Storyline
News
updated 4 July
Invitation to the
4th International Storyline Conference
New Website:
www.ceed.pdx.edu/storyline
Storyline Brazil
Led by the necessity of improving the quality of teaching and student’s motivation to learn English as a foreign language, this group of teachers in South Brazil, mentored by Professor Sulany dos Santos, developed two Storyline topics. The Farm was the theme for the county schools in Ijuí, Brazil, for 10-11 year-old students. The next step was the Storyline Topic of The City, developed for 11–12 year-olds. The experience has been awesome! Besides making students more participative in class, the inclusion of deaf students has been made easier through Storyline and its visual and hands on activities.
To contact us: andressafelipin@yahoo.com.br or pedagogico_smed@ijui.rs.gov.br
Members of the Team: Andressa Felipin, Simone Schmitt, Liane Risso, Zelir Schneider, Ângela de Jesus, Márcia Schmalz, Irmgat Nielsen, Ana Betine Mueller, Maria Luíza Luccese
Study Tour from Denmark
From 25th to 28th May 2009 the group of Danish Nurse Educators pictured below visited Scotland on a study tour. Dr Linda Schumann Scheel, the leader of the group had made a previous visit to Strathclyde University ten years ago to meet with Steve Bell to explore the use of Storyline as an approach to learning and teaching in the training of student nurses in Sonderborg Hospital in Southern Jutland. On that occasion she was accompanied by three tutors from the training centre. On this visit she brought a group of four friends who are all linked by their common interest and enthusiasm for nursing at a senior level but who are engaged in very different aspects of care within the Health Service in Denmark. During their visit they attended a one-day Storyline Seminar given by Sallie Harkness & Steve Bell, visited Kinnaird Primary School in Falkirk District to see Storyline in action and also spent time at the Caledonia University in Glasgow to explore the Nurse Education programme there. Since their return to Denmark they have been busily engaged in writing about their experiences and in discussing how they may develop Storyline for their purposes.
Back row: Alice Meng, Steve Bell, Linda Schumann Scheel, Edel Thomsen
In front: Bente Reggelsen, Merete VærgeCourse at Summerhill Centre
Hester Beattie, Arts Education Team,
Aberdeen City Council
On Friday 22nd May, Summerhill Centre played host to Steve Bell and Sallie Harkness from Storyline Scotland who led a CPD day for Aberdeen City teachers. Almost 130 staff (mostly from primary schools but some secondary staff and some Drama teachers) took part in a practical workshop session following the Storyline method. By coincidence 27 members of Staff from Møhlenpris School in Bergen, Norway, were on a study visit to Aberdeen and were delighted to be able to join the course. The large group split into two, one for lower primary and one for upper primary to secondary, and each were given a theme ~ “Capital Tours” and “Holiday Journey”. Both groups were actively involved in creating their families and environment and they enjoyed the exchange of experiences towards the end of the day. It was clear to those present how well the Storyline approach can address the aims of The Curriculum for Excellence and the one day course was received most favorably by all in attendance. There had been a very high uptake for places on the course and it is hoped to be repeated sometime in the future for those who were disappointed not to get a place. Many thanks to Steve and Sallie for a most worthwhile day.
Icelandic Visitors
23rd & 24th March 2009
Magnea Ósk Böðvarsdóttir and Kristjana Jónsdóttir, teachers working in Grindavik Primary School, Iceland, made a study tour to Scotland on 23rd & 24th March 2009. The programme started with an informal Storyline seminar at Ross Priory, University of Strathclyde, and then an afternoon visit to Killearn Primary School, Stirlingshire, where they were welcomed by the headteacher, Pat MacCowan, and given a conducted tour of the classrooms followed by a discussion session with the principle teacher, Catriona Mackenzie. On the second day they had an opportunity to visit Kinnaird Primary School and Pamela Adamson, headteacher, in a brand new school in Falkirk District where they were most impressed at the lovely new environment that had been created for staff and pupils. There main interest was to see Storyline in action and they indicated at the end of their visit that they were returning to Iceland fired with enthusiasm.
Request for Storyline Videos
Several Storyline contributors have requested that they illustrate their activities and news items not only with photographs and text but also with video and sound. For this reason Storyline Scotland has decided to establish a YouTube Page. Please contact me at steve@storyline-scotland.com with any contributions you would like to make to help make a success of this exciting development.
First Storyline in Slovenia
April 2009
Lea Nakrst, A student teacher in Slovenia spent last year studying in Sweden. While there she attended a one-day pre-conference Storyline workshop and the Nordic Storyline Conference held in April 2008 in Gothenburg. This experience inspired her to study the approach in more depth and she decided to write her dissertation on Storyline. She was greatly helped by her 3-months long practice at Fyllingeskolan in Halmstad, Sweden. On her return home she felt that she needed to experience using it in a classroom by herself and so, with the wonderful support of the staff of Osnovna šola Janka Kersnika Brdo she worked with a class of 7 & 8 year old pupils over several weeks using a Topic Outline which she herself had designed – Life on a Tourist Farm. She was thrilled with the results and describes her experience on a ‘pdf’ file which can be reached by clicking here. Congratulations Lea!
Storyline Workshop
at Strathclyde University
1. B Ed3 students took part in a short Storyline Workshop run by Sallie Harkness as part of their course on 'Sensitive Issues in Health'.
Working in groups the students were invited to create imaginary families. Each student made a small figure representing their particular family member and wrote a brief biography of their character. The families were introduced and their homes located on a small community frieze.
Working with Sallie and Monica Porciani, Lecturer in Health Studies, the student groups explored incidents linked to the theme of sensitive issues and told the stories of how their family dealt with problems and difficulties.
2. Student Teachers attending courses at the University of Strathclyde Jordanhill Campus were introduced to Storyline recently in a series of lectures and workshops presented by Sallie Harkness of Storyline Scotland.
Students taking the Postgraduate Diploma in Primary Education were an attentive audience at two mass lectures on Storyline. The morning presentations introduced the Storyline approach via the 'New Neighbours' topic then looked at Storyline principles in practice.
In the afternoon the students visited the 'Enchanted Forest' Storyline developed at Aberfoyle Primary by P1 teacher Lynda Bancroft.
Creative Sparks Conference
Edinburgh Corn Exchange
On 27th February 2009 the Scottish Book Trust held the Creative Sparks Conference at the Corn Exchange, Edinburgh. Keynote speakers Ninive Caligari and Michael Rosen spoke on Igniting the Desire to Write and Read.
More than 50 delegates chose to attend seminars on how to use the Storyline Approach. The presentation began with Fergus McNicol, Storyteller, relating the tale of the 'Three Donalds', followed by Sallie Harkness suggesting how this story could be used to plan and deliver a book-based storyline. Finally Steve Bell talked about how other Storylines could be developed in the classroom. This input attracted much interest and we have already been contacted by a number of teachers who are keen to implement Storyline approaches in
their classooms.
Storyline Scotland is grateful to the Scottish Book Trust for providing the opportunity to showcase Storyline at this important event.
Greek Storyline Website
Ifigenia Iliopoulou, a PhD student in the University in Volos, has recently created a Storyline website at ifigenia-istoriogrammi.blogspot.com Ifigenia took her Master's degree some years ago in Strathclyde University, Glasgow and hopes to complete her Doctorate this summer. She is the author of the first Storyline Book in Greek and has used the approach in her PhD studies.
Storyline Talk at Alford Academy
Alistair Thomson
As part of our ongoing commitment to developing partnerships and easing transitions for pupils, we recently hosted a visit by Steve Bell, an Educational Consultant with Storyline Scotland. He presented an overview of Storyline, an alternative teaching approach that encourages study in the context of a strong narrative. This informal twilight session was well attended by staff of Alford Academy and Alford Primary. Mr Bell led a discussion that challenged and enlightened. Many who attended felt that there was some potential in this approach and we now plan to explore storyline as a possible additional teaching strategy.Steve Bell’s visit was facilitated through the SpeyGrian Trust; www.speygrian.org.uk
Storyline in Lithuania
Ona Leonaviciene, seen in these photographs with her classes, is an English teacher in a secondary school in Marijampole, Lithuania. For many years now she has been using Storyline to teach English as a second language. She presented her experiences at the 3rd International Storyline Conference in Glasgow in 2006 and has been invited to do the same at the 4th International Storyline Conference to be held in Portland State University Oregon in August 2009.
