Over the years my storytelling style has evolved. I still use most of the same elements as I did twenty years ago but now these elements are no longer "filler" between picture book readings but have become an essential part of the storytime. One reason is that I am more confident telling a story than I was when I first started as a children's librarian and the other reason is that I really enjoy the various forms of storytelling that I use - draw and tell stories, board stories, paper cutting stories, and stories using props and stick puppets. They all have visual elements for the listener to look at while I tell the story. I am reluctant to move into straight storytelling because I enjoy using these elements when I tell stories. I guess it is part of my storytelling style.
I am preparing for a class visit next week. All of the children are deaf and some have other disabilities as well. The group had stopped by our library during a field trip last year when one of their destinations canceled on them. They had called ahead and I was available to do a storytime for them. It turned out that my "visual" style of storytelling worked well for the children and they called this year asking to come back just for a storytime. I was surprised and happy to find out that my visual style was a good format for this group. I had been concerned that it would have been too distracting since the children had to watch the interpreter as well. I will be using many of the new stories that I had worked on over the summer and used for my family storytimes. I am going to have to try to slow myself down a bit though, so I don't make it too difficult for the ASL interpreters. It's great feeling to know that this group wanted to come back to hear more stories and I'm looking forward to their visit.
This has been a busy week (particularly at home) so I don't have anything new for this week's Flannel Friday. I'm currently selecting stories for my next family storytime so I will have something new next week. You can find this week's Flannel Friday Round-up on Sharon's blog, Rain Makes Applesauce.
I am preparing for a class visit next week. All of the children are deaf and some have other disabilities as well. The group had stopped by our library during a field trip last year when one of their destinations canceled on them. They had called ahead and I was available to do a storytime for them. It turned out that my "visual" style of storytelling worked well for the children and they called this year asking to come back just for a storytime. I was surprised and happy to find out that my visual style was a good format for this group. I had been concerned that it would have been too distracting since the children had to watch the interpreter as well. I will be using many of the new stories that I had worked on over the summer and used for my family storytimes. I am going to have to try to slow myself down a bit though, so I don't make it too difficult for the ASL interpreters. It's great feeling to know that this group wanted to come back to hear more stories and I'm looking forward to their visit.
This has been a busy week (particularly at home) so I don't have anything new for this week's Flannel Friday. I'm currently selecting stories for my next family storytime so I will have something new next week. You can find this week's Flannel Friday Round-up on Sharon's blog, Rain Makes Applesauce.
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