Degree Name

MA (Master of Arts)

Program

Reading

Date of Award

12-2009

Committee Chair or Co-Chairs

Joseph D. Sobol

Committee Members

Jane Melendez, Delanna Kay Reed

Abstract

This qualitative case study identifies what 8 teachers naturally do with storytelling at a K-12 school in western North Carolina. Through observations, interviews, field notes, document reviews, and artifact reviews, I used the constant comparison analysis method to discover themes from their formal and informal storytelling strategies. From these themes, I created a framework of 7 suggestions to enhance storytelling awareness. They are: sharing personal stories, developing voice control and body expression, connecting story to school culture, modeling well-developed stories with beginnings, middles, and ends, introducing stories with a pause, expressing the word "imagine" often during instruction, and finally, making teachers aware that they naturally tell stories. The significance of this study is to highlight the importance of storytelling methods for education as well as to make teachers feel more comfortable using storytelling in the classroom

Document Type

Thesis - unrestricted

Copyright

Copyright by the authors.

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