Thanks to grant, storytelling to continue at library

The 2006-07 Magness Library?s Storytelling Project is lining up to be another entertaining and educational program for Warren County school students.

Library director Mary Robbins has secured a federal grant to fund the project, and is working with Bonnie Collier, the school system?s professional and community development coordinator, to implement the program. This year?s effort is an expanded version of a similar program the library sponsored last year.

Magness Library has even set aside a special computer dedicated solely to the storytelling project that students, and educators, can use to do research and learn about storytelling as an art.

?We had a somewhat smaller grant last year to do programs in the schools,? Robbins said. ?Bonnie and I got together and developed some programs in the different schools, and out of that, we came up with the storytelling idea, and I applied for a grant. It?s federal money, but it comes through the Tennessee State Library and Archives.

?This time I wrote a grant for funds to do strictly a storytelling project this year with, and for, the children in the school system,? Robbins said. ?It?s very much a cooperative project between the library and the school system.?

In preparation for the project, the library held a seminar for local educators this past July, as well as transporting students from other schools to WCMS for performances to introduce them to the idea, Collier said.

?We did this so as many children could be exposed to the program as possible,? Collier said. ?So outlying community schools came in and they were able to benefit. It was wonderful. It was so well received, and that is what took us to this next level. We decided to go a step further and be a little more specific.?

A group of 25 local teachers and school librarians came in last summer for a seminar with a storyteller.

Storytelling as an art has been around for centuries. Long before movies and television, and even books, people sat around the fire and told tales of their own deeds and the deeds of others.

One might think with the advent of electronic media that the tradition of storytelling would have died out, but that hasn?t been the case. In fact, traditional storytelling is enjoying a resurgence of sorts. And it?s easy to see why. There?s nothing quite like the personal connection that comes with live storytelling, which is something the Magness program will make full use of in its project, with guest storytellers like Daniel LeMonnier, who made a series of recent appearances at local schools.

?The live contact allows for a sort of involvement that just isn?t possible in a taped or video production,? LeMonnier said during his visit. ?There?s a lot of wonderful stuff on video, but it?s not the same thing. It doesn?t have the immediacy that happens when one person is telling a story and other people listen to it and their reactions really change how the story goes, and where the story goes.?

With the Magness program, not only will children hear professional storytellers, like LeMonnier, they will also be learning to tell their own stories, stories about their families as well as stories about their own lives and experiences. The students involved with the project will get hands-on experience with storytelling.

?These storytellers, like Mr. LeMonnier, go into the schools and tell stories, talk about storytelling as an art, where you can find stories ideas, how to develop them, that sort of thing, to help get the children interested,? Robbins said.

Students were given a participation form to take home for their parents to fill out in order for them to be involved with the project.

The project has already been quite successful, as evidenced by a recent storytelling performance at Magness, called ?Christmas Memories: The Storytelling Project? which featured a number of local students telling stories of memorable Christmastime experiences from their lives. Also on hand at the performance were local storytellers Wally and Pat Bigbee, who regaled the fascinated children, and adults, with the story of ?The Cobweb Christmas,? which relates how the tradition of tinsel on Christmas trees came about.

During the balance of the school year there will be a number of other storytelling performances scheduled, many celebrating Warren County?s bicentennial. For more information on the Magness Storytelling Project, contact the library at 473-2428.