Planning a Storytelling Workshop

 

          So now that we’ve learned lots of pertinent information on how to be a great storyteller, what do we do with this information?  Keep it to ourselves to use in our own libraries or share the information with others in hopes of sparking interest in bettering the storytelling community?  If you find yourself in the latter group, you may be interested in planning a storytelling workshop for others.  This post will focus on how to successfully plan a storytelling workshop for different audiences.  Depending on your audience, you will need to be prepared to share different information.  What you share with a beginning storyteller will be different than what you share in a one-day workshop full of experienced educators.  Keep reading for lots of tips and tricks on planning and hosting a successful storytelling workshop.

          According to Ellin Greene and Janice M. Del Negro, authors of the textbook Storytelling: Art and Technique, the first thing you need to do is,

“Establish the objectives of the storytelling workshop.  What do you 

    want to happen to the participants as a result of attending the

    workshop?

          Define the audience you want to reach.  Are they librarians,                              teachers, recreational leaders, staff, volunteers?

          Plan a budget.  How much money is needed?  Will participants be

charged a registration fee?

          How much time is available—a half day, a full day, several half-day

 sessions, a weekend?

          How many leaders are available?  Will it be a one-                                                    leader workshop?  One leader plus an inspirational keynote                         speaker?  One leader and several resource persons?

          Will the participants meet as one large group or will the group be                           divided into smaller interest groups?

          What aspects of storytelling will be covered?

          What kinds of presentations and activities will be most effective in

achieving the objectives?” (Greene and Del Negro, 2010,                                       p. 237).

 

          Now that you have thought through your objectives, here are some tips for preparing an in-staff workshop for beginning storytellers that will be taking place over a period of four to five sessions.

 

          “Session 1    Purpose and values of storytelling

                               Selection of materials

                               Demonstration of storytelling

                               Bibliography of storytelling literature is distributed

                               Participants are asked to read widely from books listed 

                               on the bibliography and to select the stories they want 

                               to learn

 

          Session 2      Selection of materials (continued)

                               Discussion of stories selected by participants

                               Preparation and presentation—techniques of learning 

                               and telling stories         

                               Demonstration of storytelling

                               Participants are asked to prepare a short, traditional 

                                tale (3 to 5 minutes) for presentation at the next session

 

          Session 3      Stories are told by participants

                               General and constructive criticism is offered by the                                           workshop leader and other participants (the leader                                      must see that comments or criticisms are constructive                                     and of such nature that everyone can learn from                                           them)

                               Discussion of any problems arising from participants’

experience in preparing their stories

 

          Session 4      Program planning

                               Administration

                               Model storytime by workshop leader

                               Participants are asked to prepare a longer and more

complex story (7 to 10 minutes) for presentation at the              next session

 

          Session 5      Participants tell their stories and discuss their programs

                               General and constructive criticism is offered by the                                             workshop leader and participants

Evaluation of workshop” (Greene and Del Negro, 2010,

    p. 239).

 

          If a one-day workshop is more up your alley, here is a suggested program for that:

 

          “MORNING SESSION

          Have an inspirational keynote speaker who will set the tone.  Divide              the audience into small interest groups, such as:

 

1.    Multicultural Stories

2.    The Black Heritage of Storytelling

3.    Poetry in the Story Hour

4.    The Illustrator as Storyteller

5.    The Literary Fairy Tale

 

Assign a specialist to each group to direct the discussion and act as resource person and demonstration storyteller.  Allow an hour and a half for the morning interest groups.

LUNCHEON

 

AFTERNOON SESSION

The interest groups can be repeated so that each participant can hear about two aspects of storytelling, or the workshop can be arranged so that participants stay in the same group all day…..Allow time for a question-and-answer period.  An alternative plan is to have shorter afternoon interest groups and to end the workshop with a storytelling demonstration by the various specialist leaders to the entire audience.” (Greene and Del Negro, 2010, p. 240).

 

          If your storytelling workshop is geared towards a day-care or head start staff, here is a sample workshop:

          “1. Introduce yourself as a representative of the library and talk about the library/day-care partnership in helping children develop a love of books and reading.

2.  Emphasize the connection between hearing stories in early childhood and language development.  Cite some of the supporting research.

3.  Talk about the criteria for selecting stories to read aloud or to tell and illustrate your points with a variety of Mother Goose books, picture books, and simple folktales.

4.  Demonstrate techniques of reading aloud and storytelling.  If time allows, have the participants practice reading aloud in small groups.

          5.  Briefly describe the variety of services available to the organization from the library.

          Above all, show the books and tell the stories, for well-selected books and stories will make your points for you.  Make sure to leave time for questions and for looking at the books and other materials you have provided.” (Greene and Del Negro, 2010, p. 240-241).

 

Here is a sample of how a workshop for first-time parents could look:

“1.  Welcome the parents to the library.

2. Talk about the importance of sharing literature with children from birth on, citing research that shows a connection between being read to during early childhood, emergent literacy, and later success in school.

3.  Ask parents if they remember a favorite book, story, or nursery rhyme from their own childhood.

4.  Show examples of the types of books published for young children today: board books, cloth books, concept books, wordless picture books, Mother Goose and nursery rhymes, finger plays, and picture storybooks.

5.  Read all or part of some books in different categories to model how to read aloud.

6.  Allow time for questions and answers about the library’s services for parents and young children.

7.  Display resources on parenting and books for babies and toddlers and encourage the parents to browse.” (Greene and Del Negro, 2010, p. 241).

 

          Obviously there are many ways to create a program that will suit the needs of your specific audience.  These are just a few suggestions to the plethora of programs in which storytelling techniques can be shared, skills developed, and practices honed.  I hope these ideas will jumpstart your thinking into how you can share the information we’ve learned with others.  I wish you much success in your future endeavors as a storyteller and educating others in  becoming storytellers themselves.

 

Works Cited

 

Greene, E. & Del Negro, J.M. (2010).  Storytelling to young adults.  

    Storytelling: Art and technique (p. 237-241).  Libraries Unlimited. 

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