Storytelling inEmergent Literacy

Fostering Multiple Intelligences

Storytelling inEmergent Literacy

Fostering Multiple Intelligences

Susan Trostle Brand, D.Ed.Jeanne M. Donato, M.Ed.

Illustrated by Beth Gallo

Australia Canada Mexico Singapore Spain United Kingdom United States

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Storytelling in Emergent Literacy: Fostering Multiple Intelligencesby Susan Trostle Brand and Jeanne M. Donato

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Trostle Brand, Susan Louise.Storytelling in emergent literacy: fostering multiple intelligences /

Susan Louise Trostle Brand, Jeanne M. Donato.p. cm.

ISBN 0-7668-1480-71. Storytelling. 2. Language arts (Elementary) 3. Multiple

intelligences. I. Donato, Jeanne M. II. Title.LB1042.T76 2000372.6—dc21 00-064504

Dedication

This book is dedicated toJonathan David, my “Little Man”

and the light of my life, and to Stephen, my “Big Man” and my rainbow’s end.

All My Love,Susan Trostle Brand

Dedication

This book is dedicated to John Donato, our children,

and those who love storytelling.

With Blessings,Jeanne M. Donato

V

C O N T E N T S

Contents

Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . x

Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xii

About the Authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiv

Chapter 1 Emergent Literacy: An Evolving Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Reading and Preschool Children . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Reading and School-Aged Children . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Promoting Lifelong Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Storytelling versus Story Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Benefits of Storytelling. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Authentic Assessment of Literacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Chapter 2 The Use of Storytelling to Foster EmergentLiteracy Skills: Incorporating Brain-Based Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Meaning and Comprehension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Imagination, Emotion, Memory, and Learning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Storytelling and Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Chapter 3 How to Tell a Story: Ten Exciting Approaches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Background Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Purposes of This Chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Preparing to Tell a Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Approaches to Storytelling. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Chapter 4 January: Winter Wonders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

The Purple Hat (Chant). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

The Chinese New Year: How the Animals Were Chosen (Traditional). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

A Riddle for Winter (Chant/Traditional) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

I Have a Dream (Puppetry) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65VII

C O N T E N T S

Chapter 5 February: Presents and Presidents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

I Like You the Best (Chant) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Abe Lincoln and the Bullies (Traditional) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

George Washington’s “Lifeguard”: The Legend of Simeon Simons (Chant) . . . . . . . . . 84

The Frog Prince (Chant/Pantomime) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Chapter 6 March: Magic and Make-Believe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Daniel O’Rourke and the Pooka’s Tower (Traditional) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Finn and Cuchulainn (Group Role-Play) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

The Three Wishes (Traditional) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

The Pot That Would Not Stop Boiling (Character Imagery/Chant) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

Chapter 7 April: Spring into the Great Outdoors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

Bojabi (Felt Board/Chant). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

Kibungo: Beast of the Rainforest (Musical/Group Role-Play). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

Jack and the Beanstalk (Felt Board/Chant). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

The Lion and the Mouse (Balloon). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

Chapter 8 May: Families Are Special. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146

The City Mouse and the Country Mouse (Puppetry/Chant) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148

Why Not Call It Cow Juice? (Draw Talk) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

The Little Bunny Who Wished for Red Wings (Chant) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157

The Brownies and the Tailor (Chant) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162

Chapter 9 June: Music and Poetry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170

Rattlin’ Bog (Balloon/Musical) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172

Little Bunny Foo Foo (Puppetry/Musical) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178

It Could Be Worse! (Group Role-Play/Musical). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182

The Unicorn (Musical). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187

Chapter 10 July: America and Americans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192

Johnny Appleseed (Group Role-Play/Character Imagery/Chant) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194

Ida Lewis: Keeper of the Light (Adapted Pantomime/Musical) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199

A Yankee Doodle Legend (Character Imagery/Musical/Chant) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205

The Fourth of July (Chant). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211

Chapter 11 August: Oceans of Fun . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218

Magic Fish in the Sea (Musical/Chant) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220

The Fairies, the People, and the Sea (Puppetry) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226

VIII

C O N T E N T S

The Crab and the Lobster (Group Role-Play/Pantomime) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231

The War between the Sandpipers and the Whales:A Tale from the Marshall Islands (Chant) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235

Chapter 12 September: Making New Friends. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242

The Three Billy Goats Gruff (Puppetry) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244

Pigs…Bears (Chant) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250

The Most Beautiful Thing in the World (Draw Talk) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257

How the Leaves Got Their Colors (Traditional/Chant) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263

Chapter 13 October: Shivers and Quivers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269

Old Rattle Bones (Musical/Group Role-Play) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271

Red Lips (Chant/Adapted Pantomime). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276

No Kids in the Gallery! (Character Imagery). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282

Skinny as a Spider’s Waist (Felt Board/Chant). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287

Chapter 14 November: Food for Thought . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294

The Little Red Hen (Group Role-Play). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296

Stone Soup (Adapted Pantomime). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300

Old Man Rabbit’s Thanksgiving Dinner (Draw Talk) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305

The Strawberry Thanksgiving (Traditional). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314

Chapter 15 December: Holidays Around the World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320

Saint Lucia Day: A Swedish Tradition (Traditional) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322

The Kwanzaa Story (Chant) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329

A Baker’s Dozen (Traditional) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333

A Stranger’s Gift (Puppetry) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337

Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343

References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349

IX

. . . It has now been established quite con-vincingly that individuals have quite differ-ent minds from one another. Educationought to be so sculpted that it remainsresponsive to these differences. Instead ofignoring them, and pretending that allindividuals have (or ought to have) thesame kinds of minds, we should instead tryto ensure that everyone receive an educa-tion that maximizes his or her own intel-lectual potential (Gardner 1993, p. 71).

Students, in-service teachers, parents andcaregivers will find a plethora of inspiringstories and extension activities within each

page of Storytelling in Emergent Literacy: FosteringMultiple Intelligences. Consistent with the Construc-tivist approach to learning, this text guides ratherthan tells; the stories and activities allow for flex-ibility in grouping of students, use of settings, andprops. Most importantly, the stories and activitiesencourage students to gain confidence in theirown emergent literacy and areas of multiple intel-ligence abilities. Through exposure and practice,students gain skills in a naturalistic and meaning-ful way, beginning with a captivating story. Ulti-mately, students gain confidence in themselvesand become lifelong learners and problem-solvers,realizing the inner-relationships of all learning andall the areas of multiple intelligence.

Storytelling in Emergent Literacy: Fostering Mul-tiple Intelligences explores storytelling and emergentliteracy using the foundations of brain researchand multiple intelligence theory. The authorsdemonstrate creative applications of children’s lit-erature and folk tales to reading and literacy andto the other multiple intelligence abilities, suchas social skills, nature, numbers and numeracy,music, visual arts, and movement.

The text acknowledges that emergent liter-acy is the day by day, gradual accumulation ofskills and knowledge that leads to readiness formore formal reading instruction. Within the text,and throughout the set of three videotapes, thereader/viewer is provided with a wide array ofinformation and tools which, when implemented,facilitate the learner’s gradual accumulation ofthese essential early competencies and inspire alifelong love of literacy.