Children in a Sustainable City
Winner of the Dogme 2000 Prize
Lisa Adelsköld and Lisa Petri
We are proud to announce that the Storyline ”Children in a Sustainable City” has been rewarded with an environmental prize from Dogme2000. Dogme2000 is a co-operation between 7 different municipalities in Denmark and Sweden whose aim is to be leaders in the fight for a more sustainable society. They perform at a local level. Every year Dogme rewards a project which, in a successful way, works with environmental issues together with children and young people. Within the framework of Save the Children, Lisa Adelsköld and Lisa Petri developed a Storyline with the ambition to create a method for realising a learning situation where you study, create and live in a sustainable development. By doing this the method itself had to be sustainable and democratic in its structure, which Storyline is. By using this democratic and participatory method the children were teaching themselves how to interact in society. We combined this democratic vision with environmental questions where the children created a space were they themselves could decide how it should be organised in the most sustainable way. By the end of the project we wrote a book that is to be seen as a guide for ‘pedagogs’ (educational care workers) who want to work with learning for a sustainable development, but who maybe have a hard time finding enough time to plan and come up with all the pedagogic ideas. So within the book they have the possibility to use this Storyline and within that framework with the themes and exercises that suit their particular class the best. The prize will be used to continue the Storyline work in Sweden.
BEd 4 Storyline Elective Course
Edinburgh University
At the invitation of Barbara Frame the BEd (Hons) Primary Co-ordinator for Moray House School of Education, Edinburgh University, Sallie Harkness and Steve Bell were invited to work with the final year students who have chosen Storyline as their special study.
Storyline – Education for Sustainable Development in Entebbe, Uganda
Ylva Lundin
From the 10th to 19th of October 2008 I had the privilege to visit the fantastically beautiful and hospitable country of Uganda. The purpose of my visit was to give a full day workshop on how Storyline can be used to reach learning for sustainable development. The workshop was part of a conference for head teachers from Uganda and Sweden. More information...
Rendsburg Storyline Workshop
20 - 21st October 2008 for foreign language teachers of primary and secondary schools in Schleswig-Holstein
Gisela Ehlers IQSH-Kiel, Course Director
The workshop started on Monday with the creation of the story setting “Our Street” including houses, shops and a beach area. The very attractive frieze that was produced became the focus for lively discussion about second language teaching possibilities in primary as well as in secondary schools. While the teachers then created the characters who lived and worked in the street they became aware of the many opportunities for differentiating the language tasks for their learners. They were convinced that Storyline is not only an ideal strategy for developing language in an authentic context but also a good way for teaching in heterogeneous classes. This first course was led by Steve Bell and Tina Stute On the 21st and 22nd Oct. 2008 the IQSH offered a two day follow up seminar in which drama was explored as an additional element in Storyline. Through a practical workshop linked to the storyline frieze the participants experienced the wide variety of ideas and language tasks. Drama activities relate easily and effectively to such a context and establish a rich learning environment. The second course was led by Hannelore Tait and Gerhard Schroda.
News from Norway
Åse Paulsen Skiftun
Kvinesdal Upper Secondary school, Norway
Earlier this year I wrote about some projects going on in Norway using the Storyline-toolkit in teaching. It is very nice for me to tell you that this co-operation project with The University of Agder has been a great success. The Storyline-toolkit was used in the Didactic-Programme. The Toolkit was used to aim at one of the five main-goals of the Programme: Preconditions of teachers and students (the human-beings). The evaluation from the students was ” This is exciting!! ” Birte Simonsen and Kari Wigstøl, both from the Department of Teacher Education at the University, have been interested in the Storyline-method for a long time. They are so fascinated by the Toolkit, that they want to continue this co-operation until next Autumn. An application has been sent to Norway Opening Universities for money to do so. We are also still working towards an English version!
Storyline Diary
Since 2003 Yvonne McBlain, a Creativity Support Teacher for Falkirk Council Education Department has been encouraging teachers as part of a Creativity Inservice Team. This has involved her in exploring and developing thinking skills, creativity and Storyline. Recently, and supported by Quality Improvement Officer Liz Rose, she has published a record of the development of their Storyline work with teachers. This has proved to be of great interest to teachers not only in their own area but also in other council areas in Scotland.
“A Classroom with Six Languages”
Comenius Project creates Storyline for pupils of special schools from six European countries
Schule am Meer in North Germany’s Cuxhaven was the venue for the latest gathering of the Comenius funded “Stars Project”. From 22-26.October 2008 the group, involving schools from Germany, Denmark, Belgium, Hungary, Estonia and Ireland met for the 5th time, although it was the 3rd meeting to include pupils who all have special learning needs. Through the medium of modern technology, the teachers had already planned a storyline about an international song contest before meeting. The pupils brought the collage figures of the characters along. Together they drummed up the name “Stardust of Comenius” for the show. On the third day of the meeting they had the opportunity of experiencing the next stages of the storyline method under the watchful and very helpful eye of the invited guest, Ulf Schwänke.
He was surprised by the motivation of the children and the high quality of the representations produced by the pupils – one of which was the stage for the song contest. Though most pupils had no knowledge of the English language communication worked amazingly well with the teachers serving as interpreters for the children from their countries. All were convinced that it was a very successful meeting and a lot was learned and achieved by both teachers and pupils alike.
New Storyline CD
Glasgow City Council Education & Social Work Services
Ruth Barr, Quality Improvement Officer in Primary Education with the above Council, has been instrumental in a new initiative to produce a CD which provides rich Storyline resources for teachers at the upper stages of primary school. The very experienced authors, Lesley Dunlop, Creative Arts Link officer in Glasgow and Sallie Harkness of Storyline Scotland, have produced outlines for three topics – The Tropical Rainforest, Scotland: onTour, and World War II, (The Clydebank Blitz). These Storyline topic plans are supported by background information and relevant photographic material which provides the teacher with specific evidence for research purposes. Material like this should prove to be of tremendous benefit to teachers in their Social Studies planning. Within the Tropical Rainforest topic an early attempt has been made to identify the Social Studies outcomes in A Curriculum for Excellence that would be experienced by the children.
The CD can be purchased through the Education Improvement Service Catalogue at www.glasgowcurriculumpublications.org.uk
Book Launch in Aberdeen University
On Saturday morning 27th September 2008 a very successful Storyline Book Launch and Seminar was held in the MacRobert Building of Aberdeen University. The attendance was larger than expected and was supported by lecturers and students as well as teachers. Sallie Harkness made a presentation describing the use of Storyline for teaching in the Early Years, while Steve Bell followed with a description of the wide range of contents in the book. Many thanks are due to the committee of Early Education, Aberdeen Branch who organised the morning in conjunction with Aberdeen University.
Royal Danish Ballet Teacher Education
Cecilie Falkenberg is this year engaged in designing and conducting an educational course for those of the Royal Danish Ballet's dancers who teach ballet by using their rich experiences to help pass on their knowledge and skills to younger performers. Cecilie and her colleagues in KLEO, University College Copenhagen, have designed a new education that will provide the ballet teachers with a certificate on how to teach. The first week is designed as a Storyline project about an excellent ballet school in a small country with a famous ballet corps! During the second week some of the teaching philosophy necessary to understand children's learning is emphasised - with themes such as situated learning, tacit knowledge, reflective practice, intuitive expertise, appreciative inquiry, constructivism and similar important concepts. The education continues as an action learning project to support the changes in practice each participant ballet teacher would like to make by supervising, followed by a dialogue. To date the idea of using Storyline in the first week to open all the relevant pedagogical challenges for the ballet teachers has proven a great success. Cecilie (pictured centre) is finding it a really exciting challenge!
Courses in Germany
From 9th to 13th September 2008 four courses were presented to German primary teachers and probationers who teach English as a second language. From February 2009 all class one pupils in the primary schools in Nordrhein-Westfalen will be introduced to English. Gisela Ehlers, IQSH Kiel, director of a highly successful Comenius project using Storyline for this purpose and Steve Bell, Storyline consultant, led these inservice workshop courses. The first three – in Gemeinschaftschule Steinenbruck,Gummersbach (Mr Koster), Sparkassen Akademie, Münster, (Christine Gross & Stephanie Stecker) and in Albert-Schweitzer-Schule, Menden, (Lisa Hinse) were sponsored by the publisher Spectra and the final two-day event in Hotel Schweinsberg, Lennestadt Langenei was offered by Brigitte Stäsche and her Kompetenzteam. All the courses proved to be lively and interesting because of the interest and enthusiasm of the teachers.
Brigitte Stäsche and Gisela Ehlers
Book Launch in Edinburgh
Wednesday 3rd September
A very successful book launch was held in the Scottish Storytelling Centre, Edinburgh, last Wednesday. Twenty-one participants attended from a wide variety of backgrounds. Guests Joan Parr, Director of Education for the Scottish Arts Council and Tim Wallace, Scottish Government Educational Adviser were joined by teachers, headteachers, advisers, lecturers from Edinburgh University and also members of the education unit of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. The editors Steve Bell, Sallie Harkness and Graham White were joined by David Betteridge, the proof reader of the book to staff this event.
Danish Members
of Parliament Visit Scotland
Committee of Education Study Visit
13 members of the Danish Education Committee visited Scotland this week from 26th to 29th August to find out more about the new Scottish Curriculum for Excellence and also about Storyline. On Wednesday 27th August at LTS headquarters in Glasgow they had a presentation from members of the Learning & Teaching Scotland team. They also heard from Marie Dougan and colleagues about GLOW the intranet support provided for Scottish teachers and pupils. It was a pleasure and a privilege for Sallie Harkness and Steve Bell to then have the opportunity to present on the Development of Storyline. In the photograph of the group Christine Antorini, Head of Delegation, is seated on the left next to Steve, Sallie and Marie Dougan, Director of GLOW.
