Facilitator Resources

First - why this topic for a webquest? Obviously there are some great videos of others telling stories on the web and these resources can help students who may not have access to such experiences in person to be able to witness and enjoy storytelling! And they can even see that kids can be storytellers and do an excellent job! Computer applications can be useful in helping students to learn their stories once they are in the learning and practicing part of the process - all of this making a webquest such as this useful for guiding students to useful storytelling resources.

There are also some great resources online for finding stories and teaching storytelling to children. Some of the resources for finding stories are noted in the webquest. However, there are a myriad of resources online that are helpful for finding stories online that may be too difficult for the audience of this webquest - students in approximately fourth, fifth, and sixth grade - to utilize and search through effectively. In addition to not always being geared for young student browsing, not all of these stories are appropriate for this audience to read through, either. However, with a quick scan, you can locate some great stories that they may never have heard of before. Below you will find resources that you can use to find story possibilities to use with students in a school or library program setting and resources for realizing the benefits of storytelling with youth.

Resources

Websites:
  • Information about a student storytelling contest can be found in this video. In this video you'll hear from Elizabeth Rose, a storyteller, as she tells about this event, and you get to see snippets from student storytellers (You might recognize Aubrey from the Introduction). 2008 National Youth Storytelling Showcase.
  • For information on local Indiana storytellers, where to hear live storytellers (it can be pretty inexpensive), and information for teaching storytelling, check out the Storytelling Arts of Indiana website. Here's a direct link to the very useful Educators portion of the site where you'll find games to use with students, resources, lesson plans, information about storytellers, and more!
  • For other lesson plans, articles, links, to sign up for a storytelling newsletter, and more, check out the Story Arts Online site by Heather Forest (this is the parent or main site for one of the resources recommended as a story source in the webquest.)
  • The American Folklore site also sited within the student portion of the webquest has Lesson Plans, as well.
  • For an extensive collection of over 655 fables, visit the Aesop's Fables website. This site is a little challenging for kids to navigate, the stories can be a little hard to understand without assistance due to archaic language, and some aren't appropriate for a child audience, HOWEVER, this site could be quite useful for adults who can adapt or help kids adjust the tales to be more conducive to storytelling. You'll also find audio narrations of some of the tales. If you're looking for vocabulary building tools - using stories from this site might be helpful
  • Wanting a little known story to share with your kids? Andrew Lang's Fairy Books are available in public domain online for ready access. With thirteen books published in the late 1800s and early 1900s, there's a wealth of story material here! Not all are appropriate for young audiences and some are LONG, but there's lots to choose from, and you could work with your class, your child, or a group in a public library program to modify them. Or, learn one yourself to demonstrate storytelling! You can find stories by browsing the books, looking by title, and by searching. Enjoy!
  • Linked by Judy Freeman in her Once Upon a Time book cited below is Folklore and Mythology Electronic Texts another source for numerous tales to tell. Provided by D.L. Ashliman of the University of Pittsburgh, you'll find texts listed by title, links to numerous storytelling resources and databases of texts, and more. This site is a useful resource and information point for adults to utilize with children for ideas, help, some background information, and stories.

Books:
  • The Judy Freeman book mentioned earlier in the webquest and the book by Martha Hamilton and Mitch Weiss are actually geared for educators and adults and provide great tips and instruction for storytelling and teaching kids how to tell stories. Freeman also provides a list of "400 Children's Books Every Storyteller Should Know," some of which would make great material for young storytellers! You'll also find bibliographies of storytelling resources (some are listed/linked here) as well! Freeman, Judy. Once upon a time : using storytelling, creative drama, and reader's theater with children in grades preK-6. Westport, Conn., Libraries Unlimited, 2007.                                                                                                                              Hamilton, Martha and Mitch Weiss. Children Tell Stories: A Teaching Guide. New York: Richard C. Owen Publishers, Inc., 1990.
  • Also check out Davies, Alison. Storytelling in the Classroom : Enhancing Oral and Traditional Skills for Teachers and Pupils. Lucky Duck Book. London: Paul Chapman, 2007. Geared for teachers of children ages 5-11, this short book provides lessons plan ideas for teaching young students how to tell stories, helpful information for teachers wanting to learn the art of storytelling, and eleven recommended stories to tell. Though, geared for teachers, the lessons and ideas are definitely useful for or can be adapted to public library programming use.

This site was created by Elizabeth E. for Dr. Annette Lamb's Electronic Materials for Youth course in the spring of 2010.

Special thanks to the following for contributing to this site in one way or another!

Celestine Bloomfield - a professor at IUPUI, teacher in Indiana, and a professional storyteller - who taught my storytelling class in the Fall of 2009 and guided me through the process of learning to tell stories!
Martha Hamilton and Mitch Weiss for their book Children Tell Stories: A Teaching Guide. This book provided confirmation or information for some of the guidance provided in this site.
And
some of the resources from Judy Freeman's list of suggested resources in her book Once Upon a Time: Using storytelling, creative drama, and reader's theater with children in grades preK-6  are linked here.