Chapter 1: Emergent Literacy: An EvolvingProcess addresses the benefits of storytelling andcompares the effect of storytelling with story read-ing on young children’s comprehension andvocabulary acquisition.

Chapter 2: The Use of Storytelling toFoster Emergent Literacy Skills: IncorporatingBrain-Based Learning presents information onGardner’s and other prominent researchers’ the-ories of multiple intelligence. Brain developmentand related research are discussed in detail. Theadvantages of using storytelling are discussed interms of cognition, brain development, and lin-guistic skills. Applications of both brain develop-ment and multiple intelligence theories to literacyand dramatic play settings for children concludethis chapter.

Chapter 3: How to Tell a Story: Ten Excit-ing Approaches delineates several approaches tostorytelling. Suggestions for the storyteller pref-ace the numerous approaches and include suchconsiderations as costume, materials, props, voicecontrol, use of stage, body positioning, audienceinvolvement, facial expressions, using scripts,rewriting stories, creating unique stories, andlearning to tell an effective, inspiring story. Thevarious methods of storytelling include Tradi-tional, Adapted Pantomime (using words), Char-acter Imagery, Draw Talk, Puppetry, Chant, FeltBoard, Balloon, Musical, and Group Role-Play.Multicultural, thematic children’s literature selec-tions, arranged by storytelling methods, are listedat the conclusion of Chapter 3.

Chapters 4 through 15 present 48 actualstories and, for each, three creative, multiple intel-ligence/content area activities. At the beginning ofeach chapter is a poem suitable to the chapter’stheme. The stories and themes are arrangedsequentially, according to the 12 months of theyear. Photographs, recipes, songs, and illustrationsaccompany the stories and multiple intelligenceactivities and assist the Teller in applying the ideasto an actual classroom. For each of the 48 totalstories, a description of the story, a thoroughexplanation of suggested props and the mostappropriate method(s) of telling prefaces the story.This section is entitled, “Tips for the Teller.”

X

Preface

P R E F A C E

An asterisk is used throughout the book todenote audience participation in the storytellingmethod through movement, words, or song. Forsimplicity, lines to be repeated in a chorus orchant are indicated with (2x) at the end of the line.

For the purposes of this book, the followingdefinitions pertain to both the source of the orig-inal story and the author of the current format.The designation “By” refers to the originator ofthe story. “Retold by” implies that the story hasbeen written by at least one author previously. Thepresent author(s) made some minor content orsequence changes to the original story. An adaptedstory is one in which the formatting of the origi-nal has been changed to comply with one or morestorytelling techniques but in which there are fewor no changes to the content of the story. “Adaptedby” signifies the writer of the reformatted story. Astory that is both “Retold and Adapted” has beenwritten by a previous author, has had minorchanges made to the present story’s contentand/or sequencing, and has been reformatted forapplication to one or more storytelling techniques.

Finally, at the conclusion of each of thetwelve sequential chapters is a chapter resourcessection, listing related, recommended books andaudio recordings. A complete references list, aglossary, and an index conclude the text.

The Use and Enjoymentof the Three StorytellingVideotapes That AreAvailable to AccompanyThis TextbookThe three storytelling video-tapes that are available to accompany this text-book will entertain, inform, and enlighten thestorytelling student and instructor. Throughviewing ten exciting and colorful stories from thetextbook, each of which is told using a differentstorytelling method, students and instructorswill learn how to implement the accompanyingtextbook descriptions. These ten complete storiesfrom the textbook and the methods of story-telling used for each are demonstrated in the sto-rytelling videotapes:

(1) Red Lips: Chant/Adapted Pantomime(2) Jack and the Beanstalk: Felt Board/Chant

(3) The Pot That Would Not Stop Boiling:Character Imagery/Chant

(4) Why Not Call It Cow Juice?: Draw Talk(5) The Three Billy Goats Gruff: Puppetry(6) A Riddle for Winter: Chant/Traditional(7) The Lion and the Mouse: Balloon(8) Stone Soup: Adapted Pantomime(9) Rattlin’ Bog: Balloon/Musical

(10) Johnny Appleseed: Group Role-Play/Character Imagery/Chant

A set of questions concludes each of the tenstories. These questions probe the students’understanding regarding characteristics of thepreceding storytelling method, as well as foster adeeper comprehension for the viewer.

In order to maximize the use of the video-tapes, students may follow this set of instructions:

(1) Carefully read Chapter 1 (an introductorychapter, called “Emergent Literacy” andChapter 3 (“How to Tell a Story: Ten Excit-ing Approaches”) of this text.

(2) Read the ten stories in this textbook that arealso found on the set of three storytellingvideotapes.

(3) Refer to your textbook while viewing eachcorresponding story in the set of videotapes.

(4) Pause the tape periodically in order to clarifya method and/or check your understanding.

(5) At the conclusion of each story, write (ororally answer) the set of questions relatingto the storytelling method you viewed. If youare uncertain about the answers to some ofthe questions, refer to Chapter 3 for moreinformation.

(6) Continue in this manner as you view theremaining nine stories.

(7) Decide which method you would like to usefor your own storytelling. Allow this story-telling method preference to help determineyour choice of story to perform for the classor audience.

Remember to have fun with storytelling andthat it is not possible or even desirable to alwaystell a story the same way you read or heard it orviewed it on a videotape. Make the story your own.Your resultant enthusiasm, inspiration, and tal-ent will reap the benefit of the children’s sheerdelight at your captivating performance!

XI

P R E F A C E

This story available onStorytellingVideo!

StorytellingVideo!

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Grateful thanks and hugs to my friendswhose ongoing support helped to trans-form this book from a dream into a real-

ity. I thank my parents, John and Lois Hewitt, whoalways taught me, by example, the role of faithand industry in pursuing one’s dreams.

For her tremendous role modeling andboundless energy, kudos extend to Dr. JaneMadsen, my storytelling mentor at Penn StateUniversity and my lifelong friend. To the direc-tors, children, and families at Redwood Library inNewport, Rhode Island, and to the University ofRhode Island’s Early Childhood CooperatingTeachers, especially Mrs. Mikel Terluk, for theirencouragement, suggestions, and use of facilitiesfor this project, I extend warmest appreciation.

To my students—past, present, and future—atthe University of Rhode Island, who continuallyamaze me with their talent and fresh perspectives,I thank you very sincerely. Michelle Berenson, DanaHanley, and Cynthia Gaccione have earned a spe-cial note of appreciation for their creative contri-butions to this text and set of videotapes.

My secretary at the University of RhodeIsland, Mrs. Reba Gould, has supported andguided me for the past 15 years. She has earnedmy admiration, heartfelt gratitude, and praise.

Thanks and praise are also due the editorsand reviewers of this manuscript who providedexcellent suggestions and insights throughoutthis project. We truly appreciate their attention todetail and their willingness to share their knowl-edge about formatting, activities, and stories, andfor strengthening this book and the accompany-ing videotapes in many important ways.

