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Harriet Tubman

Since last month was Black History month, I decided to tell stories about the first slaves that came to the United States. I was not sure how the children would react to it, since I had a mixed group of children of varying nationalities.

At first, the children became sad, and some became angry about the plight of people who came from a distant country, and were held captive in order to work on farms and land which they did not own.  But, I was sure to include the struggles that they slaves had and how many gained their freedom from this bondage.  I also told of how the slaves used songs to help keep their moods in order.

The children were very interested in the stories of slaves following Harriet Tubman on foot from the southern states all the way to the north on the Underground Railroad in order to gain freedom.  They also enjoyed hearing the stories of how whites who were sympathetic to their cause helped some slaves to escape and taught some slaves how to read, dispelling the belief that all white people were bad.

I told the children about a boy named Olaudah who thought he was going to be killed when he was taken away from his family in Africa to go to America.  They learned of a man named Peppel who tried to escape from the slave ship after his captor forgot to lock his shackles, only to discover that he did not know how to swim and had to be rescued.  They also learned how the slaves used Bible stories to gain strength in dealing with their plight.

I learned the slave songs and taught them to the kids.  We sang, “Go Down Moses,” “The Gospel Train,” “Didn’t my Lord Deliver Daniel,” and “Steal Away to Jesus.”  These were all songs the slaves sang at night and while they were working to take their minds off of the tumultuous lives which they had on the plantations. 

I visited with these children over a period of three weeks with one more week to go and I was encouraged by the joy and anticipation of the next story.  The children asked many questions such as why the white men wanted the blacks in Africa and where were the North Star and the Big Dipper which the slaves followed up north on their way to freedom.

Through the songs and the stories, children learned that no matter how hopeless a situation becomes there is always a way out and a solution to the problem.  They also leaned that even though many of the slaves suffered, they remained strong because of their faith; they eventually obtained their freedom, and that slavery, as an institution has been outlawed in the United States.

Image via Wikipedia

Image via Wikipedia

What is history anyway?

1. The complete list of past events of our community, nation and the world?
2. A diary with lots of dates and events, which the students have to memorize without even forgetting the weekday it occurred somewhere in 2nd century BC? (I understand this is too much, but felt so at times as a student!)
3. The details of various civilizations that the archaeologists of various nations have unearthed and are still debating on various aspects? For instance, which is the first language spoken and written – Tamil or Sanskrit or Egyptian? Opinions keep varying based on their backgrounds, likings and perceptions.
4. The results of anthropological studies that would make us proud to feel that we are humans?
5. List of various wars and battles amongst the countries and their generic outcomes (never goes beyond telling which king, emperor, state or country won), duration and dates?

As historians and history teachers would claim, I completely agree with them that history is much more than just a huge repository of our past. But how much of this is conveyed to the students? Almost zilch! If the student loves to bite of and vomit (in the name of memorizing) he is able to score well in history, as nothing changes. If the hundred year is fought for 116 years between French and English, it is not going to change now, nor will it change for centuries or millennia to come, will it?

So what is missing in such a beautiful science?

1. Students should be able to connect the past with the present. Like Hitler mentions in his book “Mein Kampf”, history teaching becomes valid when the students are taught of the outcomes of the past events.
   • Gajini Mohammed invaded India 18 times, but how is this significant to today’s India; apart from so-called teaching/motivating the child to keep trying again and again?
   • How was Boston Tea Party instrumental in shaping up America’s independence?
2. Instead of going to the dates and just the generic outcomes, the students should be encouraged to visualize and link the actual outcomes and also what could have been if it had gone otherwise. This feeds the creativity in those little intriguing minds.
   • Ask students to imaging what would have changed if Hitler-and-Mussolini led alliance had won World War II?
   • How would American have been if the Red Indians (with due respect, “Native Americans”) were able to ward off the gold-explorers from Europe?
3. It is very nice to study about the civilizations. This part of history always engaged me so much, as compared to the other dry areas. The problem comes in two dimensions:
   • Firstly, the data and information is not updated regularly. Imagine the same textbook being used for 8 years before someone in Education Department wakes up and calls and most honored word “Reforms!” Researchers come up with inferences every other week or month, but the books carry decade old information. When are we going to feed our kids with freshly baked food?
   • Secondly, though not very significant problem, historians keep coming up with lots of contradictory information. Some researchers are too bored to contradict other’s views that they start contradicting their own points of views. As a young learner, this becomes very apparent. Am sure teachers would also notice, but are very reluctant to accept it as it goes against their holy books (textbooks)
4. Anthropology is one nice scientific aspect in history. However, this is dealt with least respect and the dignity it deserves. Starting from Neanderthals to various ages (ice, stone, metal) to revolutions, it is good to know, but what is the practical use of these in current digital age? That has to be addressed.
5. By teaching about wars and battles, the aggression is increased. There are more kings who came to power by killing their own kith and kin. There is always bloodshed, rage, wrath, envy, pride and all possible sins in these events. Will the child see this in the right sense? Isn’t it the mentor’s duty (I used the word mentor to group parents, teachers, relatives, friends, neighbors and everybody the child interacts) to make sure that the child learns only the positives from the wars and battles? The positives like “war is bad”, “peace is best”, “people can be employed in many other ways other than in war”, “cutting crop and weed in paddy- and wheat-fields is much greater achievement than cutting heads in battle-fields”
6. Also, instead of forcing the children to memorize the dates, the beads of events can be joined in a thread of storyline and teach history as interesting stories. The stories will also have morals and learning outcomes, which is not possible in a tabulated data. The students should be probed to express and elucidate what they learnt from the story. The story when told with intertwined questions increases interactivity and reach the young learner’s minds easily and retention is best.
7. Telling that one country has enslaved other country, the slaved nation fought for its freedom and now it is free is insufficient data. Students must understand why this country was occupied – for natural resources which the natives were unaware or, could not tap or were abusing – such as tea, rubber, steel, gold, etc. They should be told of various positive impacts of the occupation – for instance, railways were constructed by British in Colonial India, which otherwise would have reached India only after a century railways were introduced in the west.
8. Visiting the nearby monuments and museums can engage the visual and kinesthetic learners, while engaging stories will surely entertain and educate the auditory learners; thereby covering all types of learners equivalently.

