Prime Time; Storytelling

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[Sardella, Ed] Hello, I'm Ed Sardella, host for Prime Time, a weekly series to create awareness of the educational opportunities in the Denver Public Schools and to encourage the cooperation of home, school, and community to achieve excellence in education. This week, Prime Time attends a storytelling conference and visits the home of Bertha Moreno for a demonstration of the activity card, "Telling Tales at Home." Dr. Dale Johnson, author and Professor of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Wisconsin,

discusses the importance of vocabulary development, and Claudia Kirsch and Kevin Lindauer, who received awards at the State Science Fair, explain their projects. This is Colorado Public Schools Week, and in our final segment, Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Joseph Brzeinski, interviews Jim Baldwin, President of King Soopers and Vice Chairman of the Denver Chamber of Commerce, about the benefits of public education to the individual and the community. Storytelling is an ancient and living art that preserves our cultural heritage. The stories may take many forms: tall tales, events, poetry and song. But they must be skillfully told to entertain or to illustrate lessons and social values. At the Fifth Annual Conference on Storytelling at the University of Colorado Denver campus, storytellers gathered to share the magic of fact and fantasy. Dr. Norma Livo, organizer of the conference, explains its purpose, and John Stansfield and Greg Denman demonstrate different techniques in

storytelling and suggest ways parents and children can create stories at home. [Livo, Norma] The importance of storytelling is just the fact it's part of our humanity. It's part of one-to-one looking each other in the eye and telling something that we care about that's important and seeing if the other person also can get that feeling. It's passing on what's important to all of us, and we do it every day of our lives, in one way or another. [Denman, Greg] Now, Essex County was a mighty pretty fair. Why, all the smarty fellas from the South come there. Elbows a'flyin' as they rosined up their bows for the First Prize Contest in a Georgia fiddler show. Old Dan Wheeling, with whiskers in his ears. He'd been kingpin fiddler for nearly 20 years. Big Tom Sergeant, with his blue wall-eye. Little Jimmy Weezer, oh, who could make a fiddle cry. All sittin' round, spittin' high and struttin' proud. (Listen, little whip-poor-will, you'd better spread your wings.) Tunin' and they're tunin' while the judges told the crowd,

"Thems that gets the mostest claps, wins the bestest prize!" Storytelling is a very powerful tool for getting kids to appreciate language, a way of filling a linguistic storehouse in their minds of words and images. Many times, kids, when they read things, they don't see and feel them the way a storyteller can make them see and feel words. It's a way of teaching a love of literature. [Stansfield, John] Jack, son, that, that is not the way to carry a tom cat. All you do with a Tomcat is, is get your little rope or string and tie one end of it around its neck not, too tight, so you choke it, and not too loose so it gets away. And then, you just take the other end and walk on home. Will you remember that, Jack? [Denman] Jack said he was gonna remember that. Next mornin', he went back down into town, and he worked for a butcher. And he worked all day for that

butcher, real hard. [Denman and Stansfield] Well, real hard for Jack. [Denman] At the end of the day, you know, that butcher gave Jack a nice roast, those real expensive kinds, and said, "Jack, take this roast on home to your mama." So Jack held the roast and remembered what his mama said, and so he looked around and he found a little piece of string and he wrapped it around the end of the roast, not too tight, in case he choked the roast, and not too loose in case the roast got away. And he put the roast inside, and he and the roast walked on home. But they walked along the riverbed and up through the pine trees, and by the time he got home, that roast was all shredded on the end of that string. You could hardly tell it was a roast. He opened the door. [Stansfield] Jack! [Denman] (his mama said) [Stansfield] Is that a tomcat on the end of that string? Jack said, "No, that wasn't a tom cat, that was a roast." [Stansfield] (crying) Son, for sure and certain, you ain't got the sense you were born with.

Son, that's not the way (oh, that fine roast!), son, the way to carry a roast is just to put it up on your shoulder and carry it like this. Now, you remember that, won't you, Jack? [Denman] Jack said he would. Well, next day, he went on down into town... [Stansfield] I think the parents should start with their own interests, with the things they like. They should either find stories to tell to their children, or they should find some experiences of their own from their own family history and start with those, and they'll become more accomplished as they practice on family history, on experiences that they've had, or that their grandparents have had, and their parents have had, and become more accomplished as they start to read books to children. This story is an old story in the form of a song. The name of the ballad is, "The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry."