To my wonderful husband, Stephen, whosewisdom, humor, gentle encouragement, and lovebrighten each of my days, I am eternally grateful.Last, but not least, my son Jonathan taught methe joy of reading together and the joy of moth-erhood. He is always a great source of inspirationand laughter for me. Stephen’s and Jonathan’spatience throughout the writing and revisingprocess and their encouragement and belief in mewere the keys which unlocked the doors to mywriting this book.

Susan Trostle BrandXII

Acknowledgments

Instructor’s ManualThe Instructor’s Manual, which also accompaniesthis text, features a multiple intelligence surveyand steps to become a successful storyteller. Astorytelling Rubric for assessing students’ story-telling performances is useful to instructors ofstudents who are learning to tell stories.

Also featured in this manual are multicul-tural literature references, a list of story-relatedorganizations and publications, and a list of Websites related to storytelling, storytellers, and chil-dren’s literature. A video portion of the manualprovides video presentation hints and answers tothe questions presented in the videos.

My love and devotion go to my hus-band, John Donato for his laughter,love, support, and all the dinners he

cooked. I thank my children, Jeannie, Katie, andJohn-Paul for their love and understandingthroughout the writing process. I am grateful tomy parents, John and Lillian Mahaffey, who havenurtured us with love and encouraged us to fol-low our dreams.

I honor and bless Dr. Lillian Poston for herloving direction and inspiration, and Nancy andDr. Robert Swegler for their friendship and pro-fessional assistance. Acknowledgment goes to theEducational Kinesiology Foundation and instruc-tors for their excellent Brain-Gym® training. Ithank Dr. Flora Joy for her expertise and innova-tive Storytelling Masters program at Eastern Ten-nessee State University, Dr. Joseph Sobol as hecontinues this work, and Dr. Wendy Nowlan forencouraging the use of “Whole-Brain” Story-telling in her Storytelling Institute at SouthernConnecticut State University.

My gratitude extends to the librarians ofRhode Island and Connecticut for their help,especially Joan Gately, David Panciera, and Helen

Mochetti, and the friends of the Westerly, Ash-away, and Redwood Libraries. Praise goes tothe principals, teachers, students, and parents ofHarbor, Jennings, and Westerly ElementarySchools, who worked on the storytelling projectsfor this text. I thank Jean Liepold for her musicalediting and arranging. To my friends at the Con-necticut Storytelling Center, I extend thanks fortheir innovative Tellers in Schools program, whichenabled me to work with the teachers and stu-dents. To my storytelling communities— TheRhode Island Storytellers, Little Rest, the Leaguefor the Advancement of New England Storytelling(LANES), the National Storytelling Network(NSN)—and all who love storytelling, I thank youfor your support and encouragement.

My heartfelt thanks goes to the artists,authors, reviewers, and professionals who con-tributed their time and work. I would like tothank our editors, Erin, Alexis, Amy, Elaine, andMelissa, and the other experts at Delmar for theirbelief, insight, and encouragement in developingthis text. Their help was invaluable. My blessingsextend to all.

Jeanne M. Donato

XIII

Leanna Manna, M.A.Villa Maria College of Buffalo

Buffalo, New York

Nina Mazloff, M.S.Becker College

Worcester, Massachusetts

Mary Clare MungerAmarillo CollegeAmarillo, Texas

Loraine Phillips, Ph.D.Blinn College

Brenham, Texas

Mikel TerlukCharlestown Elementary School

Charlestown, Rhode Island

Doris Walker-Dalhouse, Ph.D.Moorhead State University

Moorhead, Minnesota

The authors and Delmar would like to express their gratitude to the following professionals whooffered numerous valuable suggestions and strengthened this textbook:

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

About the Authors

XIV

Susan Trostle Brand, D.Ed., is an AssociateProfessor of Education at the University ofRhode Island in Kingston, Rhode Island.

She is a former teacher of primary age children inthe public schools and has served as a ReadingSpecialist in grades Kindergarten through six.

Dr. Brand received her Bachelor of Sciencedegree in Elementary Education at Indiana Uni-versity of Pennsylvania in 1973. She earned herMaster of Arts degree in Reading from West Vir-ginia University in 1975 and her Doctorate inEarly Childhood Education from PennsylvaniaState University in 1984.

The author of two other textbooks andnumerous chapters in books and articles on cur-riculum, play, and literacy, Dr. Brand enjoys read-ing, storytelling, kayaking, and traveling in her

free time. She also enjoys spending quality timeat home with her husband, Steve, her eight-year-old son, Jonathan, and her cats, Chelsea and Yogi.

Dr. Susan Brandwith her son,Jonathan.

Jeanne M. Donato, M.Ed., holds a Mastersdegree in Reading/Story Arts and a Bachelorof Arts degree in Elementary Education. Her

specialty is Storytelling in the Curriculum.

She teaches Children’s Literature at SouthernConnecticut State University in New Haven,Connecticut. Jeanne is a former teacher in gradesKindergarten through six. She is a professionalstoryteller, Master Word Weaving Instructor,professional clown, and an award-winning Cer-tified Master Balloon Artist, decorator, anddesigner. Mrs. Donato is a Specialized Educa-tional Kinesiologist, certified Brain-Gym®

instructor, and professional speaker, presentingworkshops and lectures internationally.

Mrs. Donato has owned and operated herown company, Balloons by Joy-O-Loons, for morethan 18 years, offering storytelling performances,workshops on professional development, and bal-loon decorating. She is an accredited StorytellingArtist on the Arts and Education Roster in RhodeIsland, and the New England States TouringArtist Roster.

Jeanne M. Donato(photo by

Susan Wilson).

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

C H A P T E R 1

Emergent Literacy:An Evolving Process

2

Carly is now seven years old and reading at a

tenth grade level. She began to read at age two.

When asked how she became such a proficient

reader, she replies, “Reading at our house happens all the time. It

was easy for me to catch on!”

C H A P T E R 1

C H A P T E R 1

For Carly and other very successful read-ers, reading is an enjoyable process thatevolves naturally and in an integrated

fashion. For years, however, educators and theo-rists alike believed that children exhibited areadiness to read at an immediate and observablepoint in time. They advocated the identificationand measurement of a child’s readiness to readbased upon a set of distinct and basically unre-lated skills. Such individualized skills includedvisual memory, visual discrimination, aud-itory memory, auditory discrimination, atten-tion span, alphabet letter recognition, andcomprehension. Most often, these skills wereintroduced and taught in isolation. The skillswere taught using a drill and practice approach,and often work sheets accompanied the lessons(Smith, 1983). Little attention was paid to link-ing the areas of reading readiness. Meaningfuland real-life experiences were seldom provided asa means of fully engaging the child in the learn-ing process (Fisher, 1998). The curriculum wasplanned in advance by the teacher and/or by apanel of experts. The focus was not on theprocess but rather on academics and skills. Pro-viding time and resources for the children toplan their own activities in a constructivist,developmentally appropriate manner (Bre-dekamp, 1997) was the antitheses of past prac-tices. In a constructivist approach children areactively involved in the learning process viahands-on activities.

