What story is your classroom waiting to tell? Engage your students in exploring their stories on World Storytelling Day, March 20th! This year’s theme, ‘Deep Water,’ offers endless creative possibilities—whether your class dives into its literal meaning, uses it as a symbol of emotions or challenges, or charts their own imaginative course. It’s your classroom, your choice! What’s important is that you empower your students to tell their stories.
Storytelling Around the World
Celebrate the global tradition of storytelling. The fact that storytelling takes place in every corner of the world is a great starting point. General storytelling lessons may be where you want to start and end depending on the age of your students. Storytelling activities and lesson plans are available from elementary through high school. You may want to engage your students by exploring storytelling in other cultures like Native American or the Irish or investigating myths and legends.
Creative Storytelling Techniques
The general topic of storytelling can inspire students to start writing stories of their own. Try a new fun storytelling activity like coding a story, storytelling STEM (Science Technology Engineering Math), digital storytelling, visual storytelling, or exploring story telling techniques. Encourage students to unleash their creativity as they tell their own stories!
Oral Storytelling Tradition
If you would like to take storytelling further in your classroom, you may want to extend World Storytelling Day into a unit or longer project to empower student voice. Oral storytelling is an important and time honored tradition in our world. Combining storytelling, technology, and performance in a classroom unit can help students connect with this timeless practice in modern ways.
Exploring Creative Storytelling Mediums
Storytelling through art can engage students that don’t see themselves as writers. Offering students options like theater, music, dance, writing, and visual arts empowers both those who prefer alternative creative outlets and those who enjoy performing their stories.
Exploring Personal Narratives
Older students are often in a phase of self-discovery and self-expression—figuring out exactly who they are. Extended storytelling activities that encourage them to share their personal experiences and perspectives can open up a new world of creativity and connection.
Storytelling is a powerful tool that engages and empowers students. As always, TeachersFirst offers many resources and blog posts to assist you in bringing storytelling into your classroom. Bring the joy of World Storytelling Day to your students and let their voices shine!