WEMTA21

Storytelling and oral narrative can be fundamental instructional tools to build literacy in students of ages. In particular, teachers can use foundational comprehension strategies like questioning, envisioning sensory details, synthesis, and inference, even in students who are not yet advanced enough to deal meaningfully with text. In addition, the relationship between teachers and students is enhanced when teachers take on the role of storyteller. Perhaps most important, the natural engagement that stories invoke can seem magical in the atmosphere and the culture of a classroom. We are wired for story, as the saying goes. Why shouldn’t teachers take advantage of this propensity for both instructional and classroom community purposes? In this hands-on workshop, teachers will explore the basic elements of storytelling, reflect on their own experience, and consider ways to implement the approach.