Sherry Norfolk ~ Study Guide: "The Moral of the Story"

Program Description

The Moral of the Story teaches students about good character traits in a laughter-filled, non-didactic way! Character-based lessons are embedded in entertaining and interactive folktales such as “Coyote’s Crying Song,” “Amy & the Crossnore” and more. Within the text of each story, students will be able to recognize positive and negative role models, acquire critical information relative to respect, caring and teamwork and interpret stories from varying perspectives. Each program is custom-designed to address the specific needs of the audience.

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’s the best way for parents and teachers to teach kids the right way to behave? (Rules, punishment, signs and posters, stories..?)
• Is it easier to do what is right when you understand the consequences to yourself and to others?
• What is the Word of the Month or Character Education theme that our school is currently focusing on?
• Think of a fiction or non-fiction story which relates to that theme.
• Listen for the message in the stories today: 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?
• The stories today will have some characters who are negative examples, and some who are positive examples. See if you can identify which ones are which!

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.

Making it Personal: do any of the characters in today’s stories remind you of YOU? How do the actions and decisions made by that character make you feel about your own decisions?

Additional Activities

After the program, ask the class to list “good” character traits such as honesty, respect, responsibility on the board, along with a list of their opposites (“bad” character traits). This will serve as a “ready reference” for the exercise. Now put each character’s name on the board.
Which character traits do the characters exhibit? As the students list the traits, ask them, "How do we know this about the character? (inference)

What the character says?
What the character does?
What others say and do about this character?”

Vocabulary

Character -- Internal qualities which guide each individual's decisions about his or her behavior.
Characters --The people or animals who are in the story.
Peace --Living in harmony with one another.
Courtesy/Kindness/Compassion -- Treating others as you yourself would like to be treated.
Honesty -- A willingness to say openly what is known to be true.
Work Ethic -- Willingness to work to achieve a desired goal.
Teamwork/Cooperation -- Being able to work with others to accomplish a task or play a game.
Humanity -- Believing that people of different cultures, ages, abilities, religions, sexes, and races are equally valuable members of our society.
Responsibility -- A willingness to be accountable for your own actions without blaming others.
Respect -- Showing regard for self, others, property and those in authority.

Resources for Teachers & Students
Websites

www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/ce/
These activities will challenge students' minds, empower their senses of well-being, and rekindle their hearts with a commitment to values and beliefs essential to becoming and being whole individuals.

www.uen.org/utahlink/activities/view_activity.cgi?activity_id=5399
This is an interactive web page for kids to learn about what it is to have good character.

Books

Norfolk, Bobby & Sherry. The Moral of the Story: Folktales for Character Development, 2nd ed. (August House, 2006)
Brody, Ed, Jay Goldspinner, Katie Green, Rona Leventhal, and John Porcino (eds.) Spinning Tales, Weaving Hope: Stories of Peace, Justice, and the Environment.
Creeden, Sharon. Fair is Fair: World Folktales of Justice.
Forest, Heather. Wisdom Tales from Around the World: Fifty Gems of Story and Wisdom from such Diverse Traditions as Sufi, Zen, Taoist, Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, African and Native American.
Greer, Colin and Herbert Kohl (eds.). A Call to Character: A Family Treasury of Stories, Poems, Plays, Proverbs and Fables to Guide the Development of Values for You and Your Children.

CD
Norfolk, Bobby & Sherry. The Moral of the Story: Folktales for Character Development