Services Mastering Literacy Through The Art
Of Storytelling
At KIDS TALK STORY we aim to help every child in Hawai'i
tell his or her own story, and provide that child with a hard
cover version of that story to keep and treasure forever.
Student authors aged K-12 work on their own life stories. They
are guided through the process of writing from the heart and
are encouraged to be courageous in saying what they think. We
teach them that they matter to us. We teach them that we want
to hear their stories.
We use the principles of storytelling to show our student
authors that they can act as the heroes of their own life
stories. That as heroes, they make choices all along the way.
That these choices will affect them in the next chapters of
their lives, just like they do in the storybooks. We teach
them the empowering message, "If you can write
your own story, you can write your own happy ending".
The first step a student takes at KIDS TALK STORY is to formulate
his own idea. Joan Didion, winner of the 2005 National Book
Award says, “I write entirely to find out what I'm thinking,
what I'm looking at, what I see and what it means. What I
want and what I fear.” At KIDS TALK STORY, we help our students
find out what they’re thinking, what they’re looking at,
what they see and what it means; also what is that they want and what
they fear?
We stress that we do not tell the students what to write.
It’s our job to help them tell their stories. Here’s how it
works:
• With guidance, a student writes his own story.
• He makes a personal investment in that story.
• He wants to get it right.
• He reads his story aloud.
• He gets feedback and suggestions.
•He gives others feedback and suggestions.
• He has an emotional investment in mastering his skills as a writer.
• He has an investment in mastering the rules of language.
• He has an investment in meeting the standards for his grade level as
outlined by the Hawai'i Department of Education.
All participating students are expected to increase
their skills by one grade level AT LEAST per year. Every student
who completes the KIDS TALK STORY program is given a hardcover
edition of his or her own story to keep and treasure forever.
Below is just a few of the services we offer. Please call us for a program customized to
your organization.
