Posts Tagged Teaching Children

Elaine Wynne on Healing Children with Stories.


Press Play to hear Elaine Wynne who is a clinical psychologist speak's on uses healing stories with children on the Art of Storytelling with Brother Wolf.

Press Play to hear Elaine Wynne who is a clinical psychologist speaks on uses healing stories with children on the Art of Storytelling with Brother Wolf.

Elaine Wynne Storyteller
Elaine Wynne was a Storyteller first. Stories flowed freely around the kitchen table and from an Anishinabe/Irish man who lived on the farm where she grew up. She told stories to her young children and then in the early 70’s finished a degree in Storytelling and Image Development for Non-Profits. She began to perform as a storyteller and then in 1982 got a degree in the Psychology of Human Development (Storytelling and Healing as a main focus) and became a Licensed Psychologist.

She worked six years at Mpls. Children’s Medical Center and developed a story called “The Rainbow Dream”, used by children and adult cancer groups for many y ears. Later, her work using storytelling to teach self management to 2-5 year olds with asthma (with Daniel Kohen, M.D.) was published in the American Society for Clinical Hypnosis, and in numerous medical and psychological journals in Europe. Research on using stories and games as teaching methods showed significant reduction in emergency clinic and hospital visits over a two year period.

Elaine has performed and taught storytelling (and storytelling as a healing art) in Norway, Sweden, England, Ecuador, Japan, and Singapore, as well as in numerous places around Minnesota and the US. Last year, she presented a performance workshop at the 12th annual Pediatric Emergency Management of Humanitarian Disasters in Cleveland. She won Grand Prize with her husband (Storyteller Larry Johnson) at the Tokyo Video Festival for a storied exchange between children in St. Paul and London. She and Larry conduct and teach about Cousin Camp which they developed with their 13 grandchildren.

You can read more about her in this cool article in the Daily Planet

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David Novak – Storyteller’s Compass Using Narrative as Guide.


Press Play to hear David Novak who was interviewed by Eric Wolf on storyteller's compass using narrative as guide on the Art of Storytelling with Brother Wolf.

Press Play to hear David Novak who was interviewed by Eric Wolf on storyteller’s compass using narrative as guide on the Art of Storytelling with Brother Wolf.

Storyteller - David Novak spoke about the storyteller’s compass using narrative as guide on the Art of Storytelling with Brother Wolf podcast.

The Scattered Brain

by David Novak

“I heard telephones, opera house, favorite melodies
I saw boys, toys, electric irons and T.V.’s
My brain hurt like a warehouse, it had no room to spare
I had to cram so many things to store everything in there”
David Bowie, Five Years

I’m dreaming about a legless blind man when the radio alarm wakes me. In the short time it takes me to crawl to the bureau to turn off the radio (an arrangement designed to get me out of bed) I hear the DeeJay tell me that 5% of men surveyed admitted to wearing women’s underwear. I drift to the kitchen to feed the cat and dog and pour the coffee and juice. I go to the front door to collect the morning paper which informs me of the multimillion dollar judgement against O.J. and of an area magnet school which teaches children how to play the bagpipes. By the time I step back inside, my son is awake and Darkwing Duck is “getting dangerous” on the TV. I’ve been awake for less than 30 minutes and already I’m drowning in a sea of information, images and stories.

The day is far from finished. Everything is far from finished. I feel like my life is in the hands of an insomniac
channel-surfer: unfinished stories in constant collision with one another adding up to one story: life today. It is all so scatterbrained. I worry: what am I adding to the noise as a voice telling stories in the thick of all this? Who am I to enter the fight for everyone’s attention? What is the point of storytelling in the technologically determined culture of today?

Exo-Brain

Technology enhances us: clothes enhance skin, glasses enhance eyes, wheels enhance walking. Such enhancements extend our physical bodies outward. Our techno-bodies can “see,” “hear,” and “reach” farther than our bio-bodies. We technologically express our Read the rest of this entry »

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Storytelling in Schools with Jackie Baldwin and Kate Dudding

Kate Dudding and Jackie Baldwin talk about Storytelling in Schools


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Interview #049
Jackie Baldwin & Kate Dudding
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Storytelling in Schools a reference guide to educational programs.

(from Storytelling Magazine) – Quantitative Studies * Innovative Projects
by Jackie Baldwin and Kate Dudding
First, we must confess a strong bias. We believe that storytelling belongs in every school around the world, and we want to encourage and support that goal. Here’s how we went about it with our project, Storytelling in Schools.

As pressures build in schools for national testing, reporting and accountability, many people feel storytelling can be eliminated in schools. However, we knew that there were many quantitative studies documenting the methods and effectiveness of using stories and storytelling techniques in traditional classrooms to help teach the standard curriculum. But these studies were not Read the rest of this entry »

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Storytelling in Summer Camp Settings

Brother Wolf telling stories at Free Spirit Nature Camp as camp storytelling.

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Interview #009 Kate Fox, Ellyce Cavanaugh & Zayanne Thompson

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Camp directors talking about storytelling with children at camp.