Today’s instruction of children differsmarkedly from the previous world of teachingand learning. Now the term reading readiness,which referred to the child’s readiness to readat a predetermined age, is replaced by emergentliteracy, a process-based approach that refers tothe child’s gradual acquisition of the literacyskills involved in formal reading. Research sup-ports the belief that children’s learning to read isnot an end point, but rather an evolving process.Given the definition of emergent literacy, it isdifficult indeed to determine exactly when read-ing begins for the child. Rather, we view theemerging literacy skills collectively and provide forcloser and closer approximations of readingbefore the child begins to engage formally inindependent reading.

Reading and Preschool ChildrenPractically from the moment they enter the worldchildren prepare to read. When parents engage theirchildren daily in meaningful learning experiences anumber of positive results occur. These results maybe either explicit—observable and significant—orimplicit—not observable, but nonetheless signifi-cant. Reading aloud to children is one of the bestmeans by which parents and caregivers foster a life-long love of reading in children (Gunning, 1998).

Benefits of Reading Aloud with ChildrenChildren whose parents regularly read to themusually read more often and more extensively. Inaddition, reading to young children developstheir language and conceptual skills. Children arethus better prepared to read independently. Aschildren and parents or caregivers share read-aloud sessions twelve distinct benefits emerge.Reading aloud with children:

1. Expands schemata. Children’s schemata (men-tal constructs) expand as the brain assimilates(recognizes, stores) new information andaccommodates (reorganizes, adjusts) existingcognitive structures to incorporate new con-cepts and understandings. These changingand emerging schemata facilitate the child’sframework for present comprehension andpromote future learning. Thus, when schema-ta evolve and change, the child’s understand-ing simultaneously is changed and enhanced.

2. Develops concepts. As adults read with childrenthe children learn new concepts such as wordopposites, human emotions, and informationalfacts about the world. Children learn to organ-ize and categorize these new concepts throughrepeated exposures to books and reading.

3. Fosters a lifelong love of reading. Children’smotivation to read is closely linked to thesignificant adult’s attitude toward reading.Parents and caregivers who believe that read-ing is a source of entertainment have chil-dren with more positive views about readingthan do parents and caregivers who empha-size the skills aspect of reading development(Baker & Green, 1987).

4. Enhances the child-parent relationship. Read-ing together provides a haven to both the child

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and the adult from the stress of daily livingand routines. Through a shared, mutually sat-isfying experience, reading offers the adultand child a time to set aside for each otherso that they might become acquainted and re-acquainted and experience entertainment andenjoyment. Constraints are lifted, and the twoparties are, for a time, equal as together theyexplore the magic of books and reading.

5. Establishes links with life events. Reading pro-vides explanations for children as they attemptto make sense of what may seem to be an over-whelming and confusing world. In the child’slanguage, and through illustrations, books fillin the gaps and answer the numerous questionsthat the world creates every day in the child’s life.

6. Expands vocabulary. As the child encountersnew vocabulary words through books the par-ent or caregiver provides explanations andexamples to clarify the words. Also, followingthe reading, the adult and the child use and

reuse the new words in real-life settings. Whenan adult continually establishes the connec-tion between the vocabulary and concepts pre-sented in literature and objects and ideas in thereal world, the child builds strong and exten-sive vocabulary and comprehension skills.

7. Fosters comprehension. Comprehension com-petencies include the child’s ability to classifyinformation, to sequence or order events, todetermine cause and effect, and to make com-parisons. Through reading with a parent orother adult, the child extends factual informa-tion and learns to organize it into meaningfulstructures. Providing the older child with writ-ten Concept Maps and other organizers ofinformation, following reading, assists thechild in his or her recall and comprehension.Also, the adult who asks questions beyond theliteral (factual recall) level provides support toall children in their related higher-levelthinking skills.

8. Stimulates imagination. Reading aloud trans-ports the child and the adult from the here andnow to the then and there. Imagination is aprecursor to representational thought, whichcharacterizes all encounters with the spokenand written word. Representational thoughttransports the learner to symbolic experiencesin lieu of direct experiences. Moreover, imagi-nation and creativity are closely related for theyoung reader. The adult who facilitates an “asif” discussion, following the reading of a book,helps the child to visualize, to imagine, and tocreate. “As if” discussions might include thechild’s pretending to live in a particular timeperiod, to have a particular skill, or to take thepart of the main character of the story.

9. Provides catharsis. Children lack experienceand confidence regarding many of life’sevents. Their frame of reference is egocentricand concrete. Through reading, children learnthat other children experience the same emo-tions and fears as they do. They learn how tosolve problems and confront and resolve fears.Children learn that it is acceptable to be dif-ferent—physically, intellectually, emotionally,and linguistically.

10. Facilitates language and expressive languageskills. When children listen to a skilled parent

4

Reading together enhances the child-parent relationship.

C H A P T E R 1

or adult read a story with animation andexpression, they eventually model these inflec-tions and emotions. They learn to modulatetheir voices and to use volume and pausing asthey read and communicate.

11. Promotes phonemic awareness. A child’sfamiliarity with the alphabet and with letter-sound associations is closely correlated withhis or her later success with beginning read-ing. In fact, one of the main distinguishers ofearly versus late readers is the early reader’sacquisition of the alphabet and his or herphonemic awareness, or letter: sound corre-spondence (Adams, 1990, 1997).

When the child is engaged meaningfullyand frequently with print, the child encoun-ters many experiences with phonemes, orspeech sounds. Beginning with ABC books,the child learns to associate letters with thewritten word and with familiar objects andpersons. The adult provides game-like activi-ties to extend reading, as well.

12. Correlates to later school success. Because agreat deal of school involves reading for thestudent, the successful reader is often the verysuccessful student (Clay, 1991). By naturallyacquiring early skills and motivation in read-ing, the child is well prepared to enter the for-mal school setting in which reading andlanguage is integrated throughout the day,and throughout all content areas.

It is clear from these benefits that early, fre-quent, and positive experiences with language,writing, and reading in the home or nursery schoolsetting are critical to the child’s literacy develop-ment. Children become proficient with readingand language through practice and through mean-ingful experiences related to their reading.

Maximizing Children’s PotentialThe following suggestions may enable parents andcaregivers to maximize their children’s potentialfor later literacy experiences:

1. Read every day. Replace television with booksand real experiences related to literature. Visityour library early and often.

2. Read with your children. Keep them activelyinvolved. Engage them in discussions after the

reading and link the story to events that tran-spire in the children’s own lives.

3. Be creative. Dress up in costumes, use anima-tion, and make puppets. Use other props, too, tosupport concepts and vocabulary development.

4. Keep reading relevant and meaningful. Relatestories to actual events, to the child’s interests,hobbies, dreams, and life experiences.

5. Use the three Rs: Rhyme, Rhythm, and Repeti-tion. Big Books exemplify the three Rs, inwhich words rhyme, colorful phrases arerepeated throughout the text, and the lan-guage is rhythmic and colorful. Children arenaturally attracted to texts which are colorfuland creative in their approach to pictures,words, and plot.

