Jr High School Practice: Early Rise for Feedback

Telling stories at 7:45am has been the earliest I have told stories.

I had that chance while practicing The Changeling at the Wahlquist Junior High School for the 7th graders.


Thank you to Denae Palm, an intern from Weber State University, for scheduling the school practices such as this one.

The "deal" was that after I told the story, then each student would receive an index card to answer the following questions--
1. What images or pictures were in your head as you heard the stories?
2. What emotions/moods were felt in the story?
3. What theme or "moral of the story" would you create after hearing the story?
4. What story scene did you like the best?

Feedback Results:

Images/Pictures

• Baby ||||||||||||||||
  
• Mother/Mrs. Sullivan ||||||||||
• Changeling/Ugly Baby ||||||||||||||||
• Mrs. Flanagan ||||||
• Neighbors ||
  
• Market ||||||||
• Old Lady/Grey Ellen ||||
• Church ||||||
• Thatched-roof House |||||
• Fireplace |
  
• Bridge ||||
• Village |||||
• Mrs. Lynch's Boy ||
• Fairies |||
• Eggs and Eggshells ||
  

Emotions/Moods

• Happy ||||||||||||||||||||||
• Sad ||||||||||||||||||||||
• Mad ||||
• Desperate ||||||||
• Suspense |
• Eerie |
• Scared |||
• Annoyed |||
• Horror |
• Frustrated, Irritation ||||
• Triumph |
• Pitiful |
  
• Thankful, Grateful ||
• Excited |||||
• Loving, Caring ||
• Proud |
• Curious |
• Crazy |
• Nervous, Worried |||
• Relieved |
• Sympathy |
• Amazement |
• Funny |
• Sorry |
  

Theme/Moral of the Story

• Don't praise your babies/kids too much. |||||
• Don't have such a big ego.
• Be thankful for what you've got.
• Don't brag. ||||||||||||
• Like your babies and let them cry a little bit.
• The more you boast the less you are liked.
• Listen to others. |||
  
• You don't need to brag about your baby. . .and don't brag about anybody's baby either.
• Trust people.
• Not everyone needs to say something about your baby.
• Do not flaunt your baby.
• Simply think of how grateful you are.
• Do not judge people by their looks.
• Don't ask for praises. |||
  
• Tell people nice things and do nice things for them.
• Don't be mean just because somebody tells you to.
• Don't brag but still be happy on the inside.
• Do nice things for other people.
• Be humble. ||
• Something bad can happen when you brag.
• Sometimes bragging is not a good choice.
  

Favorite Scene

• Birth of Mrs. Sullivan's Baby |
  
• Mrs. Sullivan showing off her Baby ||
• Baby was switched for Changeling |||||
• Attempts for Mrs. Sullivan to get her Baby back |
  
• Mrs. Sullivan talking with Grey Ellen for wisdom ||||
  
• Cracking Eggs on Floor/Brewing Eggshells ||||||||
• Cackling from the Changeling and revealing of Age ||
  
• Mrs. Sullivan trips with Poker to put down Changeling's throat ||||||
• Changeling switched back for Baby |||||||||||
  

Other Comments:

• "I saw that people were going to scream cause they were getting bugged every day." (by Mrs. Sullivan)
• "My favorite scene is the whole thing. I liked it. It sounded like a wonderful place."
• "When I heard the story there was not one thing that was vivid to me. I could see everything very clearly."
• "As you told the story I felt like I was seeing a movie. Every emotion was plain to me."
• "I could picture a lot of the story because the hand movements gave a more visual picture like when she cracked the eggs."
• "Was it dark or morning when the baby changed?"
• "She over smothered that child. She had nothing to do with the fairy baby."
• "Kinda just pictured all as we went."
  

Until we tell again,

Rachel Hedman

Professional Storyteller

Former Co-Chair of Youth, Educators, and Storytellers Alliance (2005-2008)

Tel: (801) 870-5799
Email: info@rachelhedman.com

URL: http://www.rachelhedman.com

How-To Blog: http://storytellingadventures.blogspot.com

Performance Blog: http://familyfamine.blogspot.com
Other places to find me: Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, Professional Storyteller