This week, students in Athens City Schools and Limestone County Schools will participate in the 16th annual Athens, AL Storytelling Festival, both as performers and audience members.

“Storytelling is very important,” said Leah Oakley.

Participation in storytelling, “gives them an opportunity to realize how valuable stories are,” she explained. “They can either make up their own story or they can retell a folktale.”

Some students are retelling a ghost story, “and that has been fun for them,” she went on to say.

Participating in the festival as performers, “gives them a chance to stand in front of an audience and speak,” said Oakley. “It gives them a chance to write stories and to understand the sequence of the story and the parts of the story.”

Not only does the event allow some students learn to be a performer, but it allows their peers to learn how to be an audience.

“It’s important for students to learn to be an audience because, especially since COVID, nobody’s been an audience anywhere because we couldn’t go anywhere,” she said. It is important to know how to be an audience member because “you are there to encourage the storyteller, you have to make eye contact and listen.”

For many students, this will be the first time they have performed in front of a large audience.

“We’ve told them just to relax, that we’re all there to cheer them on,” she said. “We’ve told them if the audience laughs, they’re not laughing at you, they’re laughing with you. We want them to understand that if they laugh that they really get it.”

They explained to the students that they needed to be descriptive so the audience can picture the story like “we’re watching a movie in our minds,” Oakley explained.

She reminded students that if they mess up, its okay, “it’s a story, make something up.”

She went on to say, “if you mess up, start over. I mean, they’re just kids. We’re here to help you learn and that’s the beauty of this.”

The professional storytellers take an active role in helping the students prepare to take the stage.

“Our professional storytellers are wonderful. I cannot say how wonderful they are,” she said. “They encourage our students, they help them before they ever get on stage. They talk to them and they they get them relaxed.”

On Monday, student storytellers had the opportunity to take the stage and tell their stories to an audience of family and friends in preparation for performing in front of much larger crowds.

Briley Williams from Elkmont High School, Riley Clark from Tanner High School, Kendal Smith from Elkmont Elementary, and Norah Cannon from Athens Intermediate were chosen as division winners and will share their stories at Thursday night’s Olio.

Student storytelling schedule: Limestone County Schools

• Three students will perform on Wednesday beginning at 9:30 a.m.
• One student will perform on Thursday at 9:30 a.m.
• Two students will perform on Thursday beginning at 12:45 p.m.

Athens City Schools

• The fourth-grade student from Athens Intermediate will perform during the 8:45 a.m. to 10:35 a.m. time slot Wednesday.
• The fifth-grade student from Athens Intermediate will perform during the 12:00 p.m. to 1:50 p.m. time slot Wednesday.

Why should students participate in storytelling?

Storytelling is the earliest form of teaching and fosters cultural understanding, imagination, curiosity, communication, and social skills amongst children and adults alike.

During fundamental years of childhood development, storytelling:

• helps children learn sounds and language, and develop early literacy skills
• develops imagination and stimulates curiosity
• aids in the development of the brain, ability to focus, concentration, social skills and communication skills
• can increase memory capacity
• aids in the understanding of new or frightening emotions and events
• develops the understanding of culture(s)
• enhances community development

The stories we are told as children define and shape our childhood development and who we ultimately become as adults.

Literacy in Alabama

Storytelling promotes improvement in literacy for school-age students.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the state of Alabama consistently ranks in the bottom 25 percent of states for literacy.

In 2019, Governor Kay Ivey signed the Alabama Literacy Act in response to Alabama’s dismal reading proficiency scores. This act offers to fund and create reading programs for school districts to improve local and statewide literacy.

According to the 2021-22 ACAP scores for third grade reading, the state proficiency average is 78 percent.

Four out of five Athens City elementary schools tested at or above the state proficiency average, while seven out of eight Limestone County elementary schools tested at or above the state proficiency average, excluding the Alabama Connections Academy.

The James L. Cowart Elementary School had the lowest percentage of students to meet proficiency in Athens City Schools with 69.44 percent testing at or above grade level. The Julian Newman Elementary School had the highest percentage of students to meet proficiency in Athens City Schools with 89.74 percent testing at or above grade level.

82.84 percent of students tested at or above grade level in Athens City Schools.

Tanner Elementary School had the lowest percentage of students to meet proficiency with 70.21 percent testing at or above grade level. Elkmont Elementary School had the highest percentage of students to meet proficiency in Limestone County Schools with 91.84 percent testing at or above grade level.

78.21 percent of students tested at or above grade level in Limestone County Schools.

68.08 percent of students in the Alabama Connections Academy tested at or above grade level.

Events and opportunities such as the Athens, AL Storytelling Festival provides students with a unique opportunity that encourages the development and improvement of literacy and gets students excited to read and learn.

Storytelling can raise literacy standards and develop confidence in language and reading, as well as a range of other areas.

Participating in storytelling, as a performer or an audience member, introduces students to new vocabulary in the context of memorable stories.

It is important to support literacy opportunities like the Athens, AL Storytelling Festival as parents, teachers, community members, and legislators.

Senators Tim Melson, Tom Butler and Arthur Orr, Representative Lynn Greer, Parker Moore, Danny Crawford, Andy Whitt, and Mac McCutcheon contributed to school-age students having the opportunity to participate in the festival free of charge.