If we want children and young people to developing their love of stories, reading and writing then storytelling can be a wonderful place to develop these skills. Storytellers don’t read from books they tell stories. This is a live performance which uses all the storytelling skills of composition, description, action and review but it is not a written exercise. It is at once immediate, informal and exciting but can also be dangerous, spooky, joyful and fun.
Storytelling days in schools can be performance only or a performance with a creative workshop. Themes can be discussed in advance so that the theme and stories fit with current topics and projects. We all learn when we experience something, and stories are often the best way to bring an experience into a classroom.
Some lovely comments from a teacher after a show makes it all worth while:
“Thank you so much for your visit at St. Patrick’s last week, it was an absolute pleasure having you join us for the day. All classes thoroughly enjoyed their sessions and I had fantastic feedback from all teachers- so thank you! The children were certainly enthusiastic and shared some very creative ideas!”
‘We enjoyed a fantastic day of performances and workshops yesterday. Sarah was totally indefatigable and really inspired the students to come up with some great work! The feedback I have had from students has all been positive and I have been asked to rebook her for next year, if she can save the date please.’