STORIES FOR LIFE

Stories for Life is a non-profit educational organization dedicated to teaching children the art of storytelling.  Through classroom instruction and opportunities for practicing the spoken word, in the school and the community, children develop the skills to become the cultural storytellers of their generation.

Since humankind began, people have told stories to each other, to pass on values, beliefs, common history and heritage, to teach factual and conceptual information, and to form bonds of friendship.  Storytelling is a frequently overlooked, but at the same time uniquely powerful, method of enabling children to build proficiency in language arts.  Storytelling helps students be active not only in presenting but also in focused listening and reacting, enhancing the vital skills of communication. 

Owning Their Words (a curriculum for upper elementary, middle and high school students) was developed upon the premise that learning the art of storytelling can have far reaching consequences when it comes to a child’s education – storytelling enhances interpersonal skills, and greatly strengthens communication, it stimulates language development, it promotes creativity, and it strengthens a student’s capacity for objective and rational thinking.  Over the last decade and a half education research has documented these findings in a variety of articles and educational publications. 

Stories for Life Festival is an outreach to the community to bring storytelling to the forefront as an art, and as an educational tool.  The Festival seeks to touch students, families, and educators in their schools and community with the power of the spoken word.  These performing artists represent storytelling at its very finest: from the serious to the utterly hilarious; Appalachian to African southern tales and music! 

What Is Storytelling?  National Council of Teachers of English, excerpts from their position statement on storytellling:
Storytelling is relating a tale to one or more listeners through voice and gesture. It is not the same as reading a story aloud or reciting a piece from memory or acting out a drama--though it shares common characteristics with these arts. The storyteller looks into the eyes of the audience and together they compose the tale. The storyteller begins to see and re-create, through voice and gesture, a series of mental images; the audience, from the first moment of listening, squints, stares, smiles, leans forward or falls asleep, letting the teller know whether to slow down, speed up, elaborate, or just finish. Each listener, as well as each teller, actually composes a unique set of story images derived from meanings associated with words, gestures, and sounds. The experience can be profound, exercising the thinking and touching the emotions of both teller and listener.

Why Include Storytelling in School?