Sherry Norfolk ~ Study Guide: "Use Your Brain"

Program Description

Use Your Brain demonstrates effectively that Brain is better than Brawn! Tales from around the world exhibit creative, non-violent problem-solving skills through laughter and fun. The tales show us how to solve problems by both negative and positive examples. This highly interactive storytelling program features innovative interpretations of traditional multicultural tales. Within several of the stories, audiences will engage actively in critical-thinking skills as they participate in supplying possible solutions and outcomes..

Artist Bio

Sherry Norfolk is an acclaimed performer, appearing in Hong Kong, Anchorage, the Bahamas, Honolulu, Grand Canyon National Park and hundreds of points in between. With a B.A. in Elementary Education and a Masters in Library Science, she performs and teaches storytelling residencies through Young Audiences Woodruff Arts Center, Springboard to Learning / Young Audiences of St. Louis, and several state arts councils. Sherry is co-author with her husband Bobby of The Moral of the Story: Folktales for Character Development, 2nd Ed. (August House, 2006), and co-editor of The Storytelling Classroom: Applications Across the Curriculum (Libraries Unlimited, 2006).

Background on Art Form

Storytelling is the art of using words, gestures, facial expression, and body language to bring a story to life in the listener’s imagination. From the beginning of time, storytelling has been the way cultures have preserved and celebrated their memories, passed on their values and belief systems, entertained, instructed and reported. Today, storytelling is recognized as one of the most effective brain-compatible teaching strategies, accessible for children with diverse abilities and disabilities, and applicable to all “ways of knowing.” Storytelling continues to invite us all to “Enter the Theater of the Mind-the Imagination!”

Pre/Post Activities

Prepare (Pre- or pre-performance)

Teachers, please read this to your students:

In our assembly today, we’re going to participate in a storytelling performance by Sherry Norfolk. PARTICIPATE means that you’ll be part of the program – as good listeners, using your imagination to “see” the characters, setting, and action. Sometimes, you may be invited to use your brains, voice and hands to help bring a story to life. Sherry says that storytelling is the most fun when the storyteller and the listeners work together to create the story – so let’s make this a fun experience for everyone!

Warm Up Questions to set the stage for engaging students:

  • What is a folktale?
  • If you have read or heard the story before, you may find that the storyteller isn’t following the script! Listen for those differences and compare the told version to the written version, or to the other version(s) you have heard. What stayed the same? What is different? Which do you prefer and why?
  • Why would a storyteller change the story from the way it is written?
  • Look for ways that the storyteller uses her voice, facial expression, gestures and body language to communicate things that she may be saying in words.
  • Why do you need to use your imagination when you listen to a story being told?
  • Are the pictures in your imagination the same as everyone else’s?
  • Listen for the message in the story: what do you think the original tellers of this story want their children to learn? Does everybody hear the same message? Why or why not?
  • When you have a problem, what’s the best thing to do? You could ignore it, but will it go away? You could ask for help -- but what if there’s no one else to ask? How do you come up with a solution and how do you know if it’s the best one?
  • You just found out that a 21st Century dinosaur has been discovered in Atlanta. How do you think it looks? Draw a picture of it and talk about problems this dinosaur might have.
Reflect (Post- or post-performance)

Quick Writes: take 5 minutes to write about the story that was most memorable to you. What made it memorable?

Connections: choose one story you heard today and discuss with a partner how it relates to your own experiences, how it relates to something you have read or watched on TV or the movies, and how it relates to the school, community or the world.

Additional Activities

In small groups, students brainstorm a list of the problem-solving techniques used by characters in the stories they heard. If they can think of any other problem-solving techniques, add them to the list. Each group can then make a poster of these techniques, to be displayed in the classroom. The posters can now be referred to and added to during math, science, social studies and language arts classes: which of these technique(s) should we use to solve this problem? Which technique(s) did the characters in our reading lesson/history lesson use? Which technique(s) should they have used? Which technique should we use to solve the behavior problems we just experienced? How can we use x technique?

Vocabulary

Problem - A question whose answer is doubtful or difficult to find.
Solution - Answer to a problem.
Evaluate - Determine whether or not a possible idea will work.
Predict outcome - Make an educated guess as to the outcome of a possible course of action.
Choices - Alternatives
Brainstorm - Thinking of lots of possible answers, without judgment.

Resources for Teachers & Students
Websites


http://www.kidsource.com/kidsource/content2/Creativity_in_kids.html
For teachers, this website discusses the traits of creative thinking in children, why and how to identify and nurture them.

http://pbskids.org/arthur/parentsteachers/activities/creative.html?cat=creative
Lots of fun activities to help nurture problem-solving skills!

Books

Kriedler, William. Creative Conflict Resolution: More than 200 Activities for Keeping Peace in the Classroom k-6. Goodyear, 1984.

Van Oech, Roger. A Whack on the Side of the Head: How You Can Be More Creative. Warner, 1990.

  Georgia  Performance
  Standards

Listening/Speaking/Viewing

Warm Up Questions for “Listening/Speaking/Viewing”:

  1. Describe the perfect audience.
  2. What are some of our class rules for being good listeners?
  3. How do we show someone we appreciate their visit to our school or classroom?
  4. How does being part of an audience help make you a good citizen?
  5. What are some examples of bad audience behavior or attitudes?
  6. How does a negative audience member effect your enjoyment of a show or performance?
  7. How would this make the performer feel?
  8. How do we want the performer to feel when they leave our school or classroom?