Gossard_Theresa_Free Choice

 This week is a free week so I wanted to reflect on my last storytelling experience and how I would use this book in my classroom.  I would also like to reflect on and highlight some of the videos and readings for this week and last week.  Our professor shared a lot of good information with us and I would like to talk about a few of these resources.  

My storytelling with props experience was challenging.  The story I chose was “The Nest That Wren Built.” by Sonenshine I chose this book because it spoke to me as a mom and a teacher.  I also liked that this book was a poem with repetition phrases that I felt my students would enjoy.  This story also flowed well and left me wondering what would happen on the next page.  It was an exciting book to read.  I felt my students could make connections with the book as well.  Some things they could connect with was the book is written about a Wren and if you live in South Carolina you know that the Carolina Wren is our state bird.  Also, I thought my students could make the connection between the Momma and Daddy Wren in the book and what their parents provide for them.  As parents, we want to keep our babies safe and meet their needs to the best of our abilities.  In the book, the Wren does just that by making a nest for her babies and the daddy Wren would provide food and protection for his babies.   

                                                                        

I honestly could not put this book down when I first picked it up.  I read it to my husband, my children and with my students. I have not been this excited about children's books in a long time.  According to M. Cahill et al. (2020), adults value storytime for their children.  Storytime helps attract lifetime library users.  Some reasons parents and caregivers think storytime is important is because children enjoy hearing the story and participating in the activities. Storytime gives children the chance to interact with other children, and  it gets young children prepared for school with educational activities (M. Cahill et al., 2020).  

After I chose the book, I wanted to make sure I used the helpful hints that Marcus (2002) refers to in his article about “Using Storytime to Teach Information Skills.”  Some tips he gave was use your facial expressions and read the book with enthusiasm, do not choose a boring book, choose a book with illustrations that are large enough for everyone to see and make sure you know the story and words so you are not stumbling during the reading (Marcus, 2002).  As the storyteller, it is good to come up with some thought provoking questions to ask throughout the book to keep the children interested in the story.  This also allows the storyteller to check for understanding and comprehension.  

Having activities planned that goes along with the book will help get the students excited about the story and will help with the students' understanding of the story.  After reading this book to the students I would have them reflect on the steps it took to build a nest and make a home for the baby birds.  Students would use twigs, pine needles, bark and other things that I brought in to make their own bird nest.  I would also have them each add an egg to their nest and remind them they need to keep it safe.  Since the students will be creating their own nest they will have experience in building a nest and they will see the steps it takes to make it happen.  After the students finish the nest building activity I would have them share their nest with the class or group.  While they are sharing their nest I would ask them to come up with one way that their parents are like the parents of the birds.  What is something their parents do for them that the birds parents do for their babies?  Hopefully, the next time they see a bird or a nest they think of the information they learned through this storytime.  

This would be a great book to use when teaching Science with habitats.  As a teacher, I love when I can connect read alouds to what I am teaching.  I usually go to the library and reserved books that go along with the unit that I am teaching.  I immerse those students in that information through books and other artifacts.  I have learned that students tend to score higher on units that I have read books about in the classroom.  When we talk about habitats, I would pull a book like this one to use in my classroom library.  When students are getting this information in many different forms such as textbooks, activities, read out loud, and storytime they tend to recall and apply it to what is being studied.  When I taught in elementary grades I always started my units with a quick big book read aloud.  I would select different genres of books on the topic that I was covering.  During self selected reading time the students would grab one of the books to read or share with a friend.  Those times were the best.  Even my fifth graders loved curling up with a good book and a friend.  As I taught the unit, the students would refer back to the books where they learned the information.  

When storytelling to older children you can use items such a 3D Printer to make items from or to go along with your story.  I was impressed with the video from Carla Diana (2014) about using the 3D printer for Storytelling.  Last school year I was at a middle school that had three 3D printers sitting in a box the entire school year.  No one ever touched them and the administrator directed everyone to not touch it.  They stayed in the brown shipping boxes all year.  Administration said they were too expensive and they did not want them to get broken.  After watching that video from Diana about how she used the 3D printer to design items from the story really stuck out to me.  I could only imagine the fun, excitement and learning that would come from introducing a 3D printer to young adults now through storytime.  The possibilities are endless.  It would take some time and preparation but it would be such an exciting lesson for the students.  I was at the dentist recently and my dentist printed a piece for my tooth using a 3D printer.  I was amazed.  Could you imagine the stories that the 3D printer could tell if it could talk and print at the same time?  

Something that I am taking away this week is that storytelling is not just for young children.  Storytelling can benefit all age levels, young and old. Another powerful resource that I enjoyed was the Youth Speaks (2013) video where the two young girls from the Washington DC Team that were in the Quarter Finals of the Poetry Slam contest.  They almost moved me to tears while I was watching the video.  It was a powerful storytelling moment where two young girls participated in a Poetry Slam and told their story of how they are looked at and treated because of their religion.  I have to admit, I have never seen a Poetry Slam that was as moving as this one.  These girls had me hanging on their every word.  I would love to share this with my high school students.  This is a very moving video and it is performed with such passion by these young adult girls.  This video inspires me to create more poetic avenues for my students.  When storytelling with older students it is good to get them involved in the story.  Let them tell the story through poetry. 

Myths I Read this Week

References

Cahill, M et al.  (2020, November 30).  We’ve been offering it for years, but why do they come?  The reasons why adults bring young children to public library storytimes.  Retrieved from https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/libri-2020-0047/html

Marcus, I.  (2002).  Using storytime to teach information skills.  EBSCO Publishing.

Diana, C.  (2014, October 27).  Maker kids and the future of storytelling [Video].  TEDxBanglore.  

Youth Speaks.  (2013, August, 9).  Brave new voices.  [Video].  YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tv00xjClbx0 .