Storytelling in Preschool and School Education | Wow Essays Research

As children, we used to learn about the world through stories — fairy tales, cartoons, and grandmother’s stories about “the naughty neighbor boy. Our imagination drew pictures that were realistic to us, and we took them for granted, which allowed us to be nurtured and taught.

However, when we came to school, we entered a world of facts that had to be remembered and taken for granted. But why don’t adults continue to use the magic of Storytelling? After all, if you add stories to the lesson outline, the learning process becomes more accessible to children of all ages. Are you having doubts? Then let’s find the true power of stories together with wow essay writing services!

Background. What is Storytelling

Storytelling is the art of telling stories, providing vivid, evocative examples, and conveying information in a clear and accessible way.

As we have already written, stories have been unconsciously used by people as long as humanity exists: legends, legends, fairy tales, anecdotes — all of these transmitted experiences and allowed us to build relationships. Then Storytelling became more and more consciously incorporated into the process of creating scripts and books, gradually attracting a wider audience’s attention.

In a series of tests, scientists discovered that compelling stories trigger the release of oxytocin and can influence our attitudes, beliefs, and behavior. And prominent marketers, filmmakers, and business people have tested and recognized Storytelling as the best way to make a presentation, convey knowledge, sell a product, or grab attention in a movie.

So Storytelling moved from the realm of writers and living room anecdotes to a widely used technology in various fields: marketing, tourism, culture, psychotherapy, show business, education, etc.

So, is any story already Storytelling? Of course not. To elevate an average level to one that impresses, sells, and is memorable, you must:

• Analyze your audience and pick the exemplary character and report about them;
• Introduce some problematic points in the story;
• build the story according to the rules: the introduction-main part-culmination-decision;
• show all the twists and turns the hero will go through to solve the problem;
• not to make the story too long but to keep the intrigue going;
• help the hero find a non-trivial way out;
• not to reveal the whole moral but to put it inside the story.

It doesn’t seem that complicated.

If people are laughing at your anecdotes, it means you already have storytelling skills. If you’ve watched the show all night long and empathized with the characters, you’ve already seen good examples of how to use this technology. All that remains is to add value to the audience (or you). And while humor in the classroom can also be helpful, let’s put our hero story in kindergarten or school and see how it can be applied to education.

Immersion: how Storytelling is taking root in educational institutions

Here it is, the first day of Storytelling outside the family. Of course, it will not be accepted into kindergarten or school without a foundation. But what do experts say about it?

Psychologists: Storytelling is the formation of psychological interrelations, controlling the listener’s attention and feelings, and setting the appropriate accents.

Educators: Storytelling is an effective technology for non-formal learning. It corresponds to NFE principles: active involvement of a student in the process, learning through experience, absence of an external evaluation, and forming one’s conclusions.

Although non-formal learning complements formal learning, educators have a rationale for why history should be included in the lesson outlines for any subject. Following the Federal State Educational Standard, in kindergarten and elementary school, Storytelling can be applied to achieve the following outcomes:

• The child’s mastery of active speech included communication;
• The child strives to communicate with adults and actively imitates them; the child shows interest in peers;
• the child is interested in cause-and-effect connections;
• The child has basic knowledge about themself, the natural and social world;
• The child has a developed imagination;
• The child can express their thoughts and desires through speech.

But history will not stay with children under the age of 10 forever; it will move with them into primary and high school to help them in the FSES:

• Master the skills of meaningful reading;
• construct statements by communication tasks;
• to build reasoning skills;
• learn to listen to an interlocutor and conduct a dialogue.

Most importantly, through Storytelling, children unobtrusively and unconsciously adopt society’s ethical norms and values. Storytelling allows you to try on the costume of a hero. If the story is exciting, children themselves will want to stay in it, gradually becoming responsible citizens of their country. Therefore, based on official documents, we can say that stories can become total participants in the educational process.

The central part: how stories make a difference

So, history has received official permission to engage in educational institutions, but it is not enough. It does not want to remain a standard technology along with others. It needs to benefit children and adults. After all, then it will become more popular.

Many teachers have tried to apply Storytelling in their practice and found the following advantages:

• helps diversify educational activities with children;
• helps to explain complicated themes;
• helps to speak to students in one language;
• helps to draw each child’s interest and concentration to the action in question;
• facilitates the process of remembering the story;
• enriches oral speech and helps learn new words and structures;
• develops listening skills;
• develops imagination;
• develops critical thinking;
• enables you to understand yourself and your feelings;
• helps to learn about the world;
• builds a friendly atmosphere.

Impressive, isn’t it? So much can be accomplished just by telling a story! Of course, this will only happen after repeated Storytelling and the parsing of each level. But the good thing about it is that it helps to touch and persuade a group of people simultaneously because each person will live the story.

