S is for Storytelling

Welcome to my 2020 Blogging A-Z April Challenge. Each day, I will post a brief Journal On! Daily Writers’ Workshops lesson and prompt. Teachers, parents, and students may use the material to encourage daily writing practice, spark insight, and embrace mindful reflection.   

One of the most famous storytellers of all time is Scheherazade the Arabian princess who saved her life by enchanting the sultan with stories night after night. Eventually, the sultan fell in love with her and, instead of chopping off her head, made Scheherazade his queen. The famous narration became known as A Thousand and One Nights. As the story goes, Scherazade collected stories she had heard about epic battles, legends, and poetry.

Collecting stories is one of my favorite things. I have interviewed family members and listened to stories told around dinner tables. I love to hear reminisces told by friends and relatives about days gone by. I also like to retell the stories as I understand them. Stories bind us to people we love, confirming our connections. Stories also bring people who have passed on, back into our conversations. Their essence lies in the stories. Stories don’t have to be set in the faraway past. The epic adventure that happened to your brother last week can be just as compelling as Grandpa’s hitchhiking story across the country when he was 17.

For today, let’s focus on a story a close family member can tell you. How will you retell the story in your journal?

1. Primary Prompt: Ask an adult in your family about a favorite game they played when they were a young child. Was it jump roping, a game with a ball, or a type of hide-and-seek? Draw a picture of what you think this game had looked like back then. Include the children this person played with and the place where they played. Did they play in a field, city street, or on the stoop of their house? Write sentences about your picture.
2. Intermediate Prompt:  Interview an adult in your family about a favorite game he or she played as a child. Get this necessary information such as how old the person was, the time place where they played, the friends they played with, and the name of the game. Journal about this game your family played. Add why this game was memorable and fun.
3. Upper-Intermediate Prompt: Just as the Intermediate prompt instructed, Interview an adult about a favorite game or activity Journal about the person playing the game and how he or she felt about the game. Be sure to include the friends. How did this person sound while telling the story? Was he/she joyful, sad, or excited? Was it hard to envision the adult as a child playing? Why?/why not?

Until tomorrow, Everyone.