Learning through Storytelling
Steve Otto, Storyteller and Consultant to Region VII TASC, Raytown, Missouri
You've seen it! That gleam in their eyes when their imaginations kick in! Preschoolers have limitless imaginations. But preschoolers are also inundated with the visual medium. From birth they are fed a steady diet of TV. Talk to them, and you will find that their heroes are often those they "meet" daily through their "electronic babysitter." But the potential of learning through storytelling gives teachers and parents new tools with which to increase the potential of each child.As a full-time professional storyteller, I always start my story with this question: "You all know that when your parents or teachers read you a book, they hold it so you can see the pictures. Well,I have a problem. I don't have a book. What are we going to do?" That throw them for a minute, then one will usually say, "We could use our imaginations!" And then I know I have them hooked!
Drawing pictures in our minds is an ideal example of an interactive game. Children have the ability to make any story their own by imaging what is being told to them. And the wonderful thing is that when the children (or adults, for that matter) learn by imaging, the material is retained!
So how can you make use of storytelling techniques? Do the following:
- Have children visualize the story in the their minds instead of giving them a picture.
- Have children tell the stories back to you in their own words.
- Tell family stories with a different point of view, such as "'The Real Story of the Three Pigs" of "'Goldilocks and the Four Bears", then have the children make up stories to other fairy tales.
- MOST IMPORTANTLY, encourage children to use their imaginations!