STORYTELLING IN THE COMMUNITY
University students may enroll in COM 216 Storytelling in the Community, a two-credit hour, co-curricular course taught by Dr. Carole Tallant, in which students are instructed and coached to visit local elementary schools and perform stories for children. In this manner, students learn to apply theoretical concepts related to performance and audience adaptation in actual settings. The course
and activities emphasize interactive storytelling that directly involves audience members.
Given the unique experience of each semester's presentations, students may enroll in COM 216 up to four times, earning a total of eight (8) credit hours. Four (4) hours may be logged toward the COM B.A. degree while the remaining four (4) credit hours count toward graduation.
For additional information, contact program director Dr. Carole Tallant at tallantc@uncw.edu,
or (910) 962-3443.
Storytelling in the Community: A Different Kind of Motivation
by Blair Fetner and Andrew Sherland
(When published, Blair Fetner was a junior Communication Studies major enrolled in COM 216 for the second time. Andrew Sherland was a sophomore Communication Studies and Business major enrolled in COM 216 for the first time.)
Telling stories to children can be a rewarding experience in many ways. It not only gives you confidence, but it affects how you communicate with others as well. Children give you a different kind of motivation. You really want to do all you can to make the sure they are engaged. Nothing can replace the feelings you gain when you are surrounded by a roomful of excited and eager children. Their laughter, their smiles, and their excitement make storytelling a rewarding and worthwhile communication experience.
Storytelling in the Community, COM 216, is a course that offers students the opportunity to touch a child’s heart by performing stories. You can repeat the course for credit four times and many students find the course so rewarding they re-enroll over and over. The course involves tremendous dedication and preparation, but the outcome makes all the effort worthwhile
The class meets once a week for two hours and forty-five minutes for the first five weeks of the semester. During that time you select, rehearse, and polish two children’s stories that touch your hearts. The more the story speaks to you, the better your performance is. After you have identified your stories, you began adapting and crafting them. By crafting the language of your stories, giving your characters distinct voices, body gestures, and facial expressions, you make the stories your own. You then begin rehearsing in front of your teacher and classmates to receive detailed suggestions about how to improve, as well as compliments and accolades about what you’ve done well. This process helps refine your performance skills and your understanding of how to adapt and meet the needs of your audiences. Once the first five weeks are up, you are ready to venture out into the schools. From then on, you travel each week and perform your stories for children in different elementary schools all over Wilmington and the surrounding counties. During those sessions, the teacher continues to provide suggestions for improvement so that by the end of the semester your storytellings approach a professional level.
By taking this course, you not only gain a sense of how to perform in front of children, but you become a better communicator all around. You learn how to adjust to your surroundings and to unexpected interruptions. By adapting each of your stories, you work on your facial expressions and using purposeful body movements. All of these aspects help you become a better communicator and performer in many varied situations.
As an added bonus for signing up for the course, students are given opportunities to participate with professional storytellers at venues all across the region. In January of this semester, members of our COM 216 class, lead by Dr. Carole Tallant, attended the North Carolina Storyteller’s Guild Winter Workshop. The purpose of the workshop was to improve our storytelling through a weekend of activities and lectures.
The guest speaker for the workshop was a nationally recognized storyteller, Janice Del Negro. She had a wide range of knowledge to share with us on the history of storytelling, guidelines for storytelling, and useful tips and ideas to better improve our skills. She was a great asset to the weekend, and everyone benefited from her presence.
As a storyteller in a class entitled Storytelling in the Community, the workshop was a great way to get a better understanding of the art of telling a great story, and how it can affect the young and old.
