Storytelling

We're coming to the end of our storytelling unit in OCR. I wasn't too keen on this section of the reading series the first time I used it with a class. I thought the stories were sometimes hard, and often quite dull.

I've changed my mind. As a teacher, I've come to learn to focus more on the theme and less on the individual selections, and to use each new story as a way to help "construct" a richer and more complex map of the world in my students' minds. I think they've come to understand a bit about how oral language and literature predates the written word, and how inanimate objects can both be storytellers in their own right (such as the totem pole in Carving the Pole) or as an associative object for storytellers (like the hats in Aunt Flossy's Hats and Crab Cakes Later).

Next week students will be telling the folktale or fairy tale they chose to the rest of the class. We will videotape these, and they will be available during Open House for everyone to appreciate.

Homework: (1) Continue work on math packet. (2) Practice telling and acting out the chosen folk or fairy tale.