Storytelling Part 5: Storytelling Festival and Assessment
What a unit! The kids had explored all kinds of different storytelling formats and have started to understand how to tell stories together. The pinnacle was the Storytelling Festival. In a normal year, I would have done 2-3 mini-festivals with five stories each time spread out over the week. This would allow kids to really be present in listening without feeling overwhelmed by input.
We couldn’t do that this year because…well…report cards…assessment…pro-d…life….so we did our festival for 90 minutes one afternoon. We did include a run around the school break AND a stretch break, but it was still a long go. The kids were amazing and very respectful of the storytellers.
Preparing for the Festival
I set up the space to create almost a horseshoe of tables. This allowed for the closest table to be 7 ft. away and not directly in front of the storyteller, which was VERY important during a pandemic.
We are also lucky at our school to have a green screen. Chantal and I decided to use that as the backdrop for kids to stand in front of. They could move a bit and have a solid background. If we had had more energy, perhaps we would have added a background to the videos on the screen…but…report card season.
We used an iPad stand and microphones to record the stories. This allowed us to easily add them to (1) digital portfolios and (2) a class sway.
We picked a spot at the back that we would use to hang the anchor chart posters.
We made the list order before we started so everyone would know when they were going.
I have the kids 20 minutes in the morning to put their posters up and practice one final time.
Running the Festival
We went through the stories and gave kids stars from the audience. The kids asked why no wishes and I said:
We all worked so hard and it was a celebration time. The critique and support happened in earlier lessons when you presented to other groups for feedback.
I had the kids complete a form as they listened to really emphasize the structure of the stories and oral language skills. You can download a copy here.
I was given permission by two parents and kids to add their videos to this post so you could get an idea of the kids as storytellers. One story stays closer to the original, while the other plays with the story in fun ways. I am very cognizant of the digital footprint of my students and want them to stay safe. It is why I have so few photos/videos of kids on my blog. This was a time where you need to see it to understand the growth. I am grateful to the families that gave me permission to share.
Sharing the Festival
Sharing with Families: We made a class SWAY that talked about the entire unit and had videos of all of the kids. It was sent to parents to watch and share at home. This is one of those times that parents might have been invited in during a normal year.
Sharing with the School Community: We are working on a shorter SWAY with a few of the videos to share with the whole school. We will invite teachers to show the storytelling to their classes in order to share our learning.
Assessing the Unit
Okay, it is spring break and my assessment sheet is at school. I will upload it and update this section AFTER spring break. For this unit, I explored all types of storytelling. When I was listening to the festival, I had a checklist of oral language features that I checked off, but that was only part of the assessment. This unit was also linked to drama (fine arts) and reading comprehension.
It is lovely and at school. I promise to fix this section soon!
Final Thoughts
I forgot how much I love this unit. It was fun exploring new types of stories and helping the kids see themselves grow. What is interesting is that I gave them the same oral language inventory at the end, and many of them scored themselves lower on some of the more challenging aspects of storytelling, even thought I know they have grown. I am wondering if it was a case of, the more you know, the more you realize that you don’t know!
During the Core Competency reflection for Term 2, many of the students used this unit to explain how their understanding of collaboration and communication had increased. Many wrote that they now felt confident sharing in front of the class, even when they didn’t have anything written out. I was overjoyed when I read these comments, because it means that the kids really did see their own growth.
Storytelling might be outside your comfort zone, but I promise you can do it! Use this blog posts as a guide and you will succeed.