Value of Storytelling

Sharing stories is one way to have students share information about their experiences, backgrounds and cultures, but storytelling also provides a number of other benefits. Collins and Cooper (1997) present 12 reasons why storytelling is valuable in the classroom:

• Storytelling helps students sharpen their skills of imagination and visualization.

• Storytelling provides an opportunity for students to listen and develop an appreciation of the range, beauty, and rhythm of language.

• Storytelling introduces students to words in context, which helps them to understand unfamiliar words and increases their vocabulary.

• Storytelling helps students practice and refine their speaking skills when they share their story with others.

• Storytelling helps students improve their listening skills by understanding meaning, drawing inferences, and interpreting the information.

• Storytelling provides an opportunity for students to interact with adults on a personal level.

• Storytelling helps students enhance their writing skills when they write their own stories.

• Storytelling helps students develop reading skills and sparks an interest in reading. It encourages students to look at various literacy materials to find a story they want to share or to find stories that have been told to them.

• Stories with riddles or problems to solve can enhance students' critical and creative thinking skills.

• Storytelling allows students to share feelings.

• Storytelling helps students see literature as a reflection of human experiences.

• Sharing stories of their culture and family helps students understand their own and others' cultural heritage.

  References