Teaching Storywriting to Kids: What’s In It for Me?

Well, first of all, I’m a sucker for making a difference in people’s lives. I figure that if I turn a kid on to reading and writing I’ve made a difference. Certainly the teacher who got me going, Mrs. Helen Brandt back at New Hope-Solebury Elementary School, made a huge difference in my life. She saved me and I’ll never forget her.

Another reason I enjoy doing this work so much is that it’s actually fun. Sure, going over the stories and trying to write something reasonably coherent and helpful on each one is drudgery—or can be drudgery, anyway. After a few weeks, it does get to be a grind, but I work through it. I find ways to make it stimulating.

Putting my comments in a speech bubble for a cartoon figure has been a huge help in two ways. One, it’s meant that I’ve had to develop cartooning skills, opening up a whole new creative world. Two, the kids love the cartoons and are much more motivated to work hard after having received them. Forget stickers and simple happy faces! Give them something hand made and unique and they will respond!

Long before I began cartooning, though, I turned myself into a storyteller. Like the drawing, storytelling came about as a way of meeting the kids where they were. It’s magic, pure and simple. Now each time I’m doing a character’s voice or making the sound effects of a fishing line flying out, plopping into the water, and then being pulled in on a squeaky reel, I marvel that they actually pay me to have so much fun!

Oh, not incidentally, storytelling jacks the kids up to write with real energy. Take my word, and 25 years experience, it works. That’s an awful lot of anecdotal evidence.

Then there’s this thing about working with kids. Think of all that kids have to have rattling around in their heads to write a story: Fine motor skills to actually make the words on the page, attention to spelling, punctuation, sequencing, dialogue, scene, setting, cause and effect, problem solving, description, etc., etc. For some kids, this is totally overwhelming.

Forgive me if I get a bit misty-eyed. The world is a tough place. It beats us up and often starts early. To be sensitive to this as we work with kids on a complex task like writing is an opportunity for our own growth. When I’ve got 25 kids to lead, with maybe ten of them struggling painfully under the natural pressure of the task, I’m looking at an optimal time to become desperate and grouchy myself. Maybe I’ve not gotten enough sleep the night before or maybe I’ve over caffeinated myself.

Frustration builds.

What a great time to choose kindness and humor. It’s good for the kids and it’s good for me.