[Stansfield, singing] In Norway, there lives a maid, bye lu my baby She begin, little no eyes my child's father or if land or sea, be livin' in. Then there are... [Denman] I find getting parents started is to pick a book that has a lot of repetition and the same line goes over and over. They can use that easily and then the kids can say the lines with them; the kids can help them learn the stories. Picture books are always a great way to start. [Stansfield] "Well, now, listen, when those three didn't come home their mom was so mad, oooooo!, she was so mad there was steam comin' out of her ears and she said, "Ooo! If you want somethin' done right, you gotta do it yourself."

So she grabbed her shawl off the rack and she went a'stompin' down the road. She stomped into the store and asked the man. The man said they'd all been there and gone. So she just turned on her heel and stomped out the door. She was a'stompin' up the road, not looking at the woods. She was a'stompin' up the road not calling their names out, just a'stompin' up the road till she came to the bridge and she stomped right across that bridge, didn't look down the creek, didn't look up the creek. She got to the other side bridge and then she stops stomping, because right in front of her she saw two big bear feet. And who do you think those bear feet belonged to? [Audience] The bear. [Stansfield] The bear. Bears always have bear feet, don't they? Well she looked up, and up, and up, and there was that bear and the bear said, "You know what about the boy?" and he said, "You know what about the girl?" and he said, "You know what about the old man?" And he said, "You know what about the ? so does sally raydus ? !" And then you know what he said? Yes, you do. "I'm gonna eat you, too!" And he reached out and grabbed the ooooooold woman. And he flipped her up in the air... [Denman] I think parents who model storytelling, model a love of literature and the sound of language.

Their kids will naturally be looking at story telling, and their parents encourage their kids to go out and tell stories within the families, within social gatherings that the kids could develop storytelling on their own. [Stansfield] Toot, toot, till the squirrel came to a tree and started to climb it. Now, I got a question for you all. Can bears climb trees? [Audience] Yes! [Stansfield] Who said no? They're right. They're right, too, because some bears cain and some bears cain't. But this is the kind that could. And so up the tree after the squirrel went the bear, I mean, the squirrel went [mouth noises] up the middle of the tree, and looked back, and here came the bear. Squirrel went [mouth noises] to the top of the tree, looked back, here came the bear, still a'comin'. He looked at the tip of the top of the tree where the branches just sort of sway in the wind, you know, and he looked back and here came that bear! So the squirrel just jumped right off into the air. And luckily he was a flying squirrel. And he was, C'mere, Gregory, he was able to float on over to the next tree, over to the next tree and catch on. [laughter] Some of the trees are

slower than others. [audience laughter] And the bear, he looked at the squirrel, said "If the squirrel can do it, I can do it too." So he jumped off into the air, but you know what, he wadn't a flying bear. And down down down down down through the air fell the bear till he hit the ground with a great big splat, and I need y'all to... [narration continues]There lots of games, imagination-type games, supposes and what-ifs and let's imagine and let's pretend kinds of games that you do with very young children. And it's in those youngest years when the real formulation of language takes place. It's really a remarkable thing. And we take it for granted, the amount that children learn in the first four or five years they're alive. If parents have provided them with the kinds of experiences Greg's talking about, and if the kids have had the opportunity to hear and to listen, to pretend, to imagine, and to speak themselves, if they're given the opportunity, the appropriate time to

speak in the family situation or whatever, they will start to develop the language abilities. The simple language abilities, really, we consider them simple as adults, for children they aren't, but they'll start to develop those language abilities which will turn them into storytellers and good speakers and people with minds that really work, and imaginations, too. [Sardella] Everyone has stories to tell. They may be events in the lives of families handed down from generation to generation. Folk and fairy tales told and retold or stories created spontaneously when imagination is set free. The activity card for this week is Telling Tales at Home. Prime Time visited the Bertha Moreno home, where Fred, a student at Kepner Junior High, and Michael and Ben, who attend Knapp School, take turns unraveling a tall tale. [Moreno, Bertha] OK, boys, we're going to do the Prime Time activity for this week. The Prime Time activity is storytelling. What we're going to do is we're going to use this yarn here, and we're going to

