in a name?

Posted on June 19, 2010 at 7:54 am

When you are born your parents give you a name. For some it takes many hours to determine what that name should be. Some want it to reflect family heritage. Some want it to be connected to popular culture, based on some famous book, TV or movie character. Some just like the way it sounds. For whatever reason, you are given a name that your parents want you known by. Then you grow up and your name gets personalized. Your name becomes the unique identifier of you. In some cases decided by some and accepted by everyone. In some chosen only to be used by select groups. In some cases you choose it yourself.

For some it is just a shortening of your name. Jonathan becomes John, Christina becomes Tina, Elizabeth becomes Beth or Liz, etc.  For others it is a true nickname.  George Herman Ruth became the Babe, Doctor Leonard McCoy became Bones, Djeliba Baba becomes Baba the Storyteller, to name a few.

When I generally interact with people I shorten everyone’s first name, I refer to my son David as D, my niece Alison as Ali, Michael – Mike, Rachel – Rache. My name shortened would be Harv and no one refers to me as that. My first name does not lend itself to many options. With a given name like Harvey, most people call me Harvey.

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To tell or not to tell? – that is the question

Posted on April 22, 2010 at 10:59 am

I recently was preparing for a storytelling concert in which the theme was kindness and Bucket Filling.  For those of you that don’t know what Bucket Filling is, it is based on a book by Carol McCloud, Have You Filled a Bucket Today? To fill a bucket one does things that makes others feel good about themselves. It can be anything from complimenting them to just smiling at them. You can fill your own bucket also. That usually happens by filling someone else’s bucket. The opposite of a bucket filler is a bucket dipper. That happens when you take away from someone’s good feelings. Bullies are bucket dippers.

With that as the theme for my program I did my usual research to find stories that I already tell and new ones that fit the theme. One of those new stories I chose was ‘More Than a Match’ by Aaron Shepard. Aaron gives permission for storytellers to tell this story. The story takes place on the road between the cities of Here and There. A giant blocks the road. When the king’s most powerful warriors are defeated by the giant, the Wise One discovers the giant’s true power (the giant’s father is the wind and mother a curved mirror so he shows whatever he sees reflected back) and through kindness learns how to defeat the giant and get his help. Aaron states on his website that this story is suited for ages 5-12 and adult.

As is my usual practice when learning and telling new material, I go to my local schools and practice on willing classes. Since this performance was going to be for grades 1-2 and 3-4, I decided to practice on classes within that age range.

The first class I practiced with was a 3rd grade class. After telling the story the teacher asked the class how the giant was defeated and with a little prompting was able to get the mirror analogy from a student. My second class was also a 3rd grade class. They however could not get the analogy and therefore did not understand the underlying meaning of the story. There were two reasons that they didn’t get the story. One was that the analogy of a mirror was probably too abstract for them. And two, I used a wrong term when describing how the giant helped the Wise One.
Continue reading To tell or not to tell? – that is the question…

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New material

Posted on August 3, 2009 at 1:52 pm

In searching out new story material for my performances I came across a great collection of stories. The stories are in the book Le cercle des menteurs: Contes philosophiques du monde entire by Jean-Claude Carriére. My difficulty as you can see is that the book is written in French. The English translation of the title is: The Circle of Liars:  Philosophical tales from the entire world.  There is also a Spanish translation of the book. Of course I neither read nor speak either language.

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Voices

Posted on June 22, 2009 at 9:39 am

An important part of storytelling is to go with your strength. If you are good at movement, let it flow with your stories. If you can do voices, make them enhance the tales you tell. If you enjoy working with pre-schoolers, then focus your energy on working with them and learning stories in that age group. The same goes for those whose likes are with older children, teens, or adults. Go with your strength. One of my characteristics is the use of voice.
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Using Quotes

Posted on April 7, 2009 at 1:44 pm

I was preparing to perform at an elementary school the other day when I noticed in my equipment bag an old blank journal that someone had given me on my retirement from teaching. Since the PTA organizer was there with me and was planning on staying through my performance I asked her if she wouldn’t mind writing in the book, her impressions of my performance. I also asked the Physical Education teacher who’s gym I was borrowing to do the same. Both gladly said that they would.

My performances (I did two) went well and afterwards both observers wrote in my book. The physical education teacher wrote: “ Pleasure. Enjoyed your show. It reminded me of Arlo Guthrie and Pete Seeger.”

The PTA coordinator wrote: “I loved your show! Your stories told great life lessons, and your songs gave our children a boost of self-respect and courage. Your fondness and ability to connect with children shined through. Thank you.”

I was touched by what both wrote and decided that if I could acquire quotes like those to add to my promotional material; it would help me a lot. The question was how to do it?
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More characters

Posted on October 15, 2008 at 10:51 pm

I’ve written about people that I have lasting memories of. My last entry talked about noise that I made as a kid and the effects it had on certain people that lived in my apartment complex. I’ve also written about my 5th grade teacher, Miss Hurrell and how she helped me understand the meaning of trust and faith in the class that she was teaching. I thought this time, that I would focus on some of the more interesting personalities of other teachers I have had.
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