Lorna offers teachers new ways to meet state required learning goals with her creative drama and storytelling residencies. Read about these one-of- a- kind experiences for students.
EXPLORING STORY THROUGH CREATIVE DRAMA:
A Creative Drama Residency for Elementary School Students
Creative drama offers students a chance to express their personal and shared learning experiences through dramatic play. Using their own natural learning processes, especially their imagination, students discover their ability to express themselves with new vocabulary, problem-solving strategies and story re-enactment.
These classes provide the tools for improving language arts skills, especially writing, as students participate in the process of feeling, being and telling a good story.
A sampling of residencies Lorna has recently done:
TAKE-OFF WITH TALES:
A Storytelling Experience for Fifth Grade Storytellers
The librarian at Weston Middle School (CT) received a grant from the Weston Education Foundation to offer the 10 sections of fifth grade a six- week storytelling unit with a professional storyteller-in-residence.
The storytelling unit was a natural extension for their language arts curriculum requiring a folktale unit. The teachers realized storytelling offered a multitude of opportunities to explore timeless, universal themes and to teach writing, reading, listening and speaking skills. The student storytelling experience not only strengthened the students' knowledge of folktales but re-enforced the importance of story in the human experience.
STORIES TELL US WHO WE ARE:
Diversity and Character Education through Storytelling
A fifth grade team leader at Saxe Middle School (CT) wanted her four classes to combine their required character education curriculum with language arts.
We created a five week project using storytelling to teach character education while exposing students to literary genres appropriate for telling.
The program re-enforced the character education curriculum because:
- Students discovered that many stories passed down through time carried important messages and were told to teach moral lessons to both children and adults.
- Students had to analyze their choice of story which prompted self-reflection about values they considered important.
- Students examined the character change in their stories. Examining the moral journey of a character created opportunity for good discussion.
- Students learned how to be a good coach for one another. The emphasis here was learning to be a good listener, giving positive feedback and offering constructive suggestions.
STORIES BY THE FIRE:
An Evening of Storytelling at Connecticut Friends School
The head of a new Quaker School (K-8) in CT, an advocate for storytelling, wanted to include storytelling in her school year. We created an eight week unit, with every grade choosing their own storytelling project. The culminating event was a family evening of storytelling performances around the open hearth of the old meeting house.
Follow-up: "What a magical evening we had with Stories By the Fire. You have a gift for working with children; our teachers always appreciated your input and leadership... Thank you so much for bringing your delicate touch to the launching of a storytelling tradition at CFS." -- Kim Tsocanos, Head of School