6. Keep reading fun, positive, and drill-free.Encourage the child’s close approximationswhile the child learns to read independently.Mistakes are acceptable and expected aspectsof learning for the child. Help the child tomonitor his or her own progress with lettersand sounds, with vocabulary, with pictureidentification, and with story comprehension.

7. Use expression and gestures while reading.Children benefit from experiences with skilledstory readers. Readers themselves must conveyinterest and enthusiasm for the text. Texts areread with volume changes, use of hand andbody movements to convey meaning, and vividfacial expressions. This enthusiasm sparkschildren’s motivation and sustains their inter-est throughout the reading.

8. Always make reading a horizontal learningexperience. In other words, extend readinginto other life areas, linking all texts with con-tent areas, even when the child is very young.Many books provide recipes, ideas for fieldtrips, suggestions for art activities, music andsing-along appendices, and the like. These lit-eracy extensions enable the child to later viewreading as meaningful to the content areasand relevant to all of life’s experiences.

9. Incorporate role-play and creative dramatics.At the conclusion of a story have the childdress up in old clothing as one of the charac-ters. He or she can then ad-lib or rehearse therole and stage a show for friends. Such dra-matic reenactments can be simple or compli-

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cated, brief or lengthy, as the child’s interestand abilities dictate.

10. Keep your home or school environment print-rich. Model good reading habits yourself.Order children’s magazines. Make word wallsby filling your bulletin boards, refrigerators,and cupboard exteriors with words and withchildren’s artistic and language displays.

11. Use the Language Experience Approach (LEA).The Language Experience Approach (LEA),while not a new learning activity, is still invalu-able today as a tool for promoting reading andliteracy. While the child describes a favorite ormemorable event, the adult writes the child’swords verbatim onto a large sheet of paper.Then the child uses this story as the basis forreading. He or she reads first with the adultand later independently. Finally, the child cir-cles familiar letters and words within the LEAstory and uses this skill practice to acquirepunctuation, phonemic, and print-awareness.

Adults are primary facilitators of meaningfullearning as they prepare children for later literacyexperiences. As a result, children are well-equippedto become proficient language users upon theirentry to formal schooling.

Reading and School-Aged ChildrenChildren’s proficient use of language is describedby Cambourne (1988). Cambourne’s model oflanguage learning maintains that certain specificconditions characterize effective teaching andlearning in authentic settings, which are settingsclosely approximating the learner’s real world.These conditions include immersion, responsibil-ity, use and practice, approximations, demonstra-tions and modeling, feedback or response,expectations, and engagement.

ImmersionLearners require immersion in texts of allkinds, including both expository and narrativematerials. Picture storybooks, big books, andwordless picture books hold special appeal toyoung children. Other genres which appeal tochildren include poetry, folktales, fairy tales,myths, fables, historical fiction, and infor-mational or concept books. Such immersionoccurs as teachers provide time for SustainedSilent Reading (SSR) or Drop Everything andRead (DEAR), breaks, frequent visits to theschool library, a classroom library and bookdisplay area, and opportunities for reading

6

A print-rich environment fosters children’s literacy.

C H A P T E R 1

alone, with the teacher, with a buddy, with asmall group, and in large-group settings.

ResponsibilityIn order to facilitate learners’ empowerment(sense of control over life circumstances), teachersneed to let learners make their own decisions abouthow to learn, what to learn, and when to learn thematerial which is presented. Learners who do notacquire this sense of responsibility are far moredependent upon others to make choices for them.

Use and PracticeIn realistic and authentic settings, learners canuse and practice their developing skills and liter-acy tools for practical purposes. For example, aclass explores methods for improvement of theclassroom book collection. In small, collabora-tive groups, students design their own ideas forclassifying the collection of books. Upon pre-senting their ideas to the entire class, the stu-dents vote to select the method most practicaland useful for indexing the books and providingaccessibility to the students.

ApproximationApproximation involves making mistakes. With-out practice and freedom to make subsequentmistakes, learners cannot explore their learningpotential and exercise their unique learning styleand sense of timing. Teachers assist children asthey participate in these trials and errorsthrough discussion, brainstorming reasons forresults, guided questioning, and helping the stu-dent to rework ideas.

Demonstration and ModelingThrough frequent teacher demonstrations andmodeling of the uses of text, students learn toapply these models to their own literacy develop-ment. Implicit modeling occurs, for example,when the teacher invites all students to DropEverything and Read (DEAR), or when theteacher, sharing the big book The Three Billy GoatsGruff with the class, invites everyone to join in onthe repetitive chants, “Trip-trap, trip-trap, trip-trap” and “Who’s that tramping on my bridge?”

Explicit modeling occurs when the teacherdemonstrates how to locate the answer to a ques-

tion raised at the conclusion of an expository text.Modeling also occurs as the teacher talks aloud ashe or she reads a selection. For instance, the teacherreads aloud a section of Mrs. Frisby and the Rats ofNIMH by Robert O’Brien. Then, at intervals, thechildren listen as the teacher may comment, “Thatpart was interesting. I enjoyed learning about Mrs.Frisby’s children. I wonder what will happen next inthis chapter entitled, ‘Mr. Fitzgibbon’s Plow.’ I pre-dict that the farmer may be preparing to plow earlythis year. That will mean that Mrs. Frisby and herfamily will need to move to a new home soon. Ithink I will write my hunch on this prediction chartin my notebook.” Thus, students have new tools forconstructing meaning from text.

Feedback or ResponseIn a literacy-rich classroom teachers provide feed-back, or response, to learners. When these respons-es are readily available, timely, appropriate to theissue, encouraging, and nonthreatening, childrenlearn to monitor their own progress and achieve-ments. They become self-regulating with a realisticview of themselves and their own strengths andweaknesses. The practice of providing ready feed-back to learners also enables the teacher to moni-tor the climate of the classroom and to plan forindividual, as well as whole-group needs.

ExpectationsClosely linked to responsibility, expectationinvolves the learner’s bonding with a significantrole model. Such role models exert powerfulinfluences upon children’s behavior and learn-ing. When high expectations exist in the literacyclassroom and when the expectations are set by aclosely bonded, significant model, the studentmore readily assumes responsibility for his or herlearning and success.

EngagementFinally, engagement for the learner occurs whenthe learner is convinced that he or she is thepotential performer of the demonstrations ob-served. The learner must also hold the beliefthat engagement with these demonstrations willfurther the purposes of life without fear of phys-ical or psychological hurt. The learner must rec-ognize the value of close approximations, and in

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so doing demonstrate a willingness to explore,experiment, fail, try again, and eventually reachthe intended goal.

When classroom teachers simulate theseconditions for learners in authentic settings, chil-dren reap the benefits. Many classrooms nowexemplify Cambourne’s model. Today’s childrenwrite their own stories. They become editors, mak-ing suggestions and offering encouragement tofellow writers. They work collaboratively on proj-ects, on stories, and on researching topics that fas-cinate them. When children require furtherassistance a teacher, classroom aide, moreadvanced classmate, or parent volunteer workswith them in a small group or individually. The adhoc group uses life experiences, games, and othermeaningful learning tools to acquire the skills.Children write and illustrate daily journals. Theysit in claw bathtubs filled with cushions and readwith buddies. They retell and rewrite favorite sto-ries such as Cinderella or Goldilocks and the ThreeBears. They make the stories their own. They bindthese stories into big books for the class to share.