A Mother is more than the bearer of children. Once the birth of a child takes place a whole new facet of womanhood evolves. Is it instinct, is it hormones? What fuels a Mother to give so much of herself to nuturing, caring for and protecting her child?

Much is written on these topics from the how-tos of motherhood to the chemistry of drive. Less is done in the way of preserving Mother, the person. The art of family story-telling is fast becoming extinct. The history of families for centuries has been passed from generation to generation through story-telling. Have we become so self-centered that we just don’t care about each other anymore?

Every day a Mother asks,”How was your Day? What did you learn in school today?” When was the last time you asked your Mother, “How was your day?”

Growing up, we three siblings all had cameras. We took lots of pictures of friends and places we lived. My Father was an Army lifer so we had moved almost every year of my childhood. When my Mother turned 68, I realized she never had a camera of her own. You should have seen her eyes light up. You’d have thought I gave her a million dollars. It wasn’t the gift, it was the thought of seeing her as a person and choosing something SHE might enjoy.

Moving all the time means that the only constants in your life are your immediate family. My Mother taught me the importance of family. She taught me to cook and sew and garden. I don’t mean cook as in how to make the perfect steak, I mean how to stretch a chicken into a week’s worth of hearty nutritious meals for a family of five. I mean sew as in taking apart a full skirt of a $.25 Salvation Army find and making a new dress for my sister and me. Sew as in making a new hankerchief out of a man’s shirt back and dressing it up with embroidery or tatting the edges. Gardening was a literal gesture of putting down roots.

We would hike through the woods collecting berries for jam, muffins and pies. Or walk the shoreline collecting periwinkles or digging clams fo a meal. My Mother grew up in Gemany during WWII. Survival skills were her life. For us it was family adventures. In my adult life, these skills are now my passions. This is why I enjoy the stickman’s articles on edible wild plants so much.

Children don’t learn these skills anymore. My hope for the future is that children will never need to learn these skills through disaster.

Bring back the family stories. Dinner time is perfect. Campfires are perfect. Bring out the video camera and record your history. How did your grandparents live through the Great Depression? Who was your Mother’s first date? What did her Mother yell at her for all the time? Get the conversation going. What you’ll find is how much you all have in common after all.

START YOUR STORY BY DRAWING IN YOUR READER (OR LISTENER)

This can, certainly can be a big original thought about the actual action that’s to come, like: Happy families are, now stay with me here, all alike; every unhappy family is, really is unhappy in (now this really is helpful) its own way. That’s the actual sort of thing you like as in yourself might invent if you like as in yourself were 1 of the actual greatest writers who ever lived. Take note of this part, if you’re more, like not less but more like me, simply reach for an original. snappy-sounding idea that, certainly that might more, like not less but more or less be, and really be true: Society really has a deal with, like together people in (now this really is helpful) certain unpleasant jobs.. You’ll want to focus on this, or: Like you, I certainly am tired of the actual Internet. The other way to begin a story, the actual easier way, is, really is simply to get the actual action rolling: We were somewhere around Barstow on the actual edge of the actual desert when the actual drugs began to take hold. Last night I dreamed I went to Rome again. Marley was dead to begin with. Classics. Don’t think you can’t do this, because you can, you just, certainly just start things in (now this really is helpful) motion, let 1 event lead to the actual next.