pass it around. First, the first person to start the story is going to tell a story and and as he tells a story he's going to unwind the yarn, and he gets to the end of his color, he's going to hand it next to the other one of you, and the other one will do the same thing, and then we'll go around until we get back to the person that started the story. [Fred] But, do make up our own story or...? [Moreno] We can make up our own story, whichever you feel is easier for you. [Michael] Just make up one. [Moreno] OK, who would like to start? [Ben] Me! [Michael] Me! [Moreno] We'll let Little Ben start it, okay? Okay, Little Ben, you want to start? the story? [Ben] Yeah. [Moreno] Okay, go ahead. [Ben] Once upon a time, there was this little boy who had a parrot, and it flew away, so he went through the woods, looking for his parrot, and the parrot, and he saw a bird... [Michael] and the bird was hurt. So he took him home and gave him food and fixed him up, so the

bird could fly and walk, and then, one day, he went home to tell his mom where his parrot was, and his mom was gone... [Fred] Uh-oh. Híjole! As he walked in the door, he was telling his mom the story, but he didn't figure out that his mother was gone. And... [Moreno] So he called for his birds to come down from the tree. The bird that did come down from the tree happened to be the baby bird that he had found and it was hurt. So he took the bird home, and the bird was a very good companion to him and his dog. [Michael] And then they lived happily ever after. The end. [laughter] [Moreno] That was a good story, boys... [Sardella] Seeing and hearing new words builds a child's vocabulary. Parents can help their children increase their speaking and reading vocabulary by naming or labeling objects around the house, at the store, or on the

street and then asking their children to repeat the words. Dr. Dale Johnson, Professor of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Wisconsin, is an internationally-recognized authority on reading. He's developed the Guinn Reading Program that's used in many of the Denver elementary schools. Dr. Johnson, who was in Denver recently, comments on the importance of vocabulary development and illustrates word building in a third-grade class at Ellis School. [Johnson, Dale] Well, vocabulary is the key critical component in reading comprehension. We've Known that through 40 years of research and just good common sense. If you don't know words, you're not going to be able to comprehend. It is the key to comprehension. In school, there are so many sound instructional strategies. One that we're looking at today is a procedure that I refer to as semantic mapping or word mapping. Pine. Can anybody tell me what the name of this

category of words would be? Okay, Stacey? Kinds. These are kinds of trees. By beginning with a central concept, we began with the word "tree" which everybody knows. We elicit words from the children that are related to the word "tree" which they all know, and we elicit those words in categories. As the teacher, you may have noticed that I add words of my own from time to time that I want them to learn. The learning occurs through discussion. Which of these words don't you know? Is there somebody that does have a meaning? How would you use this in a sentence? How would you use this word in your life? A lot of discussion, good solid discussion, helping them tie the new word to the already known word. It's very simply done in the classroom, as you can see in this little demonstration. It's very simply done in the home by parents. [Interviewer] Could you elaborate a little bit about how parents could do the same kind of thing at home? [Johnson] Well, sure, each time a child suggests a word or asks about a word, which children do all the time, they're very inquisitive. What does this word mean?

And so somebody asks what does this word mean, and let's say it's this table decoration. You say, "Well, that's a decoration, and you know about decoration. Remember when we had your birthday party. What did we put on the cake, frosting. What would we put around the room? Those were decorations. These are decorations. See what I'm doing as a parent? I'm relating the new knowledge, the new question, the new word to something that's already within the experience in the lives of the children. And we have a lot of research evidence showing that this procedure really works well. [Sardella] The launching of Sputnik in 1957 had a resounding impact on the science curriculum. Since that time, more emphasis has been placed on science, and it's become an integral part of school programs from the elementary grades through the high schools. Each year, science fairs are held throughout Colorado, at the local, district, and state levels, where students compete for awards with their original scientific research projects. Claudia Kirsch, Senior at East and Manual was one of the winners at the Denver Metropolitan Science Fair and placed second in the High School Zoology

