Storytelling: The Classroom Challenge by Flora Joy

Appeared in the Winter 1984 issue of the National Storytelling Journal, pg. 26.

For reprint permission or to contact:
Flora Joy
108 Oak Grove Boulevard
Johnson City, TN 37601-9802
or call 1-800-525-4514

"I would love to have storytelling sessions in my classroom" one bright young teacher remarked, "but I don’t have time. I have to teach the skills." This statement reflects an unfortunate but frequently expressed attitude of many teachers. The thought that storytelling in the classroom either wastes time or fails to build academic skills is not only a very erroneous one – but quite the opposite is true. Storytelling can be used to enhance all language/communication skills (plus many other subject area skills in the classroom curriculum) in addition to building positive attitudes toward the learning environment.

In order to demonstrate how this can be accomplished, let us consider how an old folktale, "The Turnip," (found in many storybooks or anthologies) may be used to play a vital part in the classroom curriculum. This story has a simple plot which involves an old man’s attempt to pull an "enormous" turnip out of the ground. Unable to do so, he sought help from his wife. Together still unable, they continued to seek additional help from farm and household animals until a tiny mouse "made the final difference."

This story has many possibilities for educational enhancement, When I introduce this story to a group of children, I have them gather close – generally on the floor in front of me so they can see and hear as well as possible. I then ask how many of them know what turnips are, how they grow, what they taste like, etc. I then place cut-out felt letters "T-H-E T-U-R-N-I-P" on a flannel board or floor and announce that I am going to tell them a story about an enormous turnip. The story will have lines that are used over and over again and I encourage any of them to join in if they wish. Then I tell the story – thus giving the students an opportunity to HEAR the natural, rhythmical, repetitive, melodic flow of the language. Soon they are able to join in with such wording as:

"...The old man tugged at the turnip,
The old woman tugged at the old man,
The dog tugged at the old woman
They pulled and they tugged
They tugged and they pulled
But the turnip would not come out of the ground ..."

These lines are often repeated – each time with an additional "tugger." As listeners begin repeating the lines, they do so in a natural expressive style. Thus the expressive communication skills of delivery (enunciation, phrasing, fluency, etc.) are being reinforced and practiced. In addition, students are verbalizing appropriate sentence structure, appropriate grammatical language subtleties, etc. – all vital to thought preparation in both oral and written language.

Next, I provide a copy of the story with prepared flannel board characters. I place this story in a "Story Box" and encourage the students to tell the story to another classmate or alone in the classroom mirror carrel. Those who do so are now involved with ALL word recognition and comprehension skills. One specific example might be the comprehension sub skill of sequence. Student must arrange the characters in the order of how they appeared in the story – then arrange story structure in like manner.

After several students have "retold" the story, I engage all in a "Word Fun Session." This fun may be anything appropriate to the development of language skills. With this story, I ask questions such as, "What words could we use to describe the turnip other than enormous?’’ (Students then list synonyms for BIG.) ‘‘Here are the letters I used earlier for the title of this story. Who can place them in the right order?"

I now request volunteers to re-enact the story. The "actors" will be: Turnip, Old Man, Old Woman, Dog, Pig, Cat, Mouse, and Narrator (or Storyteller). These students plan how they will tell the story – thus becoming involved in the story plot analysis (for appropriate arrangement of characters), coordinated physical movement (especially for the "fall" at the end). We later extend the activity into a playground "turnip tug-of-war", thus extending the story into other curricular areas such as physical education.

If time permits, I take a REAL turnip to the class (especially one with greenery still attached). In every classroom several students have never seen (or eaten) turnips. The students then examine the real turnip, therefore building skills in concept identification, noting details, and discovering scientific facts. We discuss how turnips actually grow and their relative difficulty (or lack thereof) of pulling them out of the ground. I pose the question: How large would a turnip need to be to require this many "tuggers"? This develops higher- level comprehension skills of fact/opinion, reality/fantasy, making comparisons, etc. I then end the session with an actual "taste" of the raw turnip.

My last request as I leave the classroom is, "This story is now YOURS. Take it home with you and tell it to a family member."