Post written by Zayanne Thompson, Ellyce Cavanough and Kate Fox. These camp directors.
How have you used storytelling in camp settings?
Zay Thompson Answers –
Stories are a natural for camps. Camps offers an opportunity to create a meaningful and memorable connection to the outdoor environment. Educational research suggests that this connection to the outdoors creates a highly charged environment that facilitates learning. This emotional value of the camp experience opens the gateway for Read the rest of this entry »

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Mary Hamilton – Learning about the Working on Our Work Weekend

Mary Hamilton shares on running the WOW Weekend for storytellers (Working on Our Work Weekend Retreat. Press Play to hear Mary Hamilton speak on the

Press Play to hear Mary Hamilton on running the WOW Weekend for storytellers (Working on Our Work Weekend Retreat.

Post written by Mary Hamilton.

What is a WOW Weekend?

A WOW Weekend is a “Working on Our Work” Storytelling Weekend facilitated by Scheherazade’s Legacy – Mary Hamilton & Cynthia Changaris. Wow Weekends provide an opportunity for storytellers of all experience levels to gather as peers and grow in the art of telling stories. Each storyteller participating in a WOW Weekend is guaranteed the same amount of time (minimum one hour) for the group to focus their attention on the teller’s work. Using an artist-centered process, each participant will be able to Read the rest of this entry »

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Look

The snow had fallen all along the street where we lived. A white blanket had covered the earth while we slept. My four year old brother ran up ahead of me towards the front step of our neighbor’s house, his yellow scarf flying behind him as he ran.
“Wait up,” I yelled, “wait for me.” That’s Max, I thought, always running everywhere. My father says that Max was born running and that it’s been my job ever since to keep up with him. My dad also says that’s what older brothers are for, to watch out for little brothers and sisters.
I looked up. Max was standing perfectly still. I stopped.
“Sam,” he said, “look.” His arm pointed towards a little birch tree.
A squirrel sat as if frozen in the snow looking back at my brother. Then in a burst of snow and noise the squirrel jumped up the tree alerting the whole neighborhood. My brother is good at seeing things even if he doesn’t talk much. His first word was “look” once he pointed out an owl sitting in a tree in our yard. I have never seen anything like that. My mother says that, everyone has a gift. So when Max says “look”, I looked.
Max ran on through the snow towards our neighbor’s front porch. I caught up with him by doing double time just as he pushed the door bell.
Max smiled and said, “Harley!”
“Don’t you boys have to be in school?” Mr. Bill Harley stood at the door of his house. Every day we come here on our way to school and he still acts surprised. His white hair, beard and mustache stood out against his black skin. Ex-Vietnam vet, ex-marine sergeant and ex-scuba diver instructor are all very impressive to anybody, but the most imposing thing about Mr. Bill Harley is that his eyes are completely white too. You see, Mr. Harley is blind but I never asked Mr. Harley how he was blinded. He isn’t the sort of man you ask those questions. He either told you or he didn’t.
Max smiled, “Harley.” He walked in. Mr. Harley was his best friend after all. Max gave Mr. Harley a leg hug. Mr. Harley patted him on his head.
“Nice to see you, too, Max. Both of you come in. I’ve been listening to the chickadees all morning. Chika-dee-dee-dee Chika-dee-dee-dee” Mr. Harley smiled and beckoned us in. “Take off your coats and come on in.” Mr. Harley didn’t use a cane in the house. The best part of Mr. Harley’s house was the smell. He has a home business cooking donuts and pastries to sell to hotels. My brother and I liked visiting Mr. Harley’s house.
Max cried, “Red bird, red bird” and ran into Mr. Harley’s living room.
A huge glass window spread the length of the house. Outside sat three different types of bird feeders. Common birds of every shape and size were busy at the bird feeders while squirrels collected seeds that had fallen to the ground.
“What do you see, Sam?” Mr. Harley took a seat.
“Sam, do you see the cardinal I’ve been hearing all morning?” Mr. Harley made a gentle “Bur-dee, Bur-dee” with his mouth.
I said, “I don’t see it, do you Max?”
Max was sitting very still and looking hard.
The three of us sat for half an hour as the old grandfather clock slowly ticked in the corner of the room. I described to Mr. Harley the way the birds swirled around the feeders. The colors and patterns of the different birds. He always knew their names and for each he could sing the song that the bird made.
Max jumped up, “Red birds, Red birds!”
The cardinals had returned. Five of the bright red male cardinals had arrived at the feeders.
Mr. Harley stood up and walked into the kitchen. “It’s time for you two to be getting to school. But before you go, you might want to take a little sample with you for the road.” He was holding to large jelly donuts.
“My mom is talking about getting a bird feeder of our own,” I told Mr. Harley as Max and I were putting on our coats and boots.
“I hope you still come to look with me at my feeder.” Said Mr. Harley looking suddenly sad.
“Of course,” I said. “But maybe the cardinal will come to our feeder as well.”
Mr. Harley smiled. I like to see him smile. “Just make sure you keep the bird feeder well stocked and never let it run out. It’s cruel to the birds if the feeder runs out in cold weather. Once you make a promise to a wild bird you must never break it.”
“Good-bye, Mr. Harley. See you next week.” I yelled over his shoulders. My brother was already running out the door.

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