“The child makes human and holds conversation with everything in his backyard world.
”The same voices speak to him that spoke to his cave-dwelling ancestors.
“To him the wind is a person of might and power, that moans when in anguish and sighs when weary.”Josephine Leach.
Story Telling in Washington, D. C.
By Marietta Stockard
To the Kindergarten perhaps more than to any other department of education, must be conceded the credit for having recognized the power of the story in the life of the child. The best Kindergarten training schools would no more omit a well organized course in story telling than they would a course in psychology or child study, so it is with no claim of something new or different that I respond to the invitation of the Storytellers’ Magazine to tell of the work as it is done in the Washington Normal School.
We are fortunate in having a Principal who has been willing to allow a full two years’ course in stories. This makes possible a broader literary basis, better developed principles of selection, more of adaptation and practical story telling than could be accomplished in a shorter time. It also makes possible a more leisurely, more psychologic approach to the subject, and therefore launches us upon the actual story telling with much of the beginner’s painful self-consciousness eliminated.
My first question to a new class is, “What have you read and really enjoyed during your past summer?” Next, “What are your favorite books?” Through a careful study of the students’ responses to these questions I gain a knowledge of the literary background and taste of each individual of whom I shall strive to make a successful story teller.
Discussion of these books which the students know and like leads us into the field of basic principles of selection in literature. Brief studies of a few typical short stories, analysis of purpose, structure, and style follow.