“Stepping Out of the Picture”
Marie Jeanne McNaughton shows how the Storyline approach may give Drama practitioners an added dimension to their work. This article is based on her paper published in Storyline – Past, Present & Future ed. By Bell, Harkness & White and published by Strathclyde University.
Also contained in this edition of the journal is a very thorough review of the new Storyline book by Jane Thomson. She ends by saying “Storyline is clearly a powerful learning tool and this timely book will help academics, researchers and practitioners further their understanding of Storyline and learning.”
Storyline in South Korea
Sulany dos Santos is a Brazilian Lecturer who worked for many years as a teacher of English as a Second Language (ESL) in a university in South Brazil. During this time she had introduced Storyline into her teaching. Because of her husband’s work she moved with him to live in South Korea and was invited to teach at an ESL summer school organised for children of employees by the Company. For the first time this summer she designed a programme using a Storyline topic. Here is what she says about the experience:“‘R’ Island – a Storyline of Hope – was the theme of an English Summer Camp held in Seoul, Korea, for 12 to 18 years-old students in July this year. The results were amazing; the lively environment created through Storyline helped the students to interact in English and have fun. Although we have much to learn as to how to use Storyline for teaching ESL we were very encouraged by our first experience.”
The teaching team in the photograph are from left to right - Alicia Beking, Ray Kim, Jieun Kim, Sulany dos Santos and Boyeun HoAmerican Visitor
23 May 2008
Wendy Emo, an Academic Advisor/Instructor in the College of General Studies of South Dakota State University recently met with Sallie Harkness and Steve Bell for an informal Storyline seminar in Glasgow.
Wendy is a doctoral student working at distance with the University of York in England. At the end of a study visit there to meet with her educational supervisor she managed to include this Scottish visit.
Some years ago she attended a Storyline course presented by Elaine Smith and Colleen Vallerga in Culver near Bend in Oregon. Since then she has moved to a school in Washington State where she taught Storyline to 2nd and 5th grade students. “One really great thing that happened was that I had the same students in 5th grade as I had had in 2nd grade three years earlier and was amazed at the factual details they could recall about the topics we had studied. My own boys, now teenagers, did a few Storylines in their elementary years and still remember details from these. This kind of recall is so amazing!”
She continues that “Being such a Storyline fan I want to incorporate into my doctoral studies how writing their own curriculum affects teachers – if all goes as planned, I will be following this idea through those who attend a Storyline workshop.”Storyline in Alaska
We are delighted to learn from Ken Brown that he was selected as a Wal-Mart & Sam's Club Teacher of the Year in 2007 for Interior Alaska. He says “ I am certain that my use of the Storyline Method in the classroom was responsible for my nomination and selection for this award.”
Ken and his wife have spent 9 years teaching in remote Eskimo villages in the Alaskan Bush. These villages are only accessible by small airplanes. He explains “As you can imagine, it is difficult for children to experience the rest of the world when many of them have not even visited the nearest village 18 miles away. The Storyline Method is particularly useful in these remote areas, where you can't hop on a bus to visit a museum or historical site. I was able to give my Eskimo students the opportunity to experience life outside of the village by bringing the world to them through my use of Storyline.
I've also been able to use Storyline to teach my Eskimo students about their own culture, land, and language. One of my favorite activities was spending the night with about 20 third graders, in winter, inside a traditional sod house built into the side of a hill about 7 miles from Chevak, Alaska. We traveled by snowmobile and sleds to the sod house, cut firewood, and ate traditional foods prepared inside the sod house. My students left with a real understanding of what life had been like for their grandparents and great-grandparents just 100 years ago. But it was the Storyline Method that prepared them for that culminating event, and made it much more meaningful to them.
Click on ‘more info’ to read a newspaper article about my recent use of Storyline in Fairbanks, Alaska (ironically, it was printed during my visit to Glasgow for the Third International Storyline Conference).”
Storyline in Norway
The Storyline-method is growing in popularity in the Upper Secondary School system in Norway
Åse Paulsen Skiftun, Kvinesdal Upper Secondary School, Norway
I was recently participating in the Nordic Storyline Conference in Gothenburg, which was, as usual, very interesting. In one of the coffee breaks I met a Norwegian colleague. “It is really quiet about Storyline in Norway now”, he said. I have been thinking a little bit and I am not quite sure about that. It is a bit quiet in the Primary School just now, perhaps, but in Upper Secondary School it is quite the opposite. Kvinesdal Upper Secondary School is giving several courses every year to teachers in other secondary schools. The topic is: How to use the Storyline-method in Upper Secondary School?
In Norway the new curriculum emphasises documentation and evaluation of each student’s learning. We have the experience that we can do this in a good way with the use of the Storyline method and especially with using the interactive Storyline-toolkit. By joining the National Learning Network (Lærende nettverk) we have been given the opportunity to teach the topic “Social studies” according to the new subject Curriculum.
The first-year students of Lyngdal Upper Secondary School have been working all year using the Storyline-toolkit with very good results. And perhaps the most important thing: the students enjoyed working in this way. Recently, we have finished the work of adding a topic in the Natural Science Subject Curriculum into the Toolkit: “Eco-systems and sustainable development”.
The Students tell us that it is more interesting to learn together with their own imaginary characters and it is easier to understand the “connections to real life”. Wonderful to hear!
Currently, we are starting a very interesting cooperative project with The University of Agder. One of the teachers in the Practical Teacher Training programme (PPU) wants to use the Storyline-toolkit in his teaching in didactic topics in Autumn 2008. Exciting!
The Kindergartens in central parts of Oslo are also doing Storylinesl! In March 2008 about ninety employees were gathered to learn about this method. Åse Paulsen Skiftun and Bente Rom Øysæd from Kvinesdal Upper Secondary School were the leaders of the course together with two teachers from the preparatory school - Laxens fõrskola. Most of them became very enthusiastic about this. A few days afterwards we got a message from them : now we have started!!
assk1@isyd.no
Nordic Storyline Conference
Storyline – Learning for Sustainable Development
11-12 April 2008 Gothenburg, Sweden
315 delegates from ten countries attended this Second Nordic Storyline Conference which was organised by Storyline Sweden. The theme Storyline - Learning for Sustainable Development provided a very creative target for all involved, whether keynote speakers or workshop presenters. By general consensus the two-day event was a big success. Everything had been so carefully planned – from the ‘Seek & Find’ wall which encouraged participants to involve themselves in networking to the show of work from the pre-conference courses which provided a colourful visual display of related topics. The exhibition hall buzzed with interest at each break. Teaching materials, books and examples of classroom work were studied with care. The English speaking delegates were amazed at the flexibility of programming that allowed them to feel at home in their choices of workshop – a credit to the planners. Even students from the Further Education College which was situated in the building used as the conference centre became eager helpers as they explained that their course was in tourism and that they welcomed the opportunity to work with international clients. They acted as guides and were always available to answer questions or solve problems. Congratulations are due to the team Storyline Sweden seen below – Mait Adegård, Eva Marsh, Ylva Lundin & Sanna Ranweg (from left to right)
Creative Teaching
with Storyline Scotland
Joanna Bremner Smith
On 18th February 2008 the Scottish Storytelling Centre welcomed Steve Bell and Sallie Harkness of Storyline Scotland to a day-long education event exploring Creative Teaching and how storytelling skills can help bring to life the Curriculum for Excellence. The event brought together 30 teachers, storytellers and community workers from across Scotland to the storytelling hub on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile. Also contributing to the event was Judy Paterson, storyteller and designer of the Scottish Storytelling Centre’s Storyboxes, and Elaine Kent, a teacher and former Cultural Coordinator from Renfrewshire who has pioneered storytelling approaches in her local authority area.
The Scottish Storytelling Centre believes that the Curriculum for Excellence can achieve its goals only through imaginative teaching. The aim of the day was to explore, through a series of workshops and discussions, different ways of supporting children’s learning in the classroom through interactive activities, storytelling skills and approaches. This included a focus on communication through stories, storymaking and cross-curricular story-lines. Storyline Scotland’s dynamic approach coupled with its imaginative tools helped to make the day a great success.
The Scottish Storytelling Centre is now planning to work together with Storyline Scotland on a full agenda ideal for the Curriculum for Excellence. Use of the Storyline approach will feature as part of the Scottish Storytelling Centre’s CPD event, Scottish Culture in the Curriculum, taking place on 27th October 2008. The event will explain how a confidence in our own cultural diversity makes for outward looking, confident learners through the primary and secondary stages.
Comments about the Creative Teaching event on 18th Feb:
“Inspirational, practical, interesting and good fun!”
“The Storyline workshop was superb as was their presentation! Adored it, so full of ideas.”
