INLS 558: Principles and Techniques of Storytelling - Fall 2006
School of Information and Library Science

Manning Hall, Room 208

Tuesdays 6:00-8:30pm

 

Dr. Brian Sturm

Office: 215-A Manning Hall

Phone: 919-962-7622; Email: sturm@ils.unc.edu

Office Hours: By email or by appointment

Online Communication:  http://blackboard.unc.edu/  (log in using your ONYEN and password; you should find that one of “My Courses” is the INLS 558 class.  Click on that class and you will enter the Blackboard environment and be able to maneuver around, send email to classmates, chat with each other, etc.

 

Required textbook: Greene, Ellin. Storytelling: Art and Technique. 3rd ed. New Providence, NJ: Bowker, 1996.

 

August 29th

Theory: Introduction to storytelling and the class. Expectations, assignments, grading, online area. Definitions, kinds, and values of storytelling. Research resources.

Readings: Greene – chpt. 3

Practice (focus): Small group reading aloud and group story creation (imagination)

 

September 5th

Theory: Finding and selecting an age-appropriate story

Readings: Greene – chpt. 4; also have a look at: Shedlock – chpts. 4 & 5; Sawyer – chpt. 8

Practice (focus): Storytelling card game (groups of 5).  We’ll also discuss storytelling language, beginnings and endings, and child development; please read: http://www.folktale.net/openers.html, http://www.folktale.net/endings.html, and http://www.ils.unc.edu/courses/2005_fall/inls121_001/childdev.html.

 

September 12th

Theory: Preparing and presenting a story

Readings: Greene, chpts. 5 & 6; also have a look at: Shedlock – chpt. 3; Sawyer – chpt. 7.

Practice (focus): "Theater of the Face" (eye contact, facial expression, and storytelling games)

 

September 19th

Theory: Media in storytelling, props, flannel boards, etc.

Readings: Skim through Bauer, chpts.10-18

Practice (focus): "Theater of the Body" (body language, gesture, posture, mime, and storytelling games)

 

Sepember 26th

Storytelling Session #1 (Preschool): stories not to exceed 7 minutes

Cue Card #1

 

October 3rd

Theory: Administering storytelling programs (design and evaluation)

Readings: Greene, chpts. 11 & 12; also have a look at the entire Storytelling Magazine issue for September/October 2004 (Volume 16, issue 5) which is dedicated to Producing Storytelling Events)

Practice (focus): "The Art of Imitation" (character voices, dialect, and sound effects)

 

October 6 - 8 – National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, Tennessee

 

October 10th

Theory: Storytelling for Special Audiences (physically and emotionally challenged, YA, elderly)

Readings: Greene, chpts. 7 & 9; Blankenship; Sutton.

Practice (focus): “The Art of Emotion” (analysis and portrayal of emotions)

 

October 17th

Theory: Historical development of storytelling and folkloric influences

Readings: Greene, chpt. 8; Perrin master's thesis

Practice (focus): “Putting It All Together” (the face, the body, the voice, and the emotions)

 

October 24th

Theory:  Storytelling in organizations

Readings:  Chappell article on Blackboard or at: http://wistechnology.com/article.php?id=1182

Practice:  Guest workshop by Canadian storyteller, Monica Sanchez

 

October 31st 

Class Cancelled due to Halloween bus and parking problems

 

November 7th

Storytelling Session #2 (Elementary/YA) stories not to exceed 10 minutes

Cue Card #2

 

November 14th

Theory:  Creating stories from Personal Experiences

Readings: http://www.creativekeys.net/StorytellingPower/article1037.html and the entire issue of Storytelling Magazine from May/June 2004 (Volume 16, issue 3) which is dedicated to crafting personal and history stories.

Practice (focus): “My Life in Story” (personal narrative story exercises

"Space" (staging, acoustics, microphones) – exploring sound in "theatrical spaces"

 

November 21st  

Theory: Storytelling: trance, paradox, and the psychodynamics of enchantment and Storytelling, culture, and psychology

Readings: Chinen; Olson; Sturm & Sturm; Stallings The Web of Silence; Sturm The Enchanted Imagination; Wynne

 

November 28th

Storytelling Session #3 (Adult) stories not to exceed 15 minutes (those not telling bring potluck)

Cue Card #3

 

December 5th

Storytelling Session #3 (Adult) stories not to exceed 15 minutes (those not telling bring potluck)

Cue Card #3