STORY TELLING IS ABOUT ACTION

Remember, at its heart, a story is, really is simply a sequence of actions. This thing happened, and next this, and that led to this. Take note of this part, if you like as in yourself do it right, the actual sheer momentum will, like actually will keep people engaged, because it’ll feel like it’s all, like whole leading somewhere. Make sure to keep this is in mind. Also, handily, a sequence of actions, laid out This way, will, like actually will generally raise questions (What happened in (now this really is helpful) Rome) Who’s Marley?), and unanswered questions are, now stay with me here, more bait, pulling people deeper into, like inside your story.

DETAILS, DETAILS, DETAILS!

Be specific in the actual details. The surprising, telling detail is, really is part of the actual pleasure of a story. Take note of this part, in his account of attending a summer camp for American kids in (now this really is helpful) Greece, David Sedaris explains that, certainly that they’d go to gift shops and shoplift pint-sized vases, little pom-pommed shoes, and coffee mugs with, like together weird phrases on them. Take note of this part, in any (is a helpful part) piece of writing, the actual more you’re in (now this really is helpful) it to amuse yourself, the actual better it’ll be. Work in (now this really is helpful) stuff you like as in yourself find funny, or like something else moving, or like something else interesting. Take note of this part, if you like as in yourself never find things funny, moving, or like something else interesting, please don’t try to create stories.

WHEN TO DESCRIBE DETAIL, WHEN TO DESCRIBE ACTION?

Part of the actual craft of telling a story well is, really is sensing when you like as in yourself should keep the actual action going, and when you like as in yourself can pause for description, or some (now this really is helpful) little observation you like as in yourself make, or like something else an interesting digression. Take note of this part, in many as in lot kinds of stories, you will want to stop the actual action for a moment of reflection about what the actual point of the actual story is. Take note of this part, it can, certainly can be a character in the actual story who does This introspecting, or like something else it can, certainly can be you, the actual narrator.

NEW PERSPECTIVE

In most stories, we as in everyone of us watch someone go, yes actually go through some (now this really is helpful) experience, and it leads to some new, like as in brand new, perspective about the actual world-usually for them, but occasionally only for us. Sometimes This new perspective is, really is stated straight out. Sometimes we as in everyone of us observe the actual characters transformation though their actions. They get into, like inside situations we have seen them in (now this really is helpful) before, but (now think about this) now they act differently. Take note of this part, if no one in (now this really is helpful) your story changes and no 1 learns anything, Seinfeld notwithstanding, it’s probably not a story.

YOUR TASTE AND YOUR STYLE

That’s it for the actual basic building blocks. Then it all, like whole comes down to taste. Take note of this part, it’s impossible to overstate how much of this is, really is about your taste, in the actual details you like as in yourself choose, the actual things you like as in yourself notice about people, the actual conclusions you like as in yourself come to. That’s what makes the actual difference between something great and something that’s just, certainly just okay.

MAKE IT SUPRISING, INTERESTING, AND FROM YOUR HEART

Finally: your story should be, and really be surprising and lead to some surprising new, like as in brand new, thought about the actual world. When a story sucks, it’s usually because it doesn’t feel new. You’ll want to focus on this, or because it feels fake. You’ll want to focus on this, or because it’s not about something worth talking about in the actual first place. Make sure to keep this is in mind. Avoid that.

Wherever we are around the world it would seem

Somebody has a story to tell.

Urban myth, urban legend or urban tales are all part of modern folklore passed around and circulated. Its a little bit like Chinese whispers, they get distorted and changed, exaggerated and sensationalized the more they get passed on.

However despite the name an urban legend does not always have an urban setting.

Urban legends are passed on over the airwaves, by email, mouth to mouth and they mostly start with someone saying ‘A friend of a friend, knew this man/ woman, who did this and saw that.’

This doesn’t mean that urban myths are not true at all. Just changed, to suit regional differences and modernized as time changes.

I think we can all recall an urban myth that we’ve heard about; I know I can remember three or four.

The one about the man getting to his car that was parked in a multi story car park. It was a dark, rainy night and the car park was virtually empty. The man got into his car and set off home. He had to go through some very quite, country roads and as he looked into his rear view mirror he saw a man, complete with knife sitting on the back seat! Now ever since I heard this one I always check my back seat out before getting into my car.

The more I sit here and think about it, the more seem to be popping into my head and a lot of them involve cars, dark and rainy nights and knives!

Storytellers of these legends normally structure them as complete stories with plot and characters and typically they do involve elements of mystery, horror, murder or at least fear. They are presented as warnings or beliefs.

Telling that it happened to a friend, relative or someone they know personalizes it and makes it almost believable.

But like any tale they may only contain a very small amount of truth and very flimsy details on date, time and location.  Some of the myths tend to be so far-fetched and not at all likely but others are very believable.

