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NEW YORK UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF MUSIC AND PERFORMING ARTS PROFESSIONS
PROGRAM IN EDUCATIONAL THEATRE
Spring, 2013
MPAET-GE 2042-001
Friday, April 12
Saturday, April 13
Instructor: Regina Ress
rr92@nyu.edu
storytellerRRess@aol.com
STORYTELLING IN THE CLASSROOM
Two Day Intensive Workshop
6:30-9:30 PM
10:00 AM- 5:00 PM
location: TBA
location: TBA
Office: Pless Hall Annex, Room 223
Office Hours: by Appointment
Storytelling is one of the oldest and purest art forms. It is about direct communication from teller
to listener. No costumes, no sets, no fourth wall. There is nothing to hide behind. There is the story,
the teller, the listeners, and the interplay between them.
Storytelling has been used throughout human history to entertain, transmit information, explain cultural
codes, teach behavior mores, problem solve, and pass on traditions. Accessible to all ages and abilities,
storytelling dynamically engages us in the act of learning. It can be employed across the curriculum to
enhance subject areas such as math, science, social studies, literature, and history. Engaging us in the
act of listening and visualizing, storytelling also challenges us to sequence events, understand plot
structure, and evaluate and criticize events and character. For the teller of the tale, storytelling
encourages expression, creativity and physical and vocal performance skills.
This course is an introduction to the world of storytelling. The workshop will look at storytelling both
as an art form and as a tool in the classroom and beyond. Students will explore its historical context
and forms, educational use and significance, performance techniques, and types of tellable tales.
Students will tell stories in various ways.
Requirements: Full physical participation and attendance are mandatory. Two papers are required. First,
selected readings will be the basis for a reflective paper. Secondly, attendance at a storytelling event
and a short review of the experience. There is a Course Pack, available on line through the bookstore.
Assessment for this course is based on the following elements:
Participation, effort, attitude in classroom activities (50%)
Papers: understanding and use of readings, original ideas/relating ideas to
personal experience, organization, quality of writing
Reflective paper: 4-6 pages, due April 30th (35%)
Response to and description of storytelling concert, 2-3 pages, due May 12th (15%)
(I am happy to receive papers before the due date.)
Friday Night:
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Learning and Telling a “Finger Story” together: A lesson in oral tradition
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Who are we? A bit of Oral History.
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What is storytelling and who are the storytellers?
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Aesop Fable: Listening to, learning, and telling a tale (with a bow to story-theatre)
Storytelling Technique and How Storytelling Differs from Acting/Theatre
Home Work:
1.: read class handouts including:
Article from National Council Teachers of English
The Holocaust, Littleton, Our Children
2: read from Course Pack:
Restoring Dignity to the Human Spirit
Who’s Out There
Bridging the Generations
3. Bring in three “Story Seeds” …images, sounds, smells, characters …that show up
in your life between tonight and tomorrow. NOT from TV
Saturday
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Warm Up: The Body Poem
Movement as story and story prompt
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Thoughts/questions from last night’s readings
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Story Seeds: Creating a story out of a doughnut hole
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Lunch
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Warm Up: A Game Song ….and the story is?
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Learning a Story in No Time Flat….and Telling it
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Storytelling in the Classroom and Beyond
So….what about “Personal Storytelling”
A Farmer’s Horse Ran Off: Reversals
Traditional Story; Fortunately/Unfortunately; Tandem Telling
Another story? Depends on time!
MPAET-GE 2042-001
STORYTELLING IN THE CLASSROOM
Regina Ress
Paper #1: Reflection Paper
due April 30th
Read the Course Pack: the introductions to American Indian Myths and Legends, (xi-xv) by Erdoes and
Ortiz; Why Goats Smell Bad by Raouf Mama; The Magic Orange Tree by Diane Wolkstein; The People
Could Fly: American Black Folktales (ix-xii) by Virginia Hamilton; Stories in the Classroom (7-19 & 49-50) by
Barton and Booth; the article by Flora Joy Tips For Using A Simple Tale; the article Sudden Story by
Laura Simms, and any other unread article in the packet.
Using these and any of the other papers read for this class or books/articles that you read, and your own
experience, etc, write a reflection on the role of storytelling in society (traditional and modern) and how
that can be translated to its place in modern US culture and/or education. Why is storytelling “an essential
human activity?” This paper should be 4-6 pages. IT IS ABOUT STORYTELLING, NOT simply on
STORIES. You should include quotes and ideas from the readings and, if possible, talk a bit about
storytelling in terms of your own experience, in the classroom or otherwise.
Include a bibliography of works cited or quoted. (**) 35% of final grade,
Do this paper while what we’ve done in class is still fresh in your minds.
Be SURE to read the article Sudden Story by Laura Simms.
If you have any questions, e-mail me: rr92@nyu.edu
Paper #2: Attend a storytelling concert and write a 2-3 page response to it.
due May 12th.
Write a response to the concert discussing the performance, material, audience, and your personal
response. What did you see? What happened? Who was the audience? What did you observe that
mirrored or didn’t mirror some of what we talked about in class. How did this fit or not fit with your
expectations? Etc. You don’t have to have liked the teller or the tales.. Just write about what you saw
and your response. If we have not had class yet, write about what you saw and about your expectations,
how they were met or not or blown away. You can hold on to the paper and add thoughts after our class.
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If possible, see one or more of the shows in our series at the Provincetown Playhouse on Feb. 15, April 7,
May 5. I will send the flyer. I’ll also provide a list of other storytelling events. 15% of final grade)
#2 alternative: If you ABSOLUTELY cannot attend a storytelling event by the time your paper is due, email
me and I will give you an alternative assignment.
It is very easy to let things slide. Please do not wait till the very last moment for these papers.
I am happy to receive papers early. PLEASE: in your paper headings, put your email address
E_MAIL them to rr92@nyu.edu and to storytellerrress@aol.com
If you don’t get a reply from me in three days that I received and was able to open the paper, write to me
at storytellerRRess@aol.com
PLEASE send as a WORD document. I often write responses on the papers and can’t if you send a PDF.
**example of bibliography form: Barton, Bob. Stories in the Classroom. NH: Heinemann, 1986. P.5.
The introductions to books are listed in the table of contents in the course pack as “introduction”….
for the bibiligraphy, write Introduction to ( NAME OF BOOK.)