“I found the workshops informative and inspiring.”
“At last, something useful and practical to use in class.”
The Storyline Journey Begins
Kinnaird Primary School
The opening of a brand new school has provided a rare opportunity for the staff of Kinnaird Primary School to make fundamental decisions about what they want to teach and how they want to teach it. They believe that ‘Storyline’ will be extremely useful in helping them implement the major curricular change happening within Scottish education at this time, particularly in relation to curriculum flexibility and cross-curricular working.
Steve Bell and Sallie Harkness began their Storyline journey by delivering a one-day course for the whole staff on 15 February 2008. Teaching and non-teaching staff alike thoroughly enjoyed their day and are already putting what they learned into practice.
The school was keen to ensure that parents also had an understanding of what Storyline was about. Headteacher, Pamela Adamson, delivered the same one-day course for parents on 7 March 2008.Their evaluations highlighted their enjoyment of the day, and the benefits to them in supporting their children’s learning at home through their increased understanding.
Visit of Student Teachers
from The Faroe Islands
Carol Omand, Headteacher, Gartconner Primary School, Kirkintilloch
Everyone at Gartconner Primary School was delighted to welcome Sonja Jacobsen and Oda Friduflotum, two student teachers from the Faroe Islands who travelled to Scotland to spend the month of January at the school to study the Storyline approach. Headteacher, Carol Omand said that it was such a memorable experience for the whole school. We learned a lot about the Faroese way of life and also about their education system. Sonja and Oda spent the majority of their time in a Primary 3 class where the children thoroughly enjoyed their involvement in the Storyline work they were doing. The students said that they had learned a great deal during their month’s visit and they plan to take this experience back to inform their continuing studies. Our final day with Oda and Sonja was very emotional as we had grown extremely fond of them. We were treated to their most beautiful singing as part of their farewell. We have all learned a great deal from this experience and we send our warmest wishes to Sonja and Oda for a very happy future. We hope our paths will meet again.Storyline – Past, Present & Future
Our new book is HERE!
Published by Strathclyde University
For more information about postage & packaging click on
enterprising-careers@strath.ac.uk
Storyline Courses in Thailand
January 2008
Sallie Harkness & Steve Bell
At the invitation of Mr Noppadon Hor-thong, Director of The Institute for Resource in Education Development, Sallie Harkness & Steve Bell were invited to present three two-day Storyline Workshop courses in different centres in Thailand. We extend our sincere thanks to him for providing us with this marvellous opportunity.
It should be noted that our arrival in Thailand was shortly after the death of the King’s sister, a highly respected Princess. Our courses coincided with a period of official mourning and it will be noticed from our photographs that all involved in the courses wore either black or white as a token of respect.
The first course on Saturday & Sunday 12th & 13th January was based in the Nakhon Sri Thammarat Rajabhat University situated on the southeast coast of Thailand and was organised by a team from their Faculty of Education. The Vice Dean Dr Aphinphorn Sathitpakeekul, acted as our interpreter and we were greatly supported by several willing assistants and especially Waradee Lertgrai and Chiraporn Nhoorit. The topic selected for all three courses was Animal Rescue Centre – very topical in modern Thailand. On this course it was interesting for us also to meet three teachers of ‘ English as a second language’ coming from America, England and Canada.
The second course on 17th & 18th January was based at St Antony’s School in Chachensao, 70 miles to the east of Bangkok. It is a large private school with some 3,000 students run by the St Paul of Chartres Congregation. The school principal Sister Karnchana Soddprasert and her staff organised the course very efficiently and we were very grateful for the tremendous support from Noi & Anne. We were delighted that an old friend Dr Walai Panich from Chulalongkorn University was able to be our interpreter on this course.
A sister school, St Joseph’s in Bangkhla, Bangkok, was the centre for our final course on 19th & 20th January. Around 120 delegates participated which made this the largest course of the three but the spacious accommodation and the wonderful resources meant that the workshop ran very smoothly. On this occasion our interpreter, Indi, was an English teacher at St Antony’s School and Noi and Anne were also present to add their support.
Sister Somjit Chompaisarn was a gracious hostess and deserves sincere thanks for her hospitality. We would like also to thank both principals for the generous gifts we received.
A special mention must be made of the wonderful help and assistance rendered to us over the second and third courses by our friend Patchara Poomachati. She was our guide and supporter throughout.
Methode Glasgow Lernen in Handlungsfeldern
10 November 2007
At the invitation of the Primary Teachers’ Association for Schleswig Holstein Steve Bell presented a one day course for 60 teachers in Bickbargen Primary School. Halstenbek/Krupunder. Several members of the organising committee are experienced in using Storyline and had attended courses in their home state over the last twenty years but for the majority the approach was new. A Christmas Market was the topic selected and great fun was had in the building of the setting and the construction of the stallholders and customers. As usual the activities led on to reflection and much discussion about the theories involved. It will be interesting to observe what happens now in the participants’ schools. The committee members were Beate Blaseio, Bent Hirschelmann, Andrea Klimmek, Michael Lorbeer-Andresen, Susanne Rink, Jutta Schweitzer & Sabine Jesumann.
Storyline in Second Language Teaching
Martinshaus Rendsburg
Tina Stute
A four day course for a group of German study leaders and primary teachers was held in Martinshaus Conference Centre from 17th to 20th October 2007. The event was organised by Gisela Ehlers and colleagues from IQSH Kiel. Steve Bell led a workshop course for the first two days and then presentations were made by invited guests including Prof. Werner Bleyhl and Verna Blandford from the Institute of Education in the University of London. Gisela chaired the whole course and Hannelore Tait organised English film entertainment on two of the evenings. The last day was spent in designing new Storylines for language teaching purposes. It was a very productive and enjoyable experience for all.
Storyline Curriculum “Palliative Care”
Ulf Schwänke
The Storyline Approach has been increasingly used with adult learners. An outstanding example is a curriculum on palliative care developed by the German Robert Bosch Foundation. The idea was to create a course for nurses and auxiliary staff in nursing homes. Due to the demographic change in Western societies more and more people spend the last months of their lives as residents of nursing homes. So it has become most important to train the staff in dealing with life-limiting illness,dementia, pain, and other distressing symptoms. The aim of a palliative approach is to improve the quality of life for individuals and their families by reducing their suffering and their physical, psychological, and spiritual needs.
The one-week-course on palliative care uses a Storyline, in which an old woman moves into a nursing home and lives there for some time. Then her condition worsens, she suffers from a number of physical symptoms as well as from dementia and eventually she dies. In following this narrative the participants of the course get to know the main aspects of palliative care. These do not only include the relief from pain and the offer of support for an active life until death. Even more important is the fact that palliative care is an attitude of empathy towards the patients and their families.An article describing the curriculum in more detail was recently published:
Klapper, Bernadette/Kojer, Marina/Schwänke, Ulf (2007). Palliative Praxis – Ein Curriculum zur Begleitung alter Menschen am Ende des Lebens. In Heller, Andreas/Heimerl, Katharina/Husebø, Stein (Eds.). Wenn nichts mehr zu machen ist, ist noch viel zu tun. Freiburg (3rd ed.) p. 445 – 456
Norwegian Visit
10 - 11 October 2007
One hundred Norwegian student teachers met Steve Bell and Sallie Harkness at the Pearce Institute in Govan. Lecturer Marit Storhaug and her colleagues from Oslo University College were visiting Glasgow together with their students for the third time. In the Lithgow Theatre at the Institute, Steve and Sallie gave their introductions to the Storyline approach. They visualised different Storyline principles and how a Storyline can be designed through engaging the students in different examples and typical Storyline tasks. Many of the students had already heard of and were fascinated by the Storyline method. It was therefore a great pleasure for them to meet the Storyline founders. The student and their teachers had an interesting and playful morning creating families visiting the capitals of Europe. Steve and Sally gave vivid examples of Storylines for different age groups and learning situations. The students, who will have training in schools in January and February, went home with new inspiration and ideas.
Nordic Storyline Conference
Friday & Saturday, 11th & 12th April 2008 in Gothenburg, Sweden
Intending participants and conference presenters can now view the full programme for this conference by going to www.conference.storyline.nu and clicking on 'programme'. Each of the days can then be viewed in detail. As can be seen, the organisers,Storyline Sweden, have designed a very full and exciting choice for the international delegates. Note - those presenters who have not yet sent their photographs for inclusion can do so by e-mailing eva.marsh@storyline.nu
Mini-beasts Storyline
Battlefield Primary School, Glasgow District Council, Scotland
Catriona Brown
Battlefield Primary School in Glasgow incorporated Storyline Planning across the school from January to March 2007. The staff were allocated additional hours for the brainstorming and planning of the term’s curriculum through an integrated topic. Catriona Brown, Principal Teacher, had attended the Storyline Conference in Glasgow 2006 and was able to share with colleagues the storyline approach. The approach was not entirely new to the school with several teachers having used it pre1990 and was welcomed with open arms.In Primary 4 the main environmental studies topic was set as Minibeasts. Catriona decided to teach the term’s work using Roald Dahl’s James and the Giant Peach for inspiration and line of development. An emphasis was also put into the big visual display, an important element of storyline, with James and his friends prominently displayed.
