Educating by Story-Telling / Showing the Value of Story-Telling as an Educational Tool for the Use of All Workers with Children

by Mrs. Katherine Dunlap Cather

There will be two divisions, those who are forward, eager to take a prominent part, and the shy, retiring ones who will not offer. This latter group must not be ignored, and to draw its members into the work requires much tact. Sometimes when it is impossible to get a child to take a speaking part, he can be encouraged to be one of a group of “supers,” as they are called on the professional stage, because although he lacks the confidence necessary to make him lift his voice, his diffidence vanishes in doing pantomime with a number of other children. He will be a rat or a citizen when he cannot be coaxed or driven into being the piper, and after many pantomime performances he gains the confidence in himself that enables him to take a speaking part.

One of the difficulties incident to dramatization in the schoolroom is that the same children always clamor to take the star parts, and sometimes sulk if not permitted to do so, or sneer at the efforts of others. This situation must be met as any other problem in discipline is met, by skill on the part of the teacher and by inculcating a sense of fairness and courtesy that holds selfishness in check. Lead the child to see that what gives him pleasure gives some one else pleasure also, and that it is the right of each member of the class to experience that pleasure. Once the boy or girl realizes that well-bred people are considerate and do not deride the efforts of others, no matter how imperfect their achievement may be, the dramatization period loses its greatest bugbear and shy children do not hesitate to take part because of fear that they will be laughed at. This result cannot be brought about instantly, but persistence and tact will finally accomplish it.

Do not be discouraged because it seems that some of the shy or less capable children will never take a speaking part. Sometimes even after they perform in pantomime they still hang back and will speak only in chorus. But this last is at least a step in the desired direction. Keep working them in groups, and gradually from group speaking they will advance to individual speaking. Sometimes this process is slow and discouraging, but the teacher should remember that mental development is never a mushroom growth, and that great achievement is not wrought in a day. The marble block yields so slowly to the shaping of the sculptor’s chisel that sometimes it seems it never will take the form he visions for it, but ceaseless effort always brings results. So it is with the teacher in molding human material. Results are sure to come if persistence and patience are unflagging and faith is deep and strong. It is worth much for a shy, self-conscious child to grow to the point where he can lose himself in the rôle of a play, and no matter how crudely he does it, he should be encouraged and given frequent opportunities to express himself, because as a means of self-development his crude performance is of as much value as the artistic one of the talented child, although it may be less enjoyable to spectators.

With little children especially, it is desirable to use some play whose cast will include every member of the class. It gives the eager child a chance to be “in it,” as children say, and makes it easier to draw the diffident child to participate, because he wants to do what all the others are doing. “The Pied Piper” is ideal for this, because of the flexibility of groups. There can be enough rats, parents, children, or council members to include twenty or forty children, and the larger the groups the more intense the interest.

After the cast is decided upon, plan the scenes, again by questioning the children. What is the first thing to be done and where is it done? Thus, by question and suggestion, work up the lines. In other words, have the children create the parts themselves and they will play them spontaneously. The production may not be highly artistic, but it will have greater educational value than one worked out by an adult and merely acted by the children. After it has been created in this way it may be put into finished permanent form. Little children may practice it until they memorize the lines, while those in the grammar grades may write parts, thus making a play that can be used many times. This sort of work is very valuable, and may form a composition or language exercise that will be enjoyed by the class.

Another method is to have the various members suggest lines to be spoken by the different characters and choose the best for the play. Sometimes a child who does little in the usual composition work and never gets a high mark, will suggest an excellent line or sentence, and to have it go into the play is a tremendous joy to him, especially if he doubts his own ability. Another plan that makes the class interest keen, is for each member to plan or write a scene, and without the members knowing the authorship of the various papers, have them read, and select the best by vote, whereupon the name of the writer is revealed. This method can be used in writing parts for one character or for all the characters, and in several other ways that will be of much value to the children.

Of course the teacher or leader must be the guiding spirit, because a well-built, correctly proportioned plot is necessary. But her suggestion should be chiefly by way of question, leaving the children to feel that they, and not the instructor, are doing the work, although in reality the teacher’s judgment is the foundation upon which the structure stands, and she must use it in building the play just as she uses it in telling the story.

For little people there are many stories with dramatic possibilities, some of which may be acted wholly in pantomime, some with combined pantomime and spoken parts, and others entirely of spoken parts. In working with foreign children it is well to begin with pantomime plays, as the child who knows he cannot express himself easily in English will always balk at taking a speaking part. Some of Æsop’s fables lend themselves particularly well to pantomime, especially “The Lion and the Mouse,” “The Fox and the Grapes,” “The Dog and His Shadow,” and “The Hare and the Tortoise.” The Dramatic Festival, by Craig, and Festivals and Plays, by Chubb, give valuable suggestions for pantomime work, as well as a list of plays adapted to it, and the worker with older children will also find these books to be excellent guides.

There is an equally large amount of material for dramatic work with older children. Hiawatha never fails to delight fourth and fifth grade boys and girls. Robin Hood in dramatic form is loved even more than in story, as are some of the exploits of King Arthur and his knights and of Pwyll, the hero of the Mabinogion. Any of these tales may be carried out simply or may be worked into elaborate performances with costumes and stage settings. If the latter be the choice, much pleasure and useful experience will come to the children through making the properties. Any boy who can whittle can fashion spears and swords, and gold and silver paper is wonderfully effective in supplying glitter. Does a knight need colored hose to be in keeping with his doublet? Let him borrow a pair of his mother’s or sister’s white ones and coat them with blackboard crayon of the desired hue. One laundering will make them spotless again, and there is no outlay of money for something that must be discarded at the end of the performance. Helmets, shields, and pilgrim hats can be made by the manual-training boys, and girls in the domestic-science class will enjoy sewing the costumes.