The graduates of the Primary Training Department of Drake University who are teaching in Des Moines met during the Summer of 1908 and organized a Story Tellers’ League, with Mrs. Ella Ford Miller, of Drake University, as president. The first meeting was held early in November at the University. It is proposed to make a special study of stories and Story-telling for primary grades.
The girls of the Primary Training Department of Drake University have also organized a club to meet twice a month, taking up practically the same work.
Covington, Ky., Teachers’ League
A number of teachers in the Public Schools of Covington, Ky., who believe in the value of constructive literature, particularly in the primary and grammar grades, organized themselves into a Story Tellers’ League in October, 1908. These teachers represent all the grades of the Public Schools and every school in the city. Their purpose is to cultivate the art of story-telling so that they may make use of it in the school-room for ethical instruction, as an aid to composition, both oral and written, to enliven the teaching of history and geography, and to stimulate nature-study. There is filed with the editor of this league the source, the outline, the purpose of each story told, so that the members who may have use for it in their work may have ready access to it. By the interchange of their experiences with their stories in the school-room, the teachers hope to develop a plan by which the pupils in their charge may be made acquainted, in a systematic and natural way, with the great stories every child should know.
Covington, Ky., Junior League
In November, 1906, some forty students in the High School at Covington, Ky., were organized into a Junior Story Tellers’ League. They met in the school on alternate Fridays, immediately after dismissal. From the beginning, the meetings were interesting, profitable and instructive. So enjoyable were they, that members of the faculty were pleased to come in, not occasionally, but regularly, to listen, and to contribute their share to the pleasure of the meeting. The programs were definitely planned, and a variety of stories was told at each meeting. These included myths, fairy-tales, folk-tales, fables, festival-stories, Bible-stories, and an occasional good anecdote. During the first year, also, there was a systematic presentation of the King Arthur legends in story form; and during the second year the story of Ulysses was developed in the same manner. At the close of the regular program, volunteer stories were called for, and there was always a response.
Many excellent story-tellers were developed, and one genius was discovered. The latter was a girl, who, at fifteen, gave promise of becoming a rival to Uncle Remus, himself, in telling, in dialect, the folk-tales of the South. Our National President, after hearing her, saw fit to invite her to tell stories before the Knoxville Convention of 1907.
In May, 1908, a public meeting was held, to which the parents, teachers, and friends of the story-tellers were invited. No successful evening’s entertainment was ever so easily prepared. Seven students, whose stories, told at the regular meetings, had been so well selected and so charmingly presented that their companions desired to hear them again, were elected to tell them in public. This, with some musical selections furnished by the school glee-clubs, formed the program of the evening, which an enthusiastic audience voted a success. The outcome of that meeting was a demand for two more leagues, one of which has recently been organized.
Mankato, Minn.
Our organization is very simple. The club membership changes from term to term of our school year. Three times a year a group of from fifteen to twenty-five comes to me as student teachers. We then organize a Story Club which meets once in two weeks. We elect an Executive Committee. This Committee, a group of three, prepare the programs. We have our meetings in different homes and serve very simple refreshments. Those not on the program bring their needle work.