Even from the outset the story lent itself to integration across the curriculum. The term’s Personal and Social Development included James when he was orphaned and sent to live with his cruel aunts. The Community Policeman was able to include child cruelty sensitively and meaningfully as he used James as his way to capture the children’s attention. Research into mini-beasts, their characteristics and their habitats were taken on with gusto when the children made paper mache large beasts, environmentally friendly bug catchers for the playground and mini-beast hunts in the local park. Children were encouraged to use KWL grids to record their discovery progress. Talking, listening and writing tasks flowed throughout each chapter with the children making predictions and writing their own telegrams to the queen!
A highlight of the topic was making wormeries and the children working in their teams to collect worms.
An additional positive outcome was the increased co-operation
and confidence in the children.
This very memorable project ended with a celebration of work. Every child contributed to their small group and visited another class in the school. Props and work from the topic were shared. Of course the class also enjoyed eating peaches – for some their first time.
Very Early Warning for 2009
International Storyline Conference 4
Portland State University & Storyline Design, Oregon
It is with great pleasure that I am now able to give early warning that Storyline Design and Portland State University in Oregon, USA, will host the next International Storyline Conference 4. Jeff Creswell has just informed me that the reserved dates for this will be from Friday, 7 August through Sunday, 9 August with a preconference day on Thursday, 6 August 2009. The planning has now started. The conference will be held at Portland State University, a large state university in downtown Portland. The university has a lovely campus which includes a park. The site is centrally located to all the attractions in the city as well as being close to the Willamette and Columbia Rivers and the snow capped peaks of the Cascade mountains including the majestic Mt. Hood and the active volcano, Mt. St. Helen's. Portland offers many opportunities for sightseeing before or after the conference including the Columbia Gorge Scenic area, Crater Lake, and a spectacular coastline on the Pacific Ocean, all within a few hours drive.
Centenary Storyline
Grange Primary School, Falkirk Council
Yvonne MacBlain
Grange Primary School in the Scottish town of Bo’ness is celebrating its centenary this year. To enable pupils to appreciate and participate in this event more fully, from September 2006 until June 2007, they worked on a special project using the Storyline method. This project was co-ordinated by Falkirk Council Creativity Support Teacher Yvonne McBlain who supported the staff through co-operative planning and delivery.
The main character in the storyline is a little boy called James who actually attended Grange Primary on the day it opened in August 1907. To reflect the industrial heritage of Bo’ness, James came from a coal-mining family and lived very close to the school.
The whole project was orchestrated to allow pupils to discover and explore their own community past and present through James and his family. This involved a wide range of activities including many opportunities to go out into their local area to study the changes 100 years have made.
The pupils of primary 4/3 took James and Janet out for a wee walk around Bo’ness
This highly successful project ended with a whole school celebration day during which most staff and pupils dressed in Edwardian style and took part in a range of Edwardian school activities.
On Celebration Day the pupils each invited a guest and gave them a tour of the whole school storyline display.
This adaptation of the storyline approach used real characters and the historic setting to pose key questions about everyday life past and present. It enabled pupils to collaborate across all stages in the school by passing their research and discoveries about the characters from one stage to the next.
Storyline Reunion
August 2007
Sallie Harkness joined Jeff Creswell of Storyline
Design, Portland, Oregon to teach a Storyline Reunion course on Book-based Storylines. Teachers attending this three day course were all experienced Storyliners who came with an exciting selection of books. In addition to sharing information about the Storyline work completed. In 2006/7 participants had time to work together on planning a book-based Storyline for use in their classrooms in 2007/8.
Storyline 1
The popular Storyline 1 class was held once again in Park Rose High School. This year's topic was 'Farmers' Market' and the teachers began by listing the stalls they thought would make a good market. Pairs signed up for the stall of their choice and began to create it using a shoe box and various junk materials. Stall holders were made in the form of 'little people'. Following an episode considering a variety of tasks for the stall holders the teachers created customers and then suggested a series of incidents likely to happen at their 'Busy Bee' Market. The first part of the course is very practical as the teachers experience a Storyline example. Later in the week they are required to reflect on this experience, to undertake a curriculum analysis and listen to practitioners describe their classes' Storyline experience. After that participants work in small groups to plan a Storyline for their own classes. Attendance at both these classes along with successful submission of the required paperwork will bring credit from Portland State University.
Nordic Storyline Conference
Gothenburg, Sweden, 11th & 12th April 2008
speaking educators and that there will be possibilities for those with English as their first language to follow a reasonable programme over the two days. For more information about the programme and how to apply please click on www.konferens.storyline.nu
Björkhagens skola
Mait Adegard & Steve Bell
Stockholm, Sweden
At the invitation of the school management team Steve Bell was invited to present an end-of-term Staff Development Storyline course over Tuesday and Wednesday 12th & 13th June 2007 in Björkhagens skola, Johanneshov, Stockholm. A total of 66 teachers from both primary and secondary stages attended and participated with great enthusiasm. An atmosphere of ‘serious fun’ meant that all involved seemed to appreciate the aims and objectives of this teaching philosophy.
The Rock & Roll Café
Lynn Wilson & Gillian Lumsden
Gartconner Primary School, East Dunbartonshire
As was mentioned in a previous news item the Storyline Topic entitled the Rock & Roll Café proved to be very popular with pupils in class P 4/5 of Gartconner Primary School. The official opening ceremony followed a whole class presentation at a school assembly with staff, children and parents on 23rd March 2007. Here are some of the photographs from that happy day.
The Zoo
New Topic in German
by Ulf Schwänke
German teachers looking for Storyline topics now have another choice. The Zoo is the second booklet of a series called ‘Storyline practical’ (the first one was a topic on the Fire Brigade). It was written by Ulf Schwänke, lecturer at the Hamburg University and author of the teacher’s book ‘Die Storyline-Methode’.
The new booklet aims at Primary classes 1 and 2. It contains a short introduction to the Storyline approach, the topic outline and additional information for the teacher.The book was published in June 2007 by Auer Verlag, Donauwörth, Germany.
High School of Glasgow Junior School
a Welcoming School Community
Geraldine Low, Singapore
As part of a 6-month “Leaders in Education Programme”, 6 Vice-Principals, 1 Principal and a lecturer from the National Institute of Education, Singapore, visited the High School of Glasgow Junior School on 21 May 2007. Steve Bell had very kindly made the arrangements for the school visit and he and his Storyline colleagues, Sallie Harkness and Graham White, as well as the Head Teacher, Karen Waugh welcomed us warmly when we arrived at the school.
Swedish visitors
to Falkirk Council School
Gunnel Sköld and Åsa Eriksson, Antnässkolan, Luleå, Sweden
In early May 2007 we spent two very interesting days at Larbert Village Primary School in Falkirk, Scotland. We were invited by their headteacher Mrs. Pamela Adamson as a consequence of a meeting at the Third International Storyline Conference held in Glasgow last November 2006. Both our schools work with Storyline and it was very interesting to exchange experiences about that work and to meet with Steve Bell. We also got the opportunity to see the children at work and we realised that we have a lot in common. We hope that this visit is the start of future and closer contacts.
Cyber-bullying
In a recent article by Douglas Blane in the Times Educational Supplement Scotland (Friday March 30th 2007), Helen Glen, headteacher at Springhill Primary in East Renfrewshire, described how she had identified a problem with a P6 class as being caused by cyber-bullying. Pupils were using mobile phones and computer chatrooms to bully other children in the class. What could be done to deal with this dreadful situation? "We went back to something I had used many years ago which was developed at Jordanhill College, by Steve Bell and Fred Rendell." she says. "We got the parents in to work with the children on creating a community, with houses, shops, and people with all their individual histories. The initial aim was to get the class to work together on a creative project, with lots of chat and constructive engagement. But there was more to it than that. The people who lived in the street all had names and personalities. The kids called it Cherry-blossom Lane. They built a frieze and put it on the wall. Once they had done that and were really involved with the people in the street, I sent them for a bite to eat in another part of the school. While they were away I 'vandalised' Cherry-blossom Lane. When they came back and saw what had happened there was a stunned silence...... We got them to talk and write about those feelings of hurt and how we can prevent it from happening." The next session will focus on cyber-bullying.
Storyline in East Dunbartonshire
Carol Omand
Carol Omand, Lynda Bancroft, Steve Bell and Sallie Harkness presented a one-day staff development course for 22 teachers working in East Dunbartonshire schools on Monday 26th February 2007. The feedback has been very positive and teachers have asked for a recall day to carry out practical activities and to gain more expertise in using this approach. The teachers at Gartconner Primary school where Carol is now Headteacher have been involved in a very successful Cafe Topic using the Storyline approach. The teachers have said that they have got back the joy of teaching and the children have enjoyed having a lot of responsibility for their learning. They presented a superb assembly to parents and invited guests just before The Rock & Roll Cafe was officially opened by Steve Bell on Friday 23 March. All the children and staff in Nursery and school were treated to a variety of juices and biscuits to celebrate the opening. The teachers responsible, Mrs Lumsden and Mrs Wilson are very proud of the children and all of their fantastic work.
