storytelling – EDUC 342: Child Development & New Technologies

Week 6: Writing is fundamental

ccolgan — Thu, 11 Feb 2016 08:03:46 +0000

This week’s reading focused on the role that storytelling and writing can have on a child. It’s so important to consider how and why someone wants to tell a story–sometimes it’s just a matter of giving a person the right tools in order to create a master storyteller.

That might be a robot toy like Sam for early literacy learners or it could be an open forum for recreating a favorite world. Fan Fiction is often dismissed as silly (see Twilight) but it’s also serious business (unfortunately, see Twilight.) Sharing interpretive work, whether it is about The Hunger Games or The Sims, is an important life skill. Teachers can help students grow research and editing abilities through content that is interesting to the individual student. Incorporating these online worlds could help students build and understand audience–a vital part of effective writing.

Jessie, Shelley and I are thinking about ways we can frame writing prompts for teenage girls into our final project for this class. These readings helped me contextualize the importance of free and creative storytelling for children of all ages.

Week 6 Response

mwill5 — Thu, 11 Feb 2016 08:01:48 +0000

In reading the Cassell (2004) article, one section stood out to me in particular:

“Despite descriptions of the multicultural aspects of storytelling activities, and some descriptions of their link to children’s literacy and other aspects of development (Labov, 1972; Lee, 1992; Miller & Hoogstra, 1992), virtually no attempt has been made to integrate their benefits into the classroom (see Pinkard, 1999 for a notable exception). Indeed, the specific kinds of language play demonstrated by African American children is sometimes devalued and belittled to such an extent that African American children lose their desire to participate in the classroom (Michaels, 1981).” (79)

I love the focus of this work on the power of storytelling, and the encouragement of construction rather than consumption. In that context, the above passage took my breath away. Storytelling can be a hugely powerful of a tool for literacy development, but the converse is also true—the stifling, or to use their terminology, “belittling” of narrative is a deeply effective tool for disempowerment. I think this is a crucially important paradox to bring to light. It’s important to think about how we can leverage storytelling in educational design, but it’s also critical to examine how, when, and in what context storytelling is being discouraged, and the implications of those practices.

Week 6: Adults’ role in guiding storytelling

mjiang2 — Sat, 06 Feb 2016 07:10:32 +0000

Both articles mentioned the importance of peers in storytelling, both as co-creators and as audience. I was wondering what’s the role of adults, including parents and teachers, in guiding and teaching storytelling. It seems to me that storytelling happens so naturally that kids don’t need much guidance – but how might we design interventions can help them get more out of their storytelling process?

For example, by having kids and adults create stories together, they may have much fun and form a stronger bond with each other. In the storytelling class I’m currently taking, we have an organizing question, fun activities, and a design challenge for each class. I also think having some kind of structure that’s external to the storytelling process its might be helpful.