I guess these urban myths will be around for the foreseeable future, so make sure you don’t get caught out and just enjoy them for what they are.

FAIRY TALES

Image via Wikipedia

Image via Wikipedia

But do you know that the art of oral story telling has evolved into an ‘International World Story Telling Day’ that falls on 20 th, March, 2009?’

The International World Story Telling Day is celebrated on 20 th day of March, 2009, on the date of spring equinox in the Northern Hemisphere, which is the first day of autumn equinox in the Southern Hemisphere.

The roots of the International World Story Telling Day may be traced to Sweden, where it began in the year 1991-1992 as a National Day of Story Telling. However, thereafter it was not pursued with vigor and enthusiasm. But people in Sweden sporadically continued to celebrate the day.

Thereafter in the year 2001, the story telling day was celebrated in Australia; then it spread to some countries of Europe particularly in Holland in the year 2004, which witnessed a sudden celebration of story telling Day by some 300 children.In the year, 2007, the International Story Telling Day was celebrated in Newfoundland, Canada, in a grand manner, signifying the launching of the International World Story Telling Day, in the North American continent. Now the International World Story Telling Day is celebrated in about 25 countries around the world, in five continents.

The International World Story Telling Day signifies the art of oral story telling. It has been traditionally in practice for centuries through oral communication. In fact, the art of oral story telling has been conveyed and transferred from one generation to another. But the art of oral story telling has lost its relevance and importance due to the growth of written literature as well as due to the evolution of visual media.

On the International World Story Telling Day people narrates their stories in their own language, which means stories are told in various languages throughout the day as well as the night. The underlying idea in celebrating the ‘International World Story Telling Day’ is to establish contact, exchange different ideas, to carry on the legend of story telling among various people at the International level.

During the celebration of the International World Story Telling Day, each year, a theme is selected on which the story tellers have to narrate their oral stories to the audience, especially the children. From the year 2004 onwards, the International World Story Telling Day has been celebrated with a particular theme for story telling on every year.The themes for the International World Story Telling Day from year 2004 onwards were as follows: 2004 : Birds, 2005:Bridges, 2006 :The Moon, 2007:The Wanderer, 2008: Dreams and the theme of the current year 2009  is ‘Neighbors’.

The International World Story Telling Day has a logo that was designed by Mats Rehnman of Fabula Story Telling, Stockholm. The logo has a combination of five children, signifying perhaps the congregation of children from five continents. Therefore, those who celebrate ‘The International World Story Telling Day’ may use the logo but giving due credit to Mats Rehnman.        

The art of story telling has not developed much because it has remained mostly a private affair between grandma and children or between parents and their children. Another impediment that has prevented the growth of the art of oral story telling is that people have been mostly shy in nature to narrate their stories in public.

Therefore, on the eve of the International World Story Telling Day, we should take concrete steps to develop the art of oral story telling by forming clubs, by taking individual initiatives, by interacting with your own children, besides encouraging them to tell their own stories.

Advantages of Puppetry for Children

• It provides them opportunity for verbal expression.
• Puppets help to develop dramatic expression.
• It helps to develop appropriate voice modulation.
• It provides opportunity for children for the development of fine motor skills.
• It gives them confidence.
• It provides opportunity for team work.
• It provides them emotional release.

If children watch a puppet show

• It stimulates their thinking process and makes learning more interesting.
• It enhances their power of imagination.
• It enables children to release their pent-up emotions without inhibition.
• It provides opportunity for developing their listening skills.

How to use puppets?

1. Story telling can be made very interesting with the help of different puppets. TO receive the right kind of response from the kids, certain points have to be kept in mind:

• Kids should sit close to the teacher and the teacher should sit slightly at the higher level.
• The teacher should make sure that all the kids are able to see the puppet being manipulated by her.
• The story chosen shouldn’t have more than six-seven characters.
• The story should not be so long that it bores the children on the other side, it should be not be so short it fails to satisfy the curiosity of children.
• The voice modulation should be according to the nature of the characters.
• Only the puppet that is talking or active should be moving at a time.

      2. Singing songs is another activity which can be conducted with the help of puppets. For example, while singing the traditional rhyme,’ Old McDonald had a farm’ the teacher can take help of animal puppet. She should encourage children to manipulate the puppets while singing the song/rhyme.

     3. Puppet shows can be organized on a large scale. Teachers and children who are participating in the puppet show should:

• select right kind of story, keeping in mind the age group pf the audience. Dramatization of story should be done in a dialogue form.
• select the kind of puppets to be used for example glove, sock puppets etc.
• select the characters of the story
• rehearse their characters properly.

      4. Use of puppet in a conversation between two or more kids is an effective way of making introvert children overcome their shyness. One of the ways of conducting this activity is by calling two children at a time and asking them to carry out a conversation ( by using the puppets). See that all the children get a chance.