Greek Storyline Eco-holidays
Steve Bell / Ifigenia Iliopoulou
Ifigenia Iliopoulou, a PhD student and assistant lecturer at the University of Volos, who is the author of the first Greek Storyline book, has sent me an open letter which I think may be of great interest to many who visit this website. Last year Gudmundur Kristmundsson of the University in Reykjavik, Iceland, and I were honoured to be invited to speak at a teachers' conference in Ifigenia's university. While staying there we were taken on a tour of the amazing Pelion mountain region. It is a landscape that has retained much of its ancient character and charm and provides a rich environment for visitors to explore. To read Ifigenia's letter click here.
Virtual class for Storyline Approach
Ghent, Belgium
Staying on top of educational topics can be time consuming for teachers, certainly when following courses includes traffic jams, parking problems or rescheduling teaching hours in different schools. Therefore, the department of Education from the city of Ghent started two years ago with a virtual class for Storyline Approach. The Storyline class is part of an e-learning project for teachers, offering them several educational courses by computer. The virtual Storyline class is offered to the Ghent teachers in combination with real time consultancy in their classes or meetings amongst colleagues. E-learning is for the developers just another tool in their assortment to stay in touch with the Storyline teachers. More information...
New German book
by Ulf Schwänke
This is the first booklet of a series called ‘Storyline practical’. The idea behind it is to supply teachers with a few designs of learning units. So those who read the formerly published book ‘Die Storyline-Methode’ (also by Ulf) now have a supplement for their teaching practice. The book contains a short introduction to the Storyline method, the topic outline for ‘The Fire Brigade’ and additional information useful for the learning process.
The book was published in January 2007 by Auer Verlag.
Requires a Framework
Don Skinner of Edinburgh University from the Times Educational Supplement Scotland (TESS) of January 19th 2007
"... there is no better bet for handling the projected blend of subject and interdisciplinary thematic work than the Scottish 'Storyline' approach. This has become increasingly influential in America and Europe. Why is it still neglected here? Storyline, and other Scottish developments in thematic teaching, looked set to to overturn the superficiality of earlier project work until cut short in 1987 by the pedagogically myopic 5-14 programme. In a globalised context, international pressures are inevitable and much can be learned from others. But comparative educational study recognises context is crucial. We have home-grown ideas and principles, among the best in the world. It's time to exploit properly their rich potential."
Staff Development Course
in a German Special School
20 January 2007
The Schule am Schillerzentrum in Cuxhaven is a special school for mentally handicapped children. Participating in a Comenius project some teachers had been invited to Denmark a few months ago. There they got to know the Storyline approach and became immediately enthusiastic. So they wanted to know more about this way of teaching and learning. On the internet they discovered the Storyline-book written by Ulf Schwänke and asked him over to run a course for the whole staff.
Comenius in Gdansk
Lorna Karetnyk of Kirkymoorside P School, North Yorkshire
Representatives from four schools met in Gdansk, in Poland at the beginning of December to begin a British Council School Development Comenius Project. Malgorzata and Dagamara, our hosts from Szkola Pszczolki in Poland, Ivana Binkova from ZS Paulouska in Czech Republic, Bjorg Eiriksdottir, a well know Storyliner, from Karsnesskoli in Iceland and Gill Hardacre and Lorna Karetnyk from Kirkbymoorside School in North Yorkshire, are undertaking what is initially a year long project using the Storyline method to study similarities and differences in myths and legends in our respective countries. Click here for more information.
Swedish Study Tour in Scotland
27-29 November 2006
Three participants in a school leadership course organised by Farsta Community in Stockholm recently spent three days touring Scotland to visit schools and to meet with Educational Advisers. For Tomas Hultqvist, Mats Huge and Berit Cederborg it was their first opportunity to observe pupils at work in Scottish schools. After an introductory seminar at Ross Priory on Loch Lomondside, the staff club for the University of Strathclyde, they visited Gartconner P School in Kirkintilloch. Their second day was spent in East Ayrshire observing work in Gargieston P. School in Kilmarnock and then in Auchinleck Academy in the village of Auchinleck. Finally they had the opportunity of meeting Glasgow Education Authority adviser Ruth Barr who did her best to answer all their many questions. On their return they used their many photographs to present an informative report to their colleagues. They record their thanks to all those who made their visit so stimulating and valuable.
Norwegian Film Team
Pal Karlsen & Knut Aage Teigen from Snoball Film, Oslo, Norway were among the delegates who attended the recent International Storyline Conference 3 in Glasgow and they seem to have enjoyed it according to their newspage on the Snoball website.
Shetland Islands – Storyline Courses
Steve Bell, 9-10 November 2006
The Continuing Professional Development conference for all the teachers employed on the Shetland Islands took place over two days in the Anderson High School in Lerwick on the above dates. Two hour Storyline workshops were offered in the programme on both mornings and both afternoons and they were well-attended. The new Curriculum for Excellence fits very well with the aims of Storyline and the teachers were encouraged to learn of strategies which will help them reach the desired aims. Many who attended had had previous contact with Storyline in its early form and were most interested to hear about how it had travelled and developed.
International Storyline Conference
Caledonian University, Glasgow 27-29 October 2006
Steve Bell, Conference Chairman
The general reaction of the 336 delegates to the conference was extremely enthusiastic. The keynote speakers - Dr Willie Haughey, Prof John MacBeath, Prof. Jonothan Neelands, Jackie Murphy and Prof Brian Boyd - provided valuable insights from their various educational experiences into promoting an exciting array of ideas, techniques and philosophies which linked seamlessly together to form an exciting and stimulating message. The creativity and imaginative thinking they illustrated painted a picture of education that supported and added value to the Storyline approach. Around 50 presenters from 12 countries were responsible for the menu of workshops which were offered over the two days providing a rich choice for the delegates. These sessions were also well-received by the participants. The real test of success however will come from what happens next. We look forward to hearing from those who are putting those ideas into practice.
Vikings Invade Pearce Institute
Govan, Glasgow
On Thursday 12th October, 2006, more than one hundred Norwegians descended on the Pearce Institute, Govan, to attaend a Storyline presentation given by Steve Bell and Sallie Harkness. In the Victorian Gothic surroundings of the Lithgow Theatre Steve gave an introduction to the background and development of the Storyline approach. He then involved the students in group work inspired by 'Capital Tours'. In spite of the difficulty of working in a steeply raked 'theatre' groups were formed and families created. The students then took part in the map making exercise which is such a good example of the Storyline way of thinking. Later in the morning Sallie gave a presentation on book-based Storylines showing many examples of picture and chapter books which had been used in this way also including a variety of images of pupil work on these topics. The Norwegian students cames from Hogskolen i Oslo and were led by lecturer Marit Storhaug and her colleagues. Marit will be returning to Glasgow at the end of this month to attend the 3rd Storyline International Conference.
B Ed4 Moray House School of Education, Edinburgh
On Thursday 5th October 2006, by invitation of lecturer Barbara Frame, Sallie Harkness led a three hour Storyline workshop with 4th year student teachers. Following a short introduction extolling the benefits of using book-based storylines with younger pupils Sallie invited the students to list all the stories they could remember enjoying as young children. She then showed them how to build simple paper sculpture structures which could be adapted to create buildings, figure and trees. Each group selected a story to illustrate creating setting and characters as a table top layout. This begins the Storyline topic 'Land of Storybook' which will be developed by Barbara in future weeks. The students received a pack of handouts and watched a brief slide presentation showing school pupils' work on book-based topics. The morning passed all too quickly but seemed to be enjoyable for all concerned.
Herald Society Magazine Feature
Tuesday 3rd October 2006
Storyline at Aberfoyle
LT Scotland Website
The enchanted forest was the Storyline Topic designed by class teacher Lynda Bancroft and used with her primary one class to provide a delightful video record now available on the website of Learning and Teaching Scotland by clicking below.
Storyline Course at Gartconner Primary
17th August 2006
Carol Omand, the headteacher of Gartconner Primary School in Kirkintilloch, near Glasgow, designed this inservice day to introduce Storyline to her staff. It started with a short talk by Steve Bell about the history of the Storyline development and was followed by a hands-on workshop for the remainder of the day with Sallie Harkness..The topic explored was the Rain Forest.
Sarah Creswell
It is with great sadness that we learn of the tragic and untimely death of Sarah Creswell in Hawaii in July.