Division at the state competition. Kevin Lindauer, eighth-grade student at Henry Junior High, won first place in his division at the Denver fair, then went on to state, winning fourth in the Junior High Zoology Division and the Air Force Award for Scientific Achievement. [Kirsch, Claudia] Our project is called, "The effect of electrical stimulation on planorbis corneus which are taxi phylactic di methyl morphine, which in simple English means: I got snails addicted to methyl morphine, which is codeine, and withdrew them and treated the withdrawal effects using electrical stimulation. And the practical application of this is using it on heroin addicts. Heroin is just a super-strong form of morphine; methyl morphine is just a weaker form of morphine. It involved using a series of control groups. I had to order around 60 snails and dividing them up into 10 snails into six different groups, and the one experimental group was, in fact, the group which was addicted and withdrawn from methyl morphine and treated with electrical stimulation, which is a minimal amount of voltage. It would not be like applying electrical

shock therapy. It's a small amount of dosage for a snail to handle, just a minimum of 6 volts. But I also had groups which were normal, just an electrical group, groups kept at tolerant doses, and groups who were withdrawn and not treated. I found that electrical stimulation proved to be an aid in the withdrawal from the drug in comparison to the other groups, which were not treated. I read quite a bit about problems of heroin in society and of drugs in society, and I thought if you could develop a method allowing for people to not need the drug, you wouldn't have so many problems associated with it. And it's not so much that the drug is out there, but if you can prevent people from wanting to take it again, you're one step ahead of the game. [Interviewer] How did electrical stimulation help the snails to withdraw? [Kirsch] No one really knows quite for sure. There's a lot of theories, and I feel that somehow it helps the organism or a human being, in fact, release its own opiates which

prevent the body from metabolizing with the artificial ones which have been injected or brought into the system. I was accepted Early Admission to Amherst College in the Amherst Valley in Massachusetts, and I hope to go there and get a major in neuroscience, which is one of the reasons I chose to go to Amherst, is that they offer a major in that. And then I hope to finally go on to either Harvard or Stanford Medical School, which is a big if and a hope, and continue to study on and get a degree in medicine and hopefully go into neurosurgery. [Lindauer] The title of my project is "The acclimation of peromyscus maniculatus," which are deer mice, to varying altitudes, and the purpose of my project was to determine the rate at which deer mice acclimate to varying altitudes with respect to red blood cell volume. Well, the deer mouse, the peromyscus maniculatus, looks like this, greyish to reddish brown on the upper part, and white feet, and a

white underbelly. It ranges from the lowest deserts to the highest mountain peaks. This is my home-made coffee-can trap that I used to capture my mice in, and it's made out of a regular mousetrap, a coffee can with some chicken wire attached to the mouse trap. OK, I used rolled oats and cheese for bait, and when the mouse would crawl in to get the bait, he would trip the trap off and it would catch him inside, not harming him. It took both sets of mice eight days to acclimate to each other's reciprocal altitudes, and when transported back to their native altitudes, it took the mice from 5,600 feet only six days to re-acclimate to their old altitude, while the mice that were originally from 9,600 feet never did quite reach their

initial mean red blood cell volume. Well, it tells me that right here that, perhaps, maybe the mice from 9,600 feet have developed a more sophisticated or efficient method of carrying oxygen than have the others from 5,600 feet. [Interviewer] How might your findings apply to other scientific efforts and to other aspects of science? [Lindauer] Well, they may apply to high-altitude medicine, and Air Force might be interested because of high-altitude flying, etc. And also, basically, just the effects that altitude does have on man and other animals. [Brzeinski, Joseph] Colorado Public Schools Week recognizes the importance of the home, the school, and the community and educating Colorado's half-million public school students. This annual statewide

observance, which began in 1954, encourages citizens to know about the achievements, the problems of their schools, and to take an active role in supporting the educational programs. The theme this year: "Public Education, a Sound Investment." Here in the studio to discuss the impact of education on the individual and the community is Mr. Jim Baldwin, President of King Soopers and Vice Chairman of the Denver Chamber of Commerce. Welcome to Prime Time, Mr. Baldwin. [Baldwin, Jim] Thank you. [Brzeinski] From your own personal experience, how has your public school education benefited you in your chosen career? [Baldwin] To go back a little bit, coming from, of course, quite a bit, I guess, further than I'd like to admit, coming from a small community in Kansas, I guess the thing that I benefited from so greatly is the basic learning skills that were provided by my former years of education, and one of the things that was so great for me, that was instilled in me at that time, is the discipline and respect that I think somewhat is lacking in

