The Role of Oral Storytelling in Writer's Workshop

Yesterday I was just reviewing the comments that I made as I read Aimee Buckner's Notebook Know-How: Strategies for the Writer's Notebook last summer and skimming certain sections again. I had forgotten about her suggestion to launch writer's notebook with oral storytelling. She says, "Oral storytelling allows children to tell about themselves and their experiences, and helps me take note of oral language skills while learning about each child" (p. 9). She then explains how she reads a lot of picture books and helps students make connections to the texts. While she is sparking student interest, she is taking notes so that they see her as a model of utilizing a writer's notebook to record thoughts and ideas, which might later inspire writing. Finally, she waits until all her students are ready to burst with a story to tell, and then she introduces notebooks to her students (pp. 9-11). She notes, "That's the secret to getting kids into notebooks. Have them tell stories to each other, keep notes and ideas in your own notebook, share them with your kids, and wait for the right moment, when it seems that everyone has a story to tell" (p. 11).

One of the activities that my students wanted to do a lot throughout the school year was something fostered in their younger grades, What's on top? or on Spanish weeks ¿Qué pasa? Students would share whatever was on their mind. It included big events, their weekend, something to look forward to... Often stories that one person would share would evoke someone who had already shared to beg to say just one more thing that a classmate brought to mind. As I was reading Buckner's concepts it hit me that I had missed an opportunity all throughout the year to strengthen their writer's notebooks. Now this year I will start out with the idea from the beginning and remind students at different points during the year to record ideas of their own personal stories in their notebooks.

Tonight, coincidentally, Ruth over at Two Writing Teachers was talking about her own epiphany with oral storytelling. As different pieces of my literacy block are coming together I always love to hear similar topics from multiple perspectives because each person adds their own personal touch. Ruth is giving me more to consider about how much I utilize personal storytelling. Her post gave many ideas on how to focus on oral storytelling from the beginning.