Sarah and Jeff (co-director of Storyline Design) were enjoying a wonderful family holiday in Hawaii together with their elder daughter Jennifer, her husband Ian and their young grandsons Liam and Graham when Sarah cut her arm on a doorway. At the time this injury seemed very slight but within four days the arm had become so badly infected by the dreadful necrotizing fasciitis that it had to be amputated and Sarah was on a life support system. Tragically, the toxins had already spread throughout her body making her death inevitable. Katherine and Joel, Sarah and Jeff’s other daughter and son, were able to reach the hospital to join the rest of the family when Sarah died.
We know that Jeff and his lovely family will be greatly sustained by their strong religious faith and by their many loving friends not just in the States but around the world. We send our deepest sympathy.
Maria Steingrimsdottir appointed Head of the Department of Primary Education
Akureyri University, Iceland
Maria studied Storyline on sabbatical for one year in Strathclyde University, Glasgow, in 1988/89 earning a diploma. She then went on to gain her master's degree in Iceland in 2005. In September of the same year she was a joint organiser with Rosa Eggertsdottir of the National Storyline Conference held in Akureyri when over 300 teachers participated in a very successful event. She has a wide educational experience as a teacher, lecturer, organiser and course tutor and it is with great pleasure that we learn that she has been appointed as Head of the Department of Primary Education at the University of Akureyri. Congratulations Maria.
UKLA Reading Focus Day
Nottingham University, 6 July 2006
In the photograph, from left to right, Sue Ellis, University of Strathclyde, who organised and chaired the UKLA Reading Focus Day with Dr Vivienne Smith and Steve Bell who were invited to make a presentation on Storyline and Critical Literacy. Storyline is essentially experiential and constructivist. It uses expressive arts and language to help children name, discuss, describe and explain their experiences, creating a curriculum that reflects the actual pupils’ lives and concerns. Literacy skills, including research and reference skills, develop as pupils search for answers and information that will lead to their next questions. As they record their ideas, understandings and responses in visual and written formats they create powerful classroom displays that reflect who they are and how they relate to their environment, as well as individual files of work. The presentation considered the possibilities of using Storyline for developing critical literacy and meeting the demands of new creative curricula.
English Teaching using Storyline
Sharon Ahlquist, University of Kristianstad
I thought readers might be interested in hearing about a course for primary teachers which we have just run at the University of Kristianstad in southern Sweden. I got the idea from The Street, which Jill Wells in Kirkbymoorside, North Yorkshire, has used. Teacher evaluations included words such as inspiration, fun, joy - they could hardly have been better if I had written them myself! I contacted the local press and they came along, took pictures and spoke to one or two of the teachers. To see the local newspaper and to find out more click here.
Storyline Course in Farsta, Stockholm
19-20 June 2006
25 teachers attended a two day Storyline workshop course held in Farsta Gymnasium on 19-20 June 2006. The enthusiastic and artistic participants created a story about a new hotel and the staff necessary to run it. There was much 'serious fun' as the story developed and the last period on the Tuesday afternoon was spent relating the practice to the latest educational theories. The course was organised, as is usual in Stockholm, by Mait Adegård and presented by Steve Bell who was greatly supported by Janne Bergström.
New Storyline book from the UKLA
More about Storyline in the TES
Storyline Article in Teaching Journal
Story and Storyline live
in Hamburg, Germany
Dr. Christoph Edelhoff, Chairman
At the end of May, teachers and teacher trainers for English in comprehensive schools from all over Germany assembled at the Hamburg State Institute for Education for their annual three-day meeting, this time to explore the potential of story, narration and the creative use of literature in the foreign language classroom. The group representing a minority of schools amongst a basically tri-partite selective school system has made itself a name in communicative language teaching in the last 30 years. Delegates were eager to focus on classroom tactics and good practice in the middle of a national debate that is mainly focusing on standards, evaluation and quality control.
Workshop Course for School
Management Teams in Farsta
13-14 March 2006
The management teams from 12 schools in the Farsta District of Stockholm spent these two days together on a workshop course exploring the qualities and values involved in providing an exciting, challenging and successful school. The course followed the pattern of a Storyline Topic and was presented by Mait Adegård, a project leader working for Farsta Council. This course was part of a series of events designed to raise awareness in the qualities of the participating schools. Future courses will concentrate on ways in which the schools can communicate effectively with their communities. Inger Norman, director of education and Lars Lindgren, assistant director are responsible for administering the plan and see this as an effective programme to assist schools to 'speak for themselves’. Steve Bell has been invited to act as a consultant and presenter.
Beyond Storyline
Jos Letschert, Beate Grabbe-Letschert & Jan Greven (editors)
This new Storyline book has just been published by the SLO Netherlands Institute for Curriculum Development ISBN 90 329 2238 6. It started as a concept in the mind of Jos Letschert and involved organising workshop courses for students, teachers and lecturers named 'The Villa Courses'. The two days of courses on Storyline were organised at the Teacher Training Institute Edith Stein/OCT at Hengelo in the Netherlands initiated by the 'Curriculum Academy' of the Dutch National Institute for Curriculum Development, SLO. The courses took place in an old historic villa on the campus. That is how they got their name. Tonny van der Vegt of the SLO filmed the workshops and these have been edited to form the DVD which accompanies this book. Besides the visual record of the courses the editors of the book organised an interview with Steve Bell which is also included. The book itself has many valuable essays written by Jos, Ian Barr, Alice Bell, Barbara Frame, Beate Grabbe-Letschert, Jan Greven, Wilmad Kuiper and Ulf Schwänke.
Enterprising Learning
New Danish Book
by Piet Conijn, Marianne Schuurmans & Dick Middelhock
This new book is about enterprising learning and is a combination of theory and good practice. It contains examples of research, Storylines, business plans and learning landscapes, inside and outside the school. It is beautifully designed and illustrated with a 'sky at night' cover which carries the message "The sky is the limit". That is what enterprising learning means for the authors - to cross the borders, to meet the challenges, to develop talents and to master these. It is written in Dutch but it is hoped that it will be translated into English.
by Cecilie Falkenberg & Karsten Enggaard
This is number 6 in the series of Storyline topic books published by Kroghs Forlag. Two very experienced Storyliners, Cecilie & Karsten have designed this new topic on a CAFE aiming at Mathematics and Danish curriculum for Classes 1 to 4. Karsten is the leader of CAND (Center for Anvendt Naturfagsdidaktik) and was previously a teacher in Folkeskole and consultant in Mathematics working in the Teachers Centre in Vejle Amt. He also has a long experience of working in the Danish Teachers' University now known as Jysk CVU. Cecilie has been very involved in using Storyline for the teaching of literacy. She was joint editor of Storylinebogen, the teachers' book, published by Kroghs Forlag in 2000 and was the organiser of the first two International Storyline Conferences held in Aalborg in 2000 and in Elsinore in 2003.
University of Thessaly, Volos, Greece
Early Education Conference, 17-18 March 2006
At the kind invitation of Associate Professor Domna Kakana, Director of Postgraduate Studies in Early Education, Gudmundur Kristmundsson from the Teachers' University of Iceland and Steve Bell of Storyline Scotland were invited to make Storyline presentations at this conference. A Storyline link has been established through the special interest of Ifigenia Iliopoulou, a doctor student, who took her master's degree in Strathclyde University, Glasgow, some years ago. She has recently published the first Storyline book in Greece. The new Greek curriculum aims at linking different cognitive subjects through interdisciplinary processes and so Storyline presented a strategy of interest to the many teachers and students who attended. Erasmus contracts have also been established between the University of Thessaly and the Teachers' University of Iceland.
Meeting with Bobbie Neate
Steve Bell, February 2006
Recently I had the pleasure of meeting with Bobbie Neate, author and publisher. As a former teacher, teacher trainer and a former president of the United Kingdom Reading Association she has a wide experience of early education and a special interest in literacy. In recent years she has been writing and publishing her own teaching packs entitled "Inspiring Role Play". Her material takes the form of packs with different themes – Garden Centre, On the Airliner, At the Pet Store and At the Café. Practitioners will recognise the value of the materials provided which are designed to support busy teachers in an imaginative and inspiring way. To find out more you can visit www.neatepublishing.co.uk
Mötesplats Carlssons Skola
Helena Sandell teaches English and Swedish in Grade 8 at Fredrikshovs slott skola in Stockholm. She enjoyed the course at Carlssons skola and decided to put the Storyline topic she experienced there into practice immediately. As can be seen from the model made by her grade 8 students they are now in the middle of the topic. She reports that the students have been very positive,creative and hard working. We wish Helena and her class all the very best in this exploration of Storyline.
Education about Road Use
and Public Transport
Gothenburg Road Traffic Department
Some time ago on this newspage it was mentioned that Camilla Henriksson of Gothenburg Road Traffic and Public Transport Department had commissioned Ylva Lundin to design three Storyline Topics for use with children of different age groups on themes linked to road use, road safety and public transport issues. Just recently these topic outlines have been translated into English – click on the covers to go to each book.
