Education and Inspiration through the ancient art of storytelling!
August 1, 2008
Hello Folks,
Finally, after a few years of planning and getting distracted with book deadlines… My first e-mail newsletter! If you enjoy these little nuggets, please share them with a friend! Here is my first e-mail newsletter. Every other month or so, you will receive a bit of news, a story, and some ideas for creating your own stories. Please tell me what you think of this new adventure!
WOW! There is so much good news to share… where do I begin? In this issue you will find:
News from the Frontlines of Literacy
The G.A.R. Hall is Prairie Folklore Theatre’s new home!
My new book, Content Area Reading, Writing, and Storytelling is at the printers!
A View from the River (With one of my favorite River Stories)
Prepare now for the Bi-Centennial of Abraham Lincoln’s Birthday!
Prepare now for the Bi-Centennial of Charles Darwin’s Birthday!
Kayaking the Mississippi
25 Birds in 25 Minutes!
News From the Frontlines of Literacy
This summer I have logged more miles and presented more programs than almost any other time in my life. By the end of July, I will have presented 20 performances for the Chicago Public Libraries Summer Reading program and another 9 for Mississippi libraries. I have presented a sprinkling of programs for other libraries across Illinois and a day-long teacher training in science literacy for New Mexico teachers.
Everywhere I go I am encouraged by the number of kids excited about books, reading and literacy. I know there are national trends that say kids are reading less and watching more TV. We have all seen test scores slide. It would be easy to get depressed and join the chorus of critics, but everywhere I go I become more optimistic.
It is always thrilling to me when kids show up ten or twenty minutes early to a program and we talk about what they are reading and they articulate insightfully why they love a particular book. Or, like last week in Chicago, a mother grabs one of the books the librarian has put out and reads to her child with drama and voice changes while waiting for the performance to start.
Two snapshots that prove literacy is alive and well in America:
In late June I presented a program in Oak Grove Library, near Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Their summer reading program theme was “Catch the Reading Bug.” For their culminating event kids were encouraged to dress up as bugs. It was hilarious! The colorful, creative costumes were inspiring. The number of kids from this small town who showed up was impressive. The number of books they read even more staggering! The librarians pulled out all the stops to create a wonderful celebration of reading and everyone present was enriched!
Last week, at Rogers Park Library on the North Side of Chicago, two nine year old girls arrived early while I was still setting up. After a brief hello, I handed them one of my books to distract them while I finished getting ready. I found out later one was from Mexico and her friend was from Puerto Rico. Clearly, English was a second language for both of them. The simple fact that they came was encouraging, listening to them read, struggle with the enunciation and helping each other gain meaning from the text was thrilling. In their chatter they asked questions about words, went off on tangents about fish, birds and frogs to make the story personal, and made connections between text and imagery; basically they did everything a good reading teacher would ask them to do… and there was no one looking over their shoulder and coaching them.
As long as there are active parents, good teachers and enthusiastic librarians I am not worried about the future of literacy in America!
My new book, Content Area Reading, Writing, and Storytelling is finished!
Libraries Unlimited will publish this collection of stories and lesson plans designed to give teachers fresh ideas in literacy education using storytelling and creative writing across the curriculum. It will be released later in the fall. The book includes fun stories, easy to use lesson plans and lots of ideas to help students find their voice and improve reading and writing skills. There are beautiful illustrations by my friend Vin Luong. I am presenting a wide range of teacher training programs this year to support the book. I will also be a keynote speaker at nearly a dozen state and national teachers’ conferences. ContactFox to book an in-service workshop or performance for your school or district.
A View from the River (With one of my favorite River Stories)
(Following is a brief excerpt from the introduction to my new book:) Today as I type this, I am working on a riverboat on the Illinois River. The boat cruises up stream at seven miles an hour against a strong current; we have had a bit of rain this week, rain that is the remnant of a tropical storm that gathered its waters from the Atlantic Coast of Africa and crashed into the Gulf Coast a few days ago. I watch a beautiful snowy–white egret stalk fish along the river’s shore. I watch as she wades in the shallows, silently stalking her prey. Her head darts into the water and she struggles to swallow a large squirming fish. She stands still for several moments, glancing around. The egret simultaneously leaps up and flaps her wings to get lift, rising from the river. I know we are in between the spring and fall migration; the young have fledged and are stretching their wings. In just a few weeks millions of birds will wing their way from the Great North Woods to the Tropical Rain Forest, from the Arctic plains to Tierra del Fuego. They all stop to rest and refuel along this river. My imagination longs to follow them south.
Global climate issues and the water cycle, the algebra and geometry of a storm’s travel and river’s rise, the aerodynamic flight of birds, the amazing journey of migration, and the intense drama of predator-prey relations are all brought to life in this tiny piece of a poetic passage, a photographic moment within a story. Stories are the raft that carries you through the delta of your imagination!
Come on, climb aboard, and take a ride to see where stories just might lead you!
To read one of my favorite river boat stories follow this link: TheWalkingCatfish
If you wish to join us on an overnight cruise please visit: The Spirit of Peoria!
The G.A.R. Hall is the new home of Prairie Folklore Theatre!!!
