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From: Dr Eric Miller, Director, World Storytelling Institute (based in Chennai) Date: June 2015 Subject: Storytelling
in Schools Dear School Teachers and Administrators, Greetings! Whenever we might want to teach-and-learn abstractions
such as concepts, processes, and mathematical and
scientific formulas and procedures, it is essential to provide
numerous and colorful examples. Students can then be encouraged to play with these
examples, especially in sensory manners -- drawing pictures of them,
dramatizing them (acting them out, by role-playing elements of the examples,
and perhaps personifying these elements as characters). Then, a final test is whether or not a student can help other
students to understand the concept or process. Along the way, as many of the five senses as possible, and
the full verbo-motor facilities of the teachers-and-learners, should be
brought into play, so there could be integrations of the body and mind; and
of emotions, thoughts, facts, memories, etc. All of the above is related to storytelling. I have earned a PhD in Folklore (University of
Pennsylvania), and am scheduled to complete an MSc in Psychology next year
(University of Madras). In addition, I
have been trained in using storytelling for education by professional
storytellers in NYC, my hometown. Myself and others founded the World Storytelling Institute
(WSI) in Chennai in 2007. Since then,
I have given multi-session Storytelling trainings to approx 250 adults. I have also conducted many Storytelling
-related teacher-trainings in schools in Chennai, elsewhere in Tamil Nadu,
and around India. For work in schools, I can call upon the 21 members of
newly-formed group, the "Chennai Storytellers",
most of whom are listed on the Indian Storytelling Network's Chennai webpage. (The Indian Storytelling Network is an
project I co-facilitate with Geeta Ramanujam of Kathalaya in Bangalore.) Even if I am not physically present at all
sessions, I can help to plan and supervise the process. The "Chennai Storytellers" -- of which I am also
a member -- work in many languages, and are based in various parts of
Chennai. In relation to schools, we offer, 1) Performances, with activities, for children (during the
school day). 2) Workshops for children (during the school day). 3) Workshops for teachers. 4) Workshops for parents. 5) Workshops for children (after school, and on weekends). 1, 2, and 3 can be done in a single visit, with teachers
observing 1 and 2 before participating in 3. Of course, one can perform for children of any age, and
lead them in activities. However, we
especially like to train -- and to assist teachers and other adults to train
-- children 7-years-and-older to find, adapt, create, and tell stories. Storytelling is not just for children. It is also a fun and educational activity
for teenagers -- for whom it can be explained that storytelling is a form of
public speaking that also involves acting (when one plays characters). Public speaking and acting are activities
many teenagers might be interested in. We seek to train teachers to conduct storytelling
activities with students. We also seek
to work with teachers and administrators to complement and reinforce the
existing curriculum with storytelling activities. Notes on my training for teachers are here. We would like to do 6-month or 1-year projects with
individual teachers, or with groups of teachers, possibly relating to
particular academic subjects. Our workshops and follow-up sessions with teachers could
occur once a month, or as requested. *** We would like to conduct experiments that would, we
believe, provide evidence regarding the educational value of storytelling,
especially in terms of students' reading and writing abilities. In one type of experiment, students' reading and writing
abilities before and after the storytelling experiences could be compared. In another type of experiment, one group of students would
experience storytelling activities, and another group would not. The reading and writing abilities of the
students in the two groups could be compared.
A number of such studies can be found here. *** Regarding fees:
Standard pay for trainers in the business world in Chennai today is Rs
5,000 per half day, Rs 10,000 per day.
In the education world, we often need to work for less. So fees are negotiable. Of course, long-term projects involve
reduced-fees per session. *** The first three editions of the Chennai Storytelling
Festival have been presented primarily by the WSI. The theme of the Festival this past
February was "Storytelling
for Teaching and Training". In the course of CSF 2015, we discovered that "Using
Storytelling to Teach Languages" is one of the most popular educational
applications of storytelling. A
recording of a videoconference I and others participated in regarding this
subject, as part of the Festival, is here (60 minutes, on
Youtube). My PhD
dissertation concerned ways children's singing-games could be used to
assist language-learning. I am in the process of writing an article that would
compile and discuss many of the methods of "Using Various Verbal Arts to
Teach Languages", and I am eager to assist language teachers to put
these methods into action. *** Note: When geographical
distance is a challenge, myself and team members are adept at using
videoconferencing for training purposes (Skype, Google+, etc). In such cases, alternation of
physical-presence and tele-presence often works well. *** Best regards, Dr Eric Miller PhD in Folklore MSc in Psychology (first year completed) Director, World Storytelling Institute, The WSI is based in Nungambakkam, Chennai. Mobile: 98403 94282 Landline: 044 4209 0890 E-mail: eric@storytellinginstitute.org personal website, |