Storytelling Experience For Preschool-Aged Children
You will be planning a storytelling experience for preschool-aged children based on a nature-focused topic of learning that integrates one philosophy and methodology from the unit. This assignment has three parts.
Part A: Analyze one nature philosophy from the unit
Choose one nature philosophy described in the unit (i.e. social ecology, ecofeminism, Indigenous perspectives or posthumanism).
The following questions offer a guide for your analysis (but you are certainly not limited to these):
- What is the worldview (ontology) of this philosophy?
- What are some of the key concepts explored in this philosophy?
- How does it align with nature pedagogies?
- How does this influence your beliefs and actions concerning nature pedagogies?
Part B: Describe one nature methodology from the unit
Choose one nature methodology described in the unit (i.e. sensing ecologically, ecological narrative inquiry, multispecies ethnography, or material practices).
The following questions offer a guide for your analysis (but you are certainly not limited to these):
- How does this methodology align with your chosen philosophy?
- What are some of the key methods explored in this methodology?
- How does it align with nature pedagogies?
- How will it help you plan your storytelling experience?
Part C: Plan for your storytelling experience
Now consider how you will integrate the philosophy and methodology you have analyzed into a storytelling experience.
Stories support understandings of key ideas that can evoke empathy for another perspective and raise ethical questions about animal welfare, caring for environments, or how species share (or dont share) resources. Make sure your story includes intentional teaching about your topic. For example, it may be about teaching children about the concept of water conservation, or extending what children and teachers already know about the life of birds.
Your storytelling experience from a nature-focused topic could be:
- with puppets
- fictional or factual or a combination of both
- with story props such as small figurines, story stones or open-ended materials
- from a book that you create with text and illustrations
- from a published picture book where you add elements to make it a told story and not read, such as adapting the story and use of songs, poetry and props.
Use the following planning guide headings:
- Description of the storytelling experience and choice of topic.
- Describe how you will include the selected philosophy.
- Describe how you will include the selected methodology.
- Storytelling objectiveswhat do you want the children to do/learn/respond to?
- The written story.
- Process of telling the story with introduction, prepared questions, teaching strategies, and conclusion.