today's education. [Brzeinski] Well, those things are still important, the basics and the discipline, we would concur with you on that. The Denver Chamber of Commerce has been a supporter of schools for a long time, and the business community has assisted in the education of our youth. What ways do you think have been the most effective? [Baldwin] Well, Adopt-a-School is one that pops into mind very quickly that's been, I think, a very effective thing that's made us as a supermarket company feel very good about that participation. Junior Achievement is another area that we feel very strong about. We have a number of our people involved in helping develop the Junior Achievement programs and that type of thing. Another area, of course, we think the supermarket industry probably has provided more jobs to teenagers than any other industry, and it's probably given the basic economic beginning as far as income for youngsters and, in that sense. [Brzeinski] That's certainly been true over the years. How can the Colorado public schools best meet the demands of the 80s in terms of employment? [Baldwin] I think

there has to be, with the technological change that, at least from our, from the standpoint of our industry, that we see that occurring. We kind of think, we talk internally that the next five years, perhaps we'll have as much change as the last 10, and whatever can be done to equip the schools to provide that change, to work with that change as it comes about in the next few years, is definitely necessary. [Brzeinski] Looking at education from the standpoint, from the perspective of business, how do you feel that parents can best support a child's learning? Where should their emphasis be? [Baldwin] Well, it definitely has to be that they have to give a tremendous amount of support to the youngster, and of course, that begins in the home, and they have to support what the classroom is trying to provide. And again, discipline, self-discipline is one of the great things. With all the pressures that youngsters have upon them today, and it goes back a little bit, I guess, that many of the youngsters there today are part of the Me Generation with the emphasis on I. And I think it has to start

with discipline, where they gain respect not only for their selves but for their parents, for their teachers, and the community. [Brzeinski] We certainly concur with you. What kind of opportunities do you see opening up in the next decade in the Denver metropolitan area? [Baldwin] Well, I'll just take as an example in our particular industry and the changes that are happening in the electronics field, that we think there's great opportunity for new jobs for people that can come from even the vocational area, that they don't have to be products of a four-year college, but with the skills that are being provided in a lot of the vocational schools. But we also see a great role for our company, internally, to train people as they're just out of high school in specific areas of technological areas that would be applicable to our organization. [Brzeinski] So you're really looking for people who are willing to work hard and have the basic skills. [Baldwin] That's correct. [Brzeinski] Well, we thank you very much for coming and appreciate your being with us. [Baldwin] Thank you so much, nice to be on your show. [Brzeinski] Thanks, again.

[Sardella] Next week, Prime Time describes how the daily newspapers are strengthening the reading ability of students at home and school. We'll focus on the Integrated Arts Program in the elementary schools. Dr. Joseph Brzeinski will discuss the interrelationship of reading and writing with Dr. Phyllis Adams, Professor of Education at Denver University. And we'll also have suggestions for parents, as Bobby and Eustace Boyer and their daughter, Stacy, implement the activity card, "A Field Day with Reading. Governor Lamm has proclaimed this week, "Child Safety Week," to encourage parents to secure their children with safety belts or seat belts when riding in motor vehicles. Traffic accidents are the number one killer of young children, and they inflict numerous injuries. So observe these safety measures so that your child may have a healthy and happy future. I'm Ed Sardella. [music]

[Announcer 3] Tonight at 10, enjoy The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin, a modern man who pursues fantasy in an effort to avoid the pressures of the present, always with hilarious results. Tonight at 10 on Channel 6. Monday through Friday evenings at 7:00 on Channel 6.

Friday night at 9:30 don't miss the Channel 6 premiere of "Were You There?," a seven-part series celebrating black artists, performers, and athletes of recent American history. First to be saluted is pioneer film producer and director Oscar Micheaux, as he is fondly remembered by two of his stars. Don't miss "Were You There?" Friday's at 9:30 on Channel 6. [Baryshnikov, Mikhail] Whales perform a ballet of extraordinary beauty. Whales now face extinction. Save the Whales. [Announcer 3] Channel 6, KRMA TV, Denver. Acquisition of Sneak Previews is made possible locally by a grant from New West Colorado, Incorporated. [music]

[music] [music] [Ebert, Roger] The Nutcracker Suite according to Walt Disney, in the 1940 animated classic, "Fantasia," which is back in release with a controversial new soundtrack and will be...