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Storytelling Workshop Turns Russell Students Into Writers and Performers
Fourth graders at Russell Elementary School in Hazelwood spent an hour a day last week making their own stories come to life for others, thanks to storyteller Sherry Norfolk and a creative writing unit through Arts Partners Young Audiences of St. Louis.
Norfolk began by telling the youngsters a story, and walking them through developing their own story by answering a series of questions that must be addressed in the world of story telling.
“Who lives in the country?’ Norfolk asked.
“Short people,” one student said.
What is their problem?” the storyteller posed.
“There are giants stepping on the town,” said another student as giggles began to spring forth from his peers.
“What is the solution?” Norfolk said. “The solution has to be something everybody does together.”
There were a number of wacky suggestions.
“They will make an army to bite him on the foot,” said one boy.
“Calcium to grow taller,” said another boy.
“Make noises to scare the giant as he sleeps,” a girl suggested.
“Build a giant robot to fight,” said a third boy.
“You can vote once, but only vote once,” Norfolk reminded.
The kids voted and half of the class decided that the giant robot would fight the giant.
“The final question is, ‘What is the result?’ What happened at the end?” she asked.
As you can imagine—it does not end well for the giant. The robot squishes the giant, literally stamping out the problem for the little people.
Then Norfolk began to tell the story the children created, using the answers to their questions—complete with expression, voices and sound effects.
“My story will be different than the one in your head,” she told her young audience. “It’s not wrong, it’s just different. “If you’ve told your story to a partner, now it’s time to start writing your own story,” she said. “And make sure your characters do lots of talking.”
“They will fine tune the same story throughout the week,” said teacher Yvonne Cooper. “By Monday, they will actually perform their stories to the rest of the class.”
“A rough draft will need to be finished by the time I come back tomorrow morning at 9:30,” Norfolk told the students.
After the performances, Cooper says the children’s stories will be made into a class book.
