New York State Learning Standards
for English Language Arts

A Storyteller's Point of View
on the New English Language Arts Standards
Storytelling Activities to Support
the New Language Arts Standards

The New York State Education Department has developed new standards for competency in English Language Arts for Grades K-12. These standards require students to demonstrate grade- appropriate abilities in speaking and listening, as well as in reading and writing.

The following has been distributed to New York State educators by The University of the State of New York and the State Education Department

Standard 1: Information and Understanding

Students will read, write, listen and speak for information and understanding. As listeners and readers, students will collect data, facts, and ideas; discover relationships, concepts, and generalizations; use knowledge generated from oral, written, and electronically produced texts. As speakers and writers, they will use oral and written language to acquire, interpret, apply and transmit information.

Standard 2: Literary Response and Expression

Students will read and listen to oral, written, and electronically produced texts and performances, relate texts and performances to their own lives, and develop an understanding of the diverse social, historical, and cultural dimensions the texts and performances represent. As speakers and writers, students will use oral and written language for self-expression and artistic expression.

Standard 3: For Critical Analysis and Evaluation

As listeners and readers, students will analyze experiences, ideas, information, and issues presented by others using a variety of established criteria. As speakers and writers, they will present, in oral and written language and from a variety of perspectives, their opinions and judgements on experiences, ideas, information and issues.

Standard 4: For Social Interaction

Students will read, write, listen and speak for social interaction. Students will use oral and written language for effective social communication with a wide variety of people. As readers and listeners, they will use the social communications of others to enrich their understanding of people and their views.

A Storyteller's Point of View on the New English Language Arts Standards.

Note by Heather Forest

The art of storytelling can be used in a classroom setting to support the English language arts standards for listening, speaking, reading and writing.

Speaking and listening skills are essential to practicing the art of storytelling. This ancient artform can support all four standards for language arts competency. A storyteller must effectively process information by sequencing the plot of a tale before telling it. Storytelling is an expressive, interpretive artform with a long history of technique and aesthetics. In order to effectively tell a folktale, the teller must comprehend and evaluate the underlying meaning of the story. A storyteller must be able to interact socially with listeners in order to effectively communicate a tale.

Contemporary folktale tellers support their verbal art through reading variants in print and by writing or documenting their own compositions.

Storytelling Activities to Support the New Language Arts Standards

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