Prairie Folklore theatre just signed a long term lease of the Civil War Veterans Hall, built by and for the Grand Army of the Republic. This gorgeous historic building will host a series of theatrical programs, a Civil War Museum and Research Center, an ongoing series of folk music, blues, jazz, Celtic, indie rock and classical music concerts. The building is also available for weddings, banquets and special events. Starting next fall we will present special performances for school groups that celebrate American History through musical theater. We are currently planning school performances of “Civil War Ghosts and Legends,” in October, “Illinois’ Underground Railroad,” in February and “Lincoln Tales Tall and True” to coincide with the bicentennial of his birthday. The web page is under construction so check back often: www.garhall.com
Prepare now for the Bi-Centennial of Abraham Lincoln’s Birthday!
Prepare now for the Bi-Centennial of Charles Darwin’s Birthday!
Did you know that Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln have the same Birthday? February 12, 1809! I am curious to see which programs are more popular. Next February is filling up quickly.
In preparation for Darwin’s birthday, I have already booked several state science teachers’ conferences including Iowa, Illinois, New Mexico, Colorado, Indiana and The National Biology Teachers Conference in Denver in 2009. I do believe adamantly that teachers need to hear what Darwin said instead of the misquoted, misunderstood, misinterpreted nonsense. Most of my script is taken directly from his text. If you are interested in inviting Charles Darwin to your school, nature center or conference please follow this link for more information: Voyage of the Beagle
Because I live in Illinois I must admit I am a huge fan of Abraham Lincoln. I now have four programs about the life of Lincoln. I perform as a childhood friend of Lincoln: Lincoln Tales Tall and True
I perform as Walt Whitman who wrote one of the most powerful accounts of Lincoln’s Assassination: Walt Whitman's Lincoln
William Herndon, Lincoln’s law partner, speaks about Lincoln’s illustrious career as a lawyer: Lincoln the Lawyer
And Mathias Stritt, a German Immigrant and Civil War soldier gives a personal account of the war, woven with short stories by Ambrose Pierce and poetry by Whitman: Civil War Ghosts and Legends
I have even been booked to perform three of these characters at the same Chautauqua in Jacksonville, Illinois, over Labor Day Weekend!
Kayaking the Mississippi
While touring Mississippi libraries last month I had a magical afternoon kayaking on the lower Mississippi River while the flood waters crested. What a mighty river! I have paddled much of the Upper Miss and countless tributaries from the large Illinois and Ohio Rivers to the smaller Kickapoo Creek and Spoon River, but I had never experienced a river with so much power.
I found the Quapaw Canoe Company on-line. John Sloan, the owner and chief guide, is very knowledgeable about the river. He carves traditional dugout canoes, and he is an amazing blues musician. He leads groups of two to twenty. He supplies all of your gear. Now he has branch offices in St. Louis, Clarksdale and Helena.
He and his crew are pumping life back into several smaller river towns through eco-tourism. He employs several high school kids each summer and just opened a new shop in Helena, Ark with the expressed aim of helping more folks fall in love with the river through an adventurous first hand encounter.
We put in where the Saint Francis River empties into the Ol’ Miss. The clear water swirling and mixing in with the muddy Mississippi was by itself an astounding sight. Because the current was flowing at nine miles per hour, our main goal was to steer the boat, the river did all of the work. I saw a least tern, several Mississippi kites, a pileated woodpecker and prothonatory warbler and I did not even have my new binoculars.
25 Birds in 25 Minutes!
Last month, Eagle Optics signed on as a sponsor of my current tour, “Adventures with Audubon.” Eagle Optics is the premiere on-line source for binoculars and spotting scopes. As rare as an Ivory-Billed Woodpecker in the world of on-line shopping, they offer great service and great prices. From the high end Zweiss spotting scopes to the affordable Bushnell binoculars they have the right tool to bring your bird watching to the next level. Visit their web page to check out the great deals: Eagle Optics
I have a new pair of Vortex 8x42 binoculars that I got from Eagle Optics. I just love them. I was performing for the Shabbona Historical Society a few weeks ago and had a little free time before the program so I went out to Shabbona State park for a quick early morning bird hike. Within moments of stepping out of my car and onto the trail I had seen several common species: red-winged black birds, robins, cardinals, blue jay, morning doves, a brown headed cowbird and starlings. There were a number of swallows swirling above the lake eating insects. It is simply amazing what a difference good binoculars can make: I was able to follow the swallows in their swoops and swirls to differentiate between the purple martins, greenish tree swallows and dusky brown northern rough winged swallows and blue backed orange throated barn swallows. I could see the different head stripes of the common English sparrow and not so common chipping sparrow. I saw my first orchard oriole of the year; they are a darker red than their orange cousin, the northern or Baltimore oriole.
There were mallards out on the lake. I saw a female wood duck sitting on its house. A belted kingfisher dove for a minnow right before me. I saw great blue herons and a white egret.
Out on the edge of the forest and prairie I saw a meadowlark, bluebird, kingbird, indigo bunting, red-tailed hawk and a turkey vulture circling overhead … 25 birds in 25 minutes…
I have long been a bird watcher, but not until I stepped up to a better pair of binoculars did I realize how important good optics really are. Thank you Eagle Optics.
Life is good and promises to get better!
