I can't
believe the semester is nearly over. It seems like we just started getting
acquainted with new people, getting acquainted with new textbooks and new
Faculty. And today I feel like I am
among friends because of shared experiences and shared interest in each other
stories. I certainly have seen a variety
of settings:
- School classrooms
- Outdoor expos
- House concerts
- Our own classroom and library
- Community Christian Church
- Kerr Cultural Center
- East Valley Tellers of Tales
- ESL class.
Now that's
what I call variety of settings! Oh yes
I can't forget I can't forget the wall in my Arizona room has also heard many a
tale the semester.
I've
explored several new areas of storytelling this semester. I have to say one of the ones I have enjoyed
the most is working with sounds. I've
discovered that I like making sounds and incorporating them in my stories. When my children were young I enjoyed making
animal sounds as I was reading to them.
They always seem to enjoy the stories and even practice making the
animal sounds with me. When I was
telling at Stevenson School the children really responded to the rooster crows
in “The Young Rooster” story. I intend
to include more descriptive words in my stories to describe the sounds that go
with the story.
Another thing I found really interesting about
the semester is further understanding of the phrase “trust the story". I'm becoming more and more confident that I
will remember the story if I thoroughly immerse myself as I prep the
story. I try and imagine what the
setting looks like colors, season, temperature, and if I'm not familiar with this setting I do
some reading to understand the architecture or the plant life or the animal in
the setting. The same is true of
characters; I try and imagine their characteristics, what they look like, what
was their emotional state. Elizabeth
Ellis's book From Plot to Narrative has been very helpful. The next part of this process will be
learning to put my imagination into words which is difficult for me right
now. All in all the semester has been a
great learning experience I have enjoyed the stories and appreciations of our
classes.
The picture at the top shows Liz Warren, Peggy Babbitt, Louise Laux, James Ashcroft, Dixie Walljasper, and Sally Borg at the Game and Fish Expo in March.
Leave a Reply