Mötesplats Carlssons Skola
Over 240 teachers attended a one-day Storyline workshop organised in Stockholm, Sweden, by Mötesplats Carlssons Skola. Following an invitation from Henrietta Göbel, Steve Bell, accompanied by a colleague Linda Brownlow, presented a workshop which was based on the Open Market Topic. After a short powerpoint presentation the 24 groups worked enthusiastically to produce the most beautiful visuals of the market stalls, stall holders and customers. This made a very colourful display which was used to illustrate the sequential process of Storyline work in the classroom. It also provided the focus for identifying the theories linked to this methodology.The school was responsible for organising the day and it did so in a most efficient and effective manner. Many thanks are due to Henrietta and her colleagues, Susanne Ridner and Magnus Ohlsson.
Leader of IQSH Neumünster, Schlwesig-Holstein
Dr Eckhard Kohls who was responsible for organising the first Methode Glasgow (later Storyline) courses in Germany during the 1980s retired on Friday 13th January. At his retirement party held in the Kulturzentrum Marstall in his home town of Ahrensburg, his family, friends and colleagues gathered to pay tribute to an extraordinary educationalist. Steve Bell first met him in 1979 at the University of Hamburg where Eckhard was a doctor student and Steve a visiting lecturer. When Eckhard was appointed as leader of the Grund und Hauptschule department of the IPTS (Institute for Practice & Theory in Schools) Ahrensburg in 1982 his centre became a regular base for 'Methode Glasgow' courses. As he moved on to IPTS Ammersbek in '86 and then to IPTS Neumünster in 1994 the warm relationship continued. Eckhard developed his own special interest in Lernenwerkstatt – landscape for learning which encouraged learning by sharing knowledge and experience. This involved students in self-evaluation, giving feedback to others and acting as 'critical' friends. He will be sadly missed at the IQSH but already he is chairing the planning group of the Marstall Cultural Complex in which we met where I am sure his organisational skills will be greatly appreciated. We wish him a long and happy retirement.
Serkan Guney, a teacher working in Istanbul, is already mentioned below on this news page. The previous article described Storyline courses he had been presenting to teachers. Now he has produced his own Storyline website which can be viewed by clicking www.storylineturkiye.com
Norrbottens Museum (Norrbotten is a region in the north of Sweden) working together with Sanna Ranweg, a Storyline teacher, have developed a Storyline on Sami History. Since 2004 schools in Norrbotten have been using Storyline with good results. Teachers in Överkalix, Luleå and Vittangi have worked with Storyline in their classes. If you understand Swedish you can read more about the project and view the storyline plan and materails in the Museum's website below.
Ifigenia Iliopoulou, who took her master's degree some years ago at Strathclyde University in Glasgow using Storyline as a special study is the author of this new Storyline book. It is aimed at Kindergarten teachers and those teaching early stages in primary school. Ifigenia now works at the University of Volos and is a studying for her doctorate while still engaged in teaching and in giving inservice courses to teachers. She is to be congratulated on this fine achievement.
GAN goes Storyline!
Knut Åge Teigen
That was the motto of the seven editors from the Norwegian publishing company, GAN Forlag, visiting Steve Bell and Sallie Harkness at Strathclyde Universitiy Jordanhill Campus November 10th. Eager to learn more about the Storyline approach the editors were all ears and eyes during the day long work shop. Steve and Sallie brought us through the episodes of the Capital Tours storyline and in that way highlighting different aspects of Storyline. We all felt that bringing a 'family' to life, having the chance to go to different European capitals and exploring possible travel incidents were not only exciting, but also a good way of showing us the main principles of the approach.
Lorna Karetnyk
Four teachers, Lorna Karetnyk, Ian Taylor, Gareth Sleightholme and Simon Johnson from Kirkbymoorside School, North Yorkshire, left Manchester Airport on Saturday 22nd October 2005 to spend a week in Oregon observing and working with teachers delivering Storyline. Todd Stewart-Rinier was our tireless host who gave us a most educational and entertaining week in his school, Irvington Elementary, in Portland. During our visit we were able to observe Storyline work on New Neighbours, The Borrowers, The Farm and an historical topic based on Lewis and Clark. We were also fortunate enough to meet with Rebecca Plaskitt and Jeff Creswell of Storyline Design – quite an experience. It was a very enlightening visit that has increased our knowledge of Storyline and has inspired us to write our own Storyline around the setting up of a Victorian Museum. It also allowed us to immerse ourselves in the American culture. We intend to continue our links and hope to take a party of teachers to the next International Conference in Glasgow where we can meet up with old friends and make new acquaintances.
Our visit was arranged and funded through the Specialist Schools' Trust. We were able to set up the visit because the two schools have had links since our meeting with Todd at the last International Storyline Conference in Elsinore, Denmark, in 2003.
Developing Language Skills
in Storyline Topics
Storyline Course in
Larbert Village Primary School
The whole staff of Larbert Village Primary School and a few invited guest teachers attended a one-day Storyline workshop course given by Steve Bell on Tuesday 15th November 2005. As the curriculum focus changes in Scotland to encourage more creative arts, imaginative thinking and problem tackling, teachers are keen to explore strategies which will help them involve pupils in these activities. The topic chosen was 'The Hospital'.
Five final year students from the College of Education in Torshavn, Faroe Islands, paid a study visit to Scotland during the week beginning 8th November 2005. Part of their tour took them to Stirlingshire where they met up with Steve Bell who presented a Storyline Seminar in Allans Primary School, Stirling. before taking them to Aberfoyle Primary School where they toured the classrooms to observe Storyline work in practice. They are preparing for school practice visits in their own country and were interested to get ideas for that purpose.
Norwegian Student
Teachers & Trainers visit Scotland
Marit Storhaug
We met at our hotel McLays Guest House and the workshops with Steve and Sallie took place in the dining rooms there. Steve gave the students an introduction to theory and practice of the Storyline method and Sallie presented literature-based Storylines. These two sessions gave the students new ideas and really inspired them to work with Storyline. Two weeks later during a short practice period some of the student teachers designed their own Storylines and performed them in their classes. For their next practice period all the students are to make Storylines.
Storyline Presentation
– Lärarhögskolan, Stockholm
At the invitation of Dr Jesus Piqeras, Steve Bell gave a two hour presentation to an audience of staff and students on Monday 31st October at the College of Education in Stockholm. Hansi Elsbacher, a journalist, took many photographs and has written an account of this event. His report has been posted on the internal home page of Stockholm Education Administration.
Project Management using Storyline
The three PhD student/lecturers pictured from the left, Markus Hällgren, Niklas Wahlström and Andreas Nilsson work in Umeå School of Business, Umeå University and are responsible for the designing of a new 20-week distance learning course on Project Management together with Tomas Blomquist, Ph.D who is missing from the picture. Some years ago Markus attended a Storyline Course for teachers in Stockholm and with this experience he and his colleagues have introduced aspects of the Storyline approach over the last four years. They have been delighted with the results, since, in the third year, the first distance learning course they developed became the most popular course at the university with 435 applications. Recently they met with Steve Bell in Stockholm to discuss new design ideas for the sequel of the popular Project Management course.
First Storyline Course in Turkey
Serkan Guney, a Turkish teacher, came into contact with Storyline through his sister Selma who is a teacher in Aarhus, Denmark. This led to his participating in the International Storyline Conference 2 in Elsinore, Denmark, in November 2003. Since returning to teach in Turkey he has used Storyline successfully in his own classroom which has encouraged him to speak about his experiences. Recently he was invited to give a course at a large conference for 1200 teachers. Although his group was much smaller than that he enjoyed his experience. These are some of his reactions – "You should see their faces. They couldn't believe how easy it was to go from one discipline to another and in the same theme. After that I showed a video cassette about a Storyline filmed in Scotland which is about "Space Abduction". I translated it from Danish to Turkish. If I didn't do that they would still understand it again because they where so excited. Even after my presentation time was over people would not leave the place and they asked and asked so many questions. They took my mobile number and my mail address and already the day after there was some mail from them. Of course they asked me to give more information. One them said that she had already begun to do the same Storyline in her own class. And she was asking me how she could go further with it."
A new Storyline Postgraduate Course
The course has been developed and coordinated by Erik Lindberg at the University College of Boras, (UCB) Sweden. The main objective is that the participants, in peer groups, will design a Storyline adapted to the Swedish curriculum and syllabuses. They will also carry out their Storyline together with their own pupils during the run of the course, i.e. a blend of practical and theoretical work.
Lithuanian Seminar
Ona Leonaviciene
For the last three years I have been introducing Storyline in my country. On the 14th of October at the invitation of Telsiai Educational Center I gave a seminar for 30 English teachers in this area. Telsiai is the centre of the North-West part of Lithuania called Zemaitija. The teachers not only learned about the history and principles of Storyline but they also practiced topic "Town" themselves. We sang, made houses and had the joy of seeing how different and unique the groups were and how entertaining learning and teaching a foreign language can be. The postcards with the information about Storyline Conference 3 will help them to find more about what is going on in the world.
Bjorg Eiriksdottir, a teacher and leader of the Storyline Team at Karsnesskoli in Kopavogur, