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 Free Choice Blog: Interactive Storytelling (Week 3)

        Storytelling events have the unique ability to provide audiences with memorable experiences that truly bring stories to life. Librarians, teachers, and even children can transform stories that they have read or heard into oral renditions that incorporate acting, props, and music. While reading a story aloud does have its benefits, incorporating storytelling aspects can take a book to an entirely new level. These experiences are further enhanced when the storyteller puts in the effort to make the story interactive. This means that the audience is made part of the storytelling, either through actions, call and response, answering questions, or participating in activities while the story is being read, such as acting out scenes or adding character images to a felt board. The possibilities for making storytelling experiences interactive are nearly endless, but in this blog, I will discuss a few that I found interesting from readings, research, and my own experiences as a teacher and bookstore event coordinator.                          

        While many stories could be adapted into interactive storytelling experiences, some books lend themselves to these types of activities more naturally than others. Books with flaps, cut-outs, and other interactive features work particularly well for these experiences as the storyteller can select volunteers from the audience to engage with these elements (Pyrek, 2014). Strategies such as using your voice for chants, music, or asking questions can also be utilized to get the audience involved as they can respond to the story by answering questions, creating sound effects, or chanting lines that are repeated throughout the book (Pyrek, 2014). This level of interaction can be taken a step further by incorporating physical movement into your storytelling event by allowing audience members to get up and jump, dance, or mimic the movement of the animals or characters in your story (Pyrek, 2014). Another way to make these storytelling experiences interactive is by incorporating themed activities during the reading or after the story has been told. Many librarians and educators plan for story-related crafts that allow students to make connections between literature and creative expression. This is also a great way to incorporate science, technology, engineering, art, and math (STEAM) activities into the storytelling experience by allowing students to build, create and participate in science experiments all relating to the story being told during your event (Koester, 2014). Most of these ideas can be implemented utilizing the resources already available to the library and simple adjustments to how you tell your story so that your audience is not only engaged but also involved in interactive storytelling event.    

        Another way to get your audience involved in the story is by allowing them to try their role as a storyteller. Chapter 10 in Storytelling: Art and Technique focuses on how to scaffold children and young adults through the storytelling process so that they, too, can be storytellers (Greene et al., 2010). In an elementary school setting, librarians and classroom teachers can work together to help students develop the skills necessary to successfully participate in storytelling activities that students will build on as they progress through each grade. This progression may include having young students act out stories, provide dialogue while the educator provides narration, identify story elements, complete story maps, answer questions, or create picture book versions of the stories they have heard or told (Greene et al., 2010). An example is also given of a fourth-grade storytelling project and how the librarian can model and scaffold the students through the process by having the students listen to a storytelling of a story they are already familiar with so that they can focus on the craft, explore visualization techniques, use different voices and expressions, practice public speaking about personal events or sentimental items, participate in joke telling and group story building, then finally take the time to learn and perform a story for an audience of younger students (Greene et al., 2010). When planning for interactive storytelling, including your audience as part of the storytelling process is another great way to create a more engaging and memorable experience for students that may also contribute to academic and social skill development.   

        Before I began my career as an educator, I worked at a Books-A-Million location as their community and education event coordinator. While in this position, I hosted many literary-themed events for kids of all ages that almost always included a read-aloud activity. During a literacy night at a local elementary school, I decided to try a new activity that I would now consider an example of interactive storytelling. I essentially created a large-scale version of a roll-a-story activity where the participants can use the dice to determine certain story elements such as the characters, setting, problem, and an item to use as part of the resolution. I created large dice out of cardboard and added laminated images to each side that were attached with Velcro so that they could be removed and added to a felt board that resembled a book so the students could see their story elements all together as we created a new story based on the images they rolled. In some cases, I allowed the children to roll the dice, and then I created a story for them using the pictures they landed on; in others we worked together to create the story, and when I had older students participating, I encouraged them to create their own stories. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I can now see how an activity like this could be used in the library as a fun way to help introduce students to the concept of storytelling by using a variety of characters, settings, and everyday problems that they are familiar with. This also allows them the creative freedom to make the story their own while taking away some of the pressure to think of every single aspect from scratch. 

        During my second digital storytelling experience, I took a different approach to making the story interactive by using some props that tie in with the events of the story. Many young readers and adults alike are familiar with the book, There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly or any of the different versions that follow the same general theme. During my student teaching internship, I developed a STEAM challenge to go along with this book where the students had to use typical classroom items like tape, construction paper, string, and felt strips to create a stomach that could hold all of the animals that the old lady ate. I printed out and laminated the different animals and a picture of the old lady's head with the mouth cut out of it so that it could be attached to the student's creations and fed the different animals during the challenge. I even attached weights to each animal image to make the larger animals heavier to add an additional challenging aspect to this STEAM activity. Unfortunately, I never got the chance to actually use this activity in the classroom, but I thought it would be nice to adapt it into an interactive storytelling experience. While I didn’t utilize the entire STEAM activity aspect during this storytelling, as I lacked the ideal audience, I did use these props to have my one audience member, my sweet and supportive husband, feed the old lady each animal as I read the story. Then at the end, we used the props to cough all the animals back up, just as she does in the book. In the library setting, I plan to have the students fulfill this role as I would call on different volunteers to feed our old lady friend. I think either version of this activity would be another great way to make our storytelling experiences interactive as the students become part of the story or take their thinking a step further as they apply it to a building challenge.   

        Considering everything that I read this week, in addition to my personal experiences, I can now see how easy it can be to make a storytelling experience interactive for a variety of audience types. For younger students, I could start with movement and verbal responses. As the students get older, they can take on more roles in the experience until they are ultimately able to fill the storyteller shoes themselves. I am excited to finally be able to adapt and use some of the activities that I have tried previously in other settings in my future library and continue challenging myself to attempt additional strategies for story interaction, such as using puppets or songs. I also have enjoyed thinking of ways to adapt children’s storybooks into more interactive experiences and think that some of the Tall Tales I read this week, such as Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs or Johnny Kaw, would be great stories to utilize for these activities. Before beginning my journey in the Library Science program, I had only really considered myself as a book lover and story reader; however, I am now starting to see my potential for truly becoming a storyteller, and I am excited to continue learning more about these techniques! 

ISCI 600 Storytelling: Reading List 

Myths

• Pandora by Gary Reed
• Icarus by Dan Mishkin
• Hercules by Shannon Eric Denton
• Achilles by Christopher E. Long
• The Monkey King by Anita Yasuda 

Parables

• The Sunflower Parable by Liz Curtis Higgs
• The Good Samaritan by Pia Imperial 
• The Parable of the Lost Sheep by Claire Miller
• The Parable of the Seeds by Joanne Bader
• The Parable of the Talents by Nicole Dreyer

Tall Tales 

• Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett
• Johnny Kaw by Devin Scillian
• Pecos Bill by M.J. York
• Casey Jones by M.J. York
• Paul Bunyan by M.J. York

References

Greene, E., Negro, J. D., & Zipes, J. D. (2010). Storytelling: Art and technique. Libraries Unlimited. 

Koester, A. (2014). Get steam rolling! demystifying steam and finding the right fit for your library. Children and Libraries, 12(2), 22–25. https://doi.org/10.5860/cal.12n3.22

Pyrek, J. (2014). Participation palooza: creating a festive storytime atmosphere interactive books.                 Children and Libraries, 12(1), 10–12. https://doi.org/10.5860/cal.12n1.10