Today’s children observe skilled and ama-teur storytellers, as role models, tell new and clas-sic stories. They extend the stories with art, music,research, writing, and problem-solving activities.They work in large or small groups, at creative andcolorful learning stations. The children them-selves learn to become storytellers. They stageplays and puppet shows and tell and retell feltboard stories to classmates. Through song, poetry,and chant, they become immersed and involved inthe stories. Their alphabet, phonemic awareness,visual discrimination and other competencies areintegrated in rich and meaningful ways, oftenthrough the medium of children’s books. Learn-ing today is a far cry from instruction in the early1900s, and the change is welcome.

Promoting Lifelong Reading

Durkin (1993) and Routman (1988) build strongcases for using authentic literature in the pri-mary grades in order to promote a lifelong inter-est in reading and literacy. Authentic literatureuses characters, pictures, vocabulary, and storiesthat closely resemble those in the real world.Among the advantages of using a literature-based

approach in the curriculum, Routman delineatesthe following:

1. Language development. Vocabulary andmultiple meanings of words are best learnedand applied through the context of readingand listening to authentic literature. As chil-dren experience syntactic (word order) andsemantic (usage) patterns, figurative language,rhyming words, and repetition of vocabulary,their own skills and levels of expertise improve.

2. Fluent reading. When the teacher uses a strat-egy that requires predicting and sampling ofappropriate words in context, the studentslearn to transfer this skill to their own reading.This transference of reading ability to othercontexts is a highly important occurrencewhich gives children confidence and encour-ages independent reading.

3. Emotional catharsis. Authentic literaturedeals with emotions common to all humans.Anger, jealousy, sadness, and so on, capturechildren’s attention immediately and sustainit throughout the reading. Through folk andfairy tales, children learn about longings, con-flicts, and failings.

4. Development of reading and comprehen-sion. Literature use promotes the child’s con-tinuous and related applications of text. Thisdiffers markedly from previous approaches inwhich unrelated, individual stories were usedand, from these basal stories, skills were taughtin isolation. In the literacy-rich classroom, chil-dren listen and read for meaning. Comprehen-sion, and not a set of isolated skills, is theultimate goal of the child’s reading.

5. Self-esteem. When the best children’s booksare used in the classroom, student’s failurerates drastically decline and success rates soar(Routman, 1988). When children view them-selves as readers and writers from the first dayof school this advantage carries over to othercontent areas. Because reading is infusedthroughout the curriculum, children whoread well tend to excel in other content areas.

6. Awareness of story structure, genre, style,and theme. As students are exposed to a vari-ety of writing models, genres, and authors ofauthentic literature, their own repertoireexpands. Thus, students can glean under-

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standing and relate what they learn to theirown writing and illustrating of stories. Storystructure refers to the organization orarrangement of a book’s events or concepts.Genre refers to the form, type, or content of abook. Style refers to a book’s mode and formof expression, as distinguished from its con-tent. Theme refers to the subject or topic.

Research studies have also found that storyreading is most beneficial when it is accompaniedwith extension strategies. For example, in primaryclassrooms in which children reflect on storiesand respond to them using art, drama and music,children became more self-reliant and more ableto recreate story events (Fisher, 1998).

Storytelling versus Story ReadingWhile story reading is traditionally the most pop-ular method for using children’s literature withyoung children, storytelling is an attractive andviable supplement to reading aloud for achiev-ing specific language and comprehension goals(Glazer, 1991; Trostle & Hicks, 1998). Morrow(1997) compared storytelling with reading booksaloud to children. The study discovered thatmore give and take exists between the audienceand the storyteller during storytelling than dur-ing story reading. Thus collaboration betweenteller and students was increased among thosewho engaged in storytelling.

Storytelling is the oral interpretation of atraditional, literary, or personal experience story.It is a tale told in a natural manner with all theflavor and language of the particular traditionfrom which it comes. It is an interaction betweenteller and listener; at its best it becomes a mutualcreation (Baker & Green, 1987). Storytelling beganmany years ago as oral tradition since writing andprinting supplies were unavailable. Stories werepassed on from one generation to another andwere used for a variety of purposes. Three mainpurposes for storytelling were entertainment, sci-entific explanations, and projection.

Storytelling as EntertainmentStorytellers in medieval days roamed the lands,traveling from castle to castle in hopes of impress-ing the royalty and obtaining free lodging and

meals. After a delicious banquet, a storytellermight use the Traditional Storytelling method(using gestures but no props) or the Pantomimemethod (using body movements, gestures, andexpression to convey a story). This system workedvery well, as long as the storyteller was deemedacceptable. Woe, however, to the poor storytellerwhose stories were not sufficiently entertaining; apunishment as severe as death was the occasionalunfortunate result.

Early forms of storytelling included fables,myths, epics, folktales, sonnets, and legends. Inaddition, storytelling was also later characterizedby different genres, such as historical fiction, ani-mal stories, stories of other lands, bible stories,realistic, and fantasy stories.

Nature-Related ExplanationsNatural phenomena terrified people in primitivecivilizations. Early civilizations believed thatangry gods caused hurricanes, floods, tornadoes,and other natural disasters. Even the changingseasons, the phases of the moon, the tides, andhigh winds were met with apprehension and fear.Myths were created by the Greeks, Romans, andNorse in an attempt to explain these phenomena.Indeed, the Greeks and Scandinavians createdmyths that have shaped the language, literature,and mentality of Western man.

For example, “the gods are angry” explaineda violent thunderstorm, while a rainbow was con-sidered a sign from the gods of good fortune andpromise. Greek shepherds and herdsmen madethe gods in their own image; however, their godswere more handsome, taller, and closer to perfec-tion then mere mortals. Therefore, their gods wereconsidered less fearful and more benevolent thanwere the earlier gods. Such explanations gavethese persons a sense of order and purpose; theyattributed natural occurrences to the activitiesand feelings of higher beings and felt more securein this knowledge (D’Aulaire & D’Aulaire, 1992).

ProjectionCinderella is a classic example of a story thatallowed wishful thinkers to project themselves intoa new role or way of living. Projection-type storiesallowed folks with little means to imagine theywere rich, famous and powerful. Many of the fairy

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and folk tales (e.g., The Ugly Duckling, Hansel andGretel, Beauty and the Beast, and The Three Billy GoatsGruff) portray this ugly to beautiful and/or rags toriches theme. Such stories are popular even today,as readers and viewers enjoy projecting themselvesinto the roles of the rich, powerful, and famous.

“Storytelling strongly attracts children tobooks. It has a power that reading storiesdoes not, for it frees the storyteller to use cre-ative techniques. It is one of the surest waysto establish rapport between the listenersand the storyteller” (Morrow, 1997, p. 167).

Storytelling, as an extension of children’s lit-erature, is one means by which children withdiverse literacy levels and educational needsachieve unity of ideas and establish harmony, bothwithin and among themselves. Storytelling is aneffective and efficient learning tool that is not fullyappreciated. It is a natural medium that endows afeeling of shared purpose on the children. More-over, it is a fun and effective way to learn concepts,vocabulary, language, and to acquire compre-hension skills (Strickland & Morrow, 1989).

