Education through stories
By Christine Beaderstadt - editorial@nwherald.com
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| Xiaojun Tan of Prairie Grove and his daughter, Cheyenne, 6, laugh Saturday night while listening to a story told by Dennis "Swiftdeer" Paige as part of “Stories from the Earth: An Environmental Storytelling Concert” at Prairieview Education Center in Crystal Lake. (Sandy Bressner – sbressner@nwherald.com) |
CRYSTAL LAKE – McHenry County Conservation District hosted at Prairieview Education Center a rare feature for a Saturday evening: a storytelling concert centering on nature.
Storytellers taught the audience about the environment and nature through peaceful, colorful depictions.
One of Andy Talley’s goals is to teach the people of McHenry County about nature, and he believes that one way to do that is through storytelling. Talley, program coordinator of McHenry County Conservation District, broke the ice at the district’s first storytelling event by cheerfully and warmly introducing the experienced narrators.
Tellers included Talley himself, as well as Carol Kerman, who is a part of Illinois Storytelling Inc., and Dennis “Swiftdeer” Paige of Schaumburg.
“Storytelling is one of my favorite ways to educate people about nature,” Talley said.
The speakers have been using storytelling as an educational tool for at least 10 years and expressed their enthusiasm for their chosen art form.
Paige used a traditional Native American story about the change of seasons to explain the significance of leaves turning colors in autumn. Props, such as leaves and plastic bugs, and creative sound effects of various creatures such as owls, wildcats and insects, animated his already vivacious story.
Paige believes that children’s education about nature and the outdoors has marginally improved over the years; he partly attributes the implementation of storytelling.
“Education for children was becoming one-sided. They were learning but not experiencing. There’s a difference,” he said. “Storytelling is face-to-face. You are not looking at a light box, like an iPod or phone. That is artificial. This is real.”
Talley hopes to have more storytelling events in the future and will continue with a nature-based theme.
