Storytelling Begins In Childhood
By Madonna Dries Christensen
In Kathleen Norris’s mesmerizing book, Dakota: A Spiritual Geography, she tells about teaching writing to children in western South Dakota. An Indian girl draws and writes furiously all during class. When the bell rings, the girl, who the other children pass as though she’s invisible, hands Norris about twenty sheets of paper. After looking them over, Norris smiles and says, “So many poems; you must love to write.”
Norris says the girl shifts from foot to foot and weaves her hands in the air. “I don’t have paper at home,” she says, “so I keep them in my head. That’s where they live until I write them down.”
Probably nothing excites children more than learning to read and write. They start with memorizing the ABC jingle, then recognizing their name, and move on to printing crude letters and numbers. Natural curiosity leads them to ask, “How do you spell ….” On entering Kindergarten, typical children can usually print the alphabet in order and read simple words. There is no better time to harness their imagination, creativity, and energy.
I witnessed this when I visited my granddaughter’s Kindergarten classroom at Barrett Elementary School in Arlington, Virginia, where Ms Elizabeth Rente’s students write and publish stories. Ms Rente uses a program called Writer’s Workshop, designed by Lucy McCormick Calkins. The curriculum expects writing to be a daily activity or, at the very least, three times a week. Skills vary at this age, but the aim is to merge students into writing by having them draw pictures and then add a few words to explain the story. Students become intrigued with seeing their words on paper and want to move on.
Using Workshop guidelines, Ms. Rente began her instruction early in the school year. The students learned that a story has a beginning, a middle, and an end. Basic punctuation was introduced, as well as the phonetic sounds of words, language patterns, and rhyming words. Each student then wrote a one page story.
Gradually, the class moved on to two pages, and by January they were writing three page stories. After filling a portfolio of stories, which Ms Rente had discussed with them, they were allowed to pick their favorite to publish. The books have a construction paper front cover, with the title, author’s name and an illustration. A title page includes the title, author’s name, illustration, and date of completion.
The class then enjoyed a publishing party, at which each child in turn took “the author’s chair” and read his or her book aloud to the class. If peer critiques are part of the event, the guidelines suggest using TAG: Tell one thing you like about the story. Ask a question. Give one suggestion.
After learning the difference between fiction and nonfiction, the students chose characters and a setting for their fictional story. They understood that their story should have a problem and a solution. My granddaughter created Rosie The Mailbox. Rosie went to the library for a book but the checkout machine didn’t work. She solved the problem by going to another library.
The class is proficient in using punctuation, including apostrophes, exclamation points, and quotation marks. They know about revisions (editing) and proofreading. They understand upper case and lower case, and they know the difference between printing and cursive. We did not discuss voice in a story, or place, or point of view, but when Ms Rente gets around to these things, I’m confident they will grasp the concepts.
Given an opportunity to ask questions, hands floated in the air. “What’s your favorite part of writing?” a boy asked.
When I responded that I like writing dialogue, putting words in the characters’ mouths, and asked what punctuation is used with dialogue, the children knew it was quotation marks.
“How long do you write?” my granddaughter asked. 
“How long each day?” I responded. She nodded.
I explained that it varies; sometimes for several hours; other days not at all. Or I might do revisions or research, I told them. Ms Rente had earlier talked to them about research.
I asked if they knew what action is, and some of the children shook their heads. Ms Rente aided them with, “Remember I told you that something must happen in a story or it will be ….”
“Booorrrrinng,” the group chorused.
We talked about where to get ideas for a story. They had each planned a How-to book. Ms. Rente had explained that it must be something they knew how to do. They could not, for instance, write a How-to about piloting a plane. Some of the ideas they came up with for their books were: How to brush your teeth; how to make ice cream, how to draw; and how to clean your room.
I showed them my two published books and explained what they were about and where I got the ideas. A girl raised her hand and asked how long it took me to write a book with that many pages. We also talked about finding a publisher. I explained that it was not easy; that sometimes writers try for a long time to find someone who wants to publish their story or book.
We completed the session with my promise to write a story about our visit, and to publish it on the Internet so they could read it and print a copy. This brought smiles all around.
That night, I asked my granddaughter what was the best part of the day for her (her mother often does this). She said, “Having you come to my school to visit.”
“That was my best part, too,” I said.