Benefits of StorytellingStorytelling brings children’s literature to life forpeople of all ages and serves a variety of importantfunctions today, as it has done for centuries.Although its purposes may vary from those of thepast, storytelling today is no less valuable as an artform. Specifically, modern storytelling serves thefollowing purposes: catharsis, comprehension ofstory line, expressive and receptive language devel-opment, and aesthetic enjoyment.

CatharsisStories about multiculturalism (e.g., I Have a Dream,see p. 65), emotional issues (e.g., The Purple Hat, seep. 51), relationships (e.g., I Like You the Best, see p. 74),physical or academic handicaps (e.g., Crow Boy), andpeer pressure (e.g., Swimmy) help children to relateto the protagonists. Through stories that reflectevents that occur in their own lives, children realizea sense of unity. Through story conflicts and solu-tions, children discover that they may take an activerole in solving their problems (see Table 3–2, p. 42).

Stories that use catharsis are often success-fully told using the Character Imagery, Group

Role-Play, and Chant Storytelling methods.Often assigning children roles or allowing themto select ones different from their own life roleshelps them to understand other points of view.Conversely, role-playing their own life roles mayhelp them and other classmates to look moreobjectively at themselves and their situations.

ComprehensionStorytelling, as compared to story reading, isoften more dramatic, more colorful, and moreactive. As a result, children are more likely to tunein to a story well told than a story well read. Thisstorytelling attention advantage is especially truefor children who have short attention spans (e.g.,slower academically, attention deficit, etc.) and forthose with limited visual and/or auditory skills.With its use of large and bold visuals (as in DrawTalk and Felt Board Storytelling) and its expres-sive and action-oriented sequence of events (allmethods) storytelling elicits and sustains at-tention. Children thus have many more avenues ofcomprehension available to them than they wouldhave when merely listening to a story being read.Comprehension is specifically enhanced as chil-dren view, and later enact, the story’s sequence,discover cause and effect, compare characters, andclassify story elements. In addition, children learnto distinguish between the main idea and details.

In a recently conducted study (Trostle &Hicks, 1998), researchers explored differences inchildren’s comprehension and vocabulary acquisi-tion when they listened to stories read by an adultor, conversely, witnessed the same stories enacted(actively told) by an adult. The children employedfor the study were 32 British primary school chil-dren. Over a six-week period of time, the 16 subjectsin Group One, Story Tell group, were further divid-ed into small groups of four children, so that theywitnessed one of four story titles, told by a trainedadult. The 16 subjects in Group Two, Story Readgroup, listened to the same four stories and viewedthe book illustrations. Following each story enact-ing or reading, the researchers tested each child indi-vidually on a measure of comprehension and on ameasure of vocabulary. Children who witnessed sto-rytelling of a selected title scored significantly high-er on comprehension and vocabulary than didchildren who listened to storybook reading.

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C H A P T E R 1

Asking children to dramatize or tell thestory is also an effective teaching and learningstrategy. In a now classic study, Smilansky (1968)found that children used the same processes whenthey use symbols in dramatic role-play of storiesas they use in reading. Therefore, children practiceusing symbols and abstract thinking during theirrole-play. Storytelling abilities and narrative skills,too, increase during children’s dramatic play. Dur-ing symbolic play of stories, children practice andextend their emergent literacy skills (Piaget, 1962;Johnson, Christie, & Yawkey, 1987).

Auditory, tactile, and visual experiences,which characterize storytelling, all enable the childto comprehend meaning using a multisensoryapproach. Developmentally, this approach isknown to benefit children who function at theconcrete operations stage, the stage from agesfour through seven, approximately, in which chil-dren learn best through real experiences and tangi-ble props. Aesthetically, this approach benefits alllisteners who appreciate storytelling as an art form.

Expressive/Receptive LanguageDevelopmentWhen a storyteller invites the audience to join inon the storytelling, children feel free to say therefrain along with all the others without fearof mispronunciations, forgetting the line, recog-nizable speech impediments, and other barriers tochildren’s confidence in speaking before others.Children’s expressive language (language they usealoud) is, therefore, enhanced. When childrenhear others telling stories and learn words and lan-guage patterns from listening, their receptivelanguage (language they hear and understand)increases in both quantity and quality. When chil-dren role-play a favorite story, using creative dra-matics or puppetry, they are no longer themselvesbut rather, imagine themselves to be the story’scharacters. The judgmental nature which charac-terizes some traditional reading performancesdiminishes. As a result, children frequently shedtheir inhibitions and join in on the fun.

Aesthetic EnjoymentFor many of the same reasons that people of allages all over the world enjoy theater, they alsoenjoy quality storytelling. This is known as aes-

thetic enjoyment. In theater, fantasy and realitycombine in a captivating manner. The audienceescapes from the worries of today’s challengingworld and settles in for a new glimpse of what hasbeen, what is, and/or what might be. Through cre-ativity, animation, art, music, scenery, expression,props, sequence of events, humor, conflict, resolu-tion of conflict, and culmination, theater elevatesits audience to new levels of understanding andnew visions.

Likewise, storytelling affords its audiencemany of the same privileges as theater. Childrenand adults of all ages and all intellectual capabili-ties benefit from the many language, sensory, andartistic experiences that invite them to listen,observe, participate, and enjoy.

Whereas research supports traditional useof teachers’ story reading for improving students’comprehension, enjoyment, and “awareness ofprint” (Clay, 1991), storytelling of selected titlesmay provide an even more engaging context forstudents’ resultant vocabulary acquisition, col-laboration, and comprehension. Specifically,while story reading may be a useful vehicle fordeveloping children’s concepts of print—bookhandling, word identification, use of picturecues, capitalization, and punctuation—story-telling may further enhance children’s vocabu-lary and comprehension.

Therefore, both story reading and story-telling play prominent and important roles in theliteracy-rich classroom. Facilitation of all chil-dren’s emerging literacy competencies is bestaccomplished, then, by the teacher’s use of a com-bination of reading and telling of stories. Theapplication of related extension activities relatedto listening, thinking, reading, writing, and prob-lem solving also plays a key role in making the lit-eracy environment function smoothly.

Authentic Assessment of LiteracyWith the advent of whole language and integratedlearning experiences for learners emerged anew view of assessment, authentic assessment,which is now widespread (Valencia, 1994). Assess-ment of students using portfolio evaluation hasgained recognition and merit. Authentic assess-ment includes the use of videotapes, audiotapes,

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Andersen, H. C. (1999). The ugly duckling. New York:William Morrow.

Asbjrnsen, P. C. T. B. B. (1998). The three billy goats gruff.New York: HarperCollins.

Baker, L., & Brown, A. L. (1984). Cognitive monitoringin reading. In J. Flood (Ed.), Understanding readingcomprehension (pp. 21–44). Newark, DE: Interna-tional Reading Association.

Brett, J. (1990). Beauty and the beast. New York: Clarion.Brett, J. (1992). Goldilocks and the three bears. New York:

Dodd, Mead & Company.Brothers Grimm. (1986). Hansel and Gretel. New York:

Dutton.

Butler, D., & Clay, M. (1979). Reading begins at home.Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Disney, W. (1997). Disney’s princess treasury collection: Dis-ney’s Snow White, Disney’s Sleeping Beauty, Disney’s Cin-derella. New York: Mouse Works, a division of DisneyBook Publishing.

Lionni, L. (1963). Swimmy. New York: Pantheon.O’Brien, C. O. (1986). Mrs. Frisby and the rats of Nimh.

New York: Aladdin.Piaget, J. (1952). The origins of intelligence in children. New

York: Norton.Yashima, T. (1955). Crow boy. New York: Viking.

C H A P T E R 1

checklists and rubrics (sequentially-numberedscoring devices which contain written criteria anddescriptions for achieving each number), anecdotalrecords, behavior sampling, and criterion referencedtesting in real learning situations. This type ofassessment is consistent with the theory that chil-dren learn in a process-type approach, at their ownrates, and through meaningful experiences. Port-folios are used as folders or showcases and as onemeans by which children’s work and project samplesare collected and displayed. Progress through theschool year is easily retrieved through a perusal ofeach individual’s sequentially-organized portfolio.

Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences(1993) reinforces the idea that children learn attheir own rate and in their own style. Rather thanviewing intelligence as a single general capacity,Gardner posits the existence of several intelli-gences. To Gardner these several intelligences arenot physically verifiable entities but rather, poten-tially useful scientific constructs.

This text addresses brain research and mul-tiple intelligence theory. Through the use of sev-eral storytelling methods and extension learningactivities, each identified intelligence construct isaddressed for all types of learners. Chapter 2

reviews the various types of intelligences, derivedfrom those introduced by Gardner (1983, 1993)and later revised by others.

SummaryStorytelling is currently an underused but valu-able tool for teaching and student learning. Theauthors find that few educators are well-versed instorytelling and the variety of applications avail-able to them. Yet, teachers who are trained in sto-rytelling become excellent models of literacy fortheir students. All stories found in this text aretold Family Style; i.e., they can be adapted for chil-dren of all ages and abilities.

Emergent literacy engages children in mean-ingful, developmentally appropriate experiencesthat include reading, writing, speaking, listening,and problem solving. Through using authenticliterature in the classroom and extending story-telling experiences to include immersion, re-sponsibility, use and practice, approximations,demonstration and modeling, feedback or response,expectations, and engagement, educators help toensure children’s lifelong love of, and successwith, reading.

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CHAPTER RESOURCES

C H A P T E R 2

The Use of Storytellingto Foster Emergent

Literacy Skills: Incorporating

Brain-Based Learning

C H A P T E R 2

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No study of emergent literacy would be complete

without considering the current methods of

achieving the literacy skills delineated in Chap-

ter 1. Morrow (1989) defines emergent literacy as the accumu-

lation of early knowledge on how to communicate, make sense of

the world, attend to tasks, negotiate help, and ask questions. She

believes that it is this base of early knowledge on which the child

needs to build when he or she enters formal instruction. Edu-

cators in emergent literacy are concerned with how their students

can best assimilate, relate to, and accommodate symbols, content,

and meaning. Clay (1991) cites the need for educators to incor-

porate a diversity of experiences when teaching young children.

She states that we need to offer more expert teaching and inter-

action for children who are not showing normal progress. Story-

telling assumes a key role in facilitating the goal of maximizing

students’ full learning potential.

C H A P T E R 2

Meaning and Comprehension

According to Clay (1991), “Meaning is the mostimportant source of information” (p. 292). It liesoutside the text and depends upon what the readeris able to bring to it. As educators, we are challengedto help students find the relationships betweensymbols and sounds and between informationalfacts and their application to life experiences.

The search for meaning occurs through pat-terning, according to Caine and Caine’s (1991)principles relating to thinking. They explain thatthe brain learns by patterning and chunking ideasthat relate to each other naturally. This ability tochunk ideas together forms the pattern for thebrain to chunk letters together to form words andgain phonemic awareness (Adams, 1990). Findingthe pattern connects the information to otherideas in the brain through neural pathways tobecome part of the long-term memory (Fogarty,1997). This template pattern depends on linguis-tic awareness from which the child can developknowledge about the nature of his or her own lan-guage (Clay, 1991). Here, storytelling provides alogical framework for patterning ideas, with linear,winding, and circular tales. As the child becomesfamiliar with the story’s framework, he or she isable to develop the skill of predicting outcomes.

Clay (1991) notes the need for children toexperience and use natural language. This usageforms the base of knowledge from which the childis able to make syntactic predictions and developpatterns of grammatical knowledge necessary toconstruct sentences. Clay (1991) states, “The pre-school child’s language development is vital to hisprogress in reading.…The more of this experiencehe enjoys, the more mature his language will be onentering school” (p. 37). Storytelling provides theexperience to create this foundation.

Nelson (1989) maintains that the combina-tion of language, story, and metaphors heightensthe listener’s awareness. She states further thatthrough the listener’s emotional involvement, lit-eral and inferential comprehension are increased.As Kline (1988) puts it, “the structures we dis-cover for ourselves give shape and meaning toexperience.” The patterning found in thematicand integrated teaching approaches enhances thepattern of learning and is more brain compatible.

This integrated, thematic approach is providedthrough stories and storytelling. “The story-telling experience, then, is a vehicle for enhancingcomprehension, both literal and inferential:Motivating oral discussion; increasing perceptualknowledge of metaphor; explaining and promot-ing interesting language usage; and using chil-dren’s personal experiences to instill deepermeaning” (Nelson, 1989, p. 388).

More than an ancient oral art form, story-telling has been used throughout the ages toeffectively transmit cultural information andmorals, and to entertain. It is this playful, enter-taining aspect of storytelling that enables it toengage its listener’s attention and convey infor-mation into long-term memory.

Imagination, Emotion, Memory, and LearningEinstein said, “Imagination is more importantthan knowledge, for while knowledge points to allthere is, imagination points to all there will be”(Hannaford, 1995, p. 63). It is this very imagina-tion that created the computer.

The process of imaginative development andthe development of play becomes the “essence ofcreativity and high level reasoning,” according toMacLean (Hannaford, 1995). Play is yet anothertool by which children can explore and learnabout their world. When the brain is given thechance to examine and play with information, giv-ing its own order and meaning, structured percep-tions arise naturally (Kline, 1988). Whether theyare listening or telling, storytelling engages chil-dren’s minds in creative play. This play involvesorder, sequence, ideas, concepts, and informationas the mind processes it into meaning.

The impact emotions have on our ability tothink and learn is noted by Hannaford (1995).Educators and researchers have noticed theimportance emotions play in retaining knowl-edge. When learners make an emotional connec-tion to information in a positive and engagingway, it is retained in memory longer (Jensen,1998). The learner makes this positive emotionalinvestment when he or she responds to informa-tion through play, art, movement, or by internal-izing it through storytelling. With storytelling,

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