It will penetrate and change everyone without requiring a significant investment if properly constructed. The story is free. It doesn’t require separate software or expensive specialists. And even without investment, the story becomes good entertainment and interactive content, where success depends on the narrator’s ability to listen to the audience and adjust to their mood.

Culmination: How Stories are Used in the Classroom

The technology of using Storytelling in both school and preschool cannot be put into one master class or article since it involves audience analysis, story scripting, public speaking, and additional application of methodological materials. Still, we’ve put together some tips from experts for taming a story competently to help get you started on becoming an accomplished storyteller.

Picking a Story

Initially, it’s worth understanding to whom we plan to tell the story and what goal we want to achieve. The answers will influence the choice of genre and protagonist because they must be close to our audience. It is unlikely that kindergartners will be interested in hearing about a businessman with a burned-out business.

The hero has his character, he should not always cause sympathy, but he must be whole. The hero must do things, ideally solving problems and receiving a reward. Without action, the story is incomplete.

Next, proceed to think through the story and ask yourself the following questions: “Who?”, “What?”, “When?”, “Where?”, “How?” and “Why?” That way, you can build logic and coherence to the narrative. Even young children lose interest if there are jumps in time and cause and effect in the story. You can use one of the classic plots:

• defeating the monster — resolving a problematic situation;
• Cinderella syndrome — changing the main character’s status for the better;
• Groundhog Day — finding the right strategy of behavior through a return to the starting point;
• detective — revealing the main idea through learning small details.

Be sure to put the main idea at the story’s heart, but don’t reveal it directly. Let the audience reflect and draw their conclusions. There can be several ideas, but don’t make them equivalent. Otherwise, children will get confused by multiple meanings and lose interest.

Even if you don’t make it up yourself but pick up a story from books, movies, or life situations, you can be guided by the following principles of a good story.

• Simplicity. Throw out everything unnecessary and incomprehensible, and leave only the essentials to make it easier for children to remember the story.
• Detail. But don’t rush to leave a dry residue. The story should still involve imagination, so don’t exclude names, appearance traits, characters’ habits, and location descriptions. This will bring the story to life and keep attention.
• Versatility and concreteness. The story should be accessible to a broad audience, touching on experiences and feelings common to many people. Then you will want to share it.
• Unexpectedness. To capture children’s attention, don’t use templates. Don’t reveal the whole point at once, and don’t divide the characters into bad and good. Allow children to investigate or surprise them with an outcome to make the story more vivid in their minds.
• Realism. The best story won’t be liked or remembered if kids don’t believe in it. It should describe a real problem and show possible ways to solve it. Of course, you can change and add to the story as long as your audience can believe in it.
• Emotionality. Choose deep and heartfelt stories that touch the heart and resonate more. A handful of dry facts is unlikely to achieve the desired result. And do not forget to empathize with the characters during the narration.

And now you have a story with enough frills and bows to attract attention but not repel their extravagance. Give her the word. Let her speak for herself. Pulling the blanket over yourself is not necessary because you’ve prepared the story, so listeners will tune in with it directly and get their insights.

Choosing a Form

It’s time to introduce children to history. How will you do it? Do you casually bring her into the classroom and teach her? Or will you let the children start the conversation on their own? Or maybe you will prepare a presentation for her? Let’s decide what kind of Storytelling you will choose:

• Classical (oral or written), where the teacher or book itself tells the story. This technique is appropriate when working with young and middle-aged children, where they act as the objects of the narrative and listen to the story.
• Digital and visual, in which Storytelling is supplemented by optical components (video, photos, infographics) on digital media or in actual format. Voice-over narration of the story can be done either by a teacher or narrator (younger age) or by children themselves (middle and older generation).
• Active, where the teacher only sets the basis for the event. Children are involved in the process of forming and telling stories. They can supplement or create the whole course of the story by themselves. Such a variant is applicable to the senior age.

The criterion for the choice of the form can be not only the age of listeners but also their life experience, the place of use of the story in speech and class, and the level of children’s communicative skills. Don’t be afraid to experiment and move from one option to another to diversify children’s experience and keep their attention from lesson to lesson.

Adding Interactivity

Regardless of which version of Storytelling you choose and what age of children you work with, you can try to engage the listeners in your Storytelling, which will add impact to your lesson. These can be options where students become co-storytellers or full-fledged creators of their stories.

The outcome: what the story has learned about itself

Not only do you weave a lot of information into the story, but you also evoke the emotions and energy of the listener. Convincing with Storytelling is difficult. But it takes vivid insight and storytelling skills to present an idea with enough emotional power to make it memorable. If you can use your imagination and the principles of a well-told story, you’ll get people to stand up and applaud rather than a yawn and ignore you.

The true power of a story is in its effect on a person. It’s different for everyone, but you can anticipate who will suit a particular style, which characters to choose, whether humor is needed, or whether to add some drama. That’s how stories help inspire confidence and change the world. You, too, can learn how to do this and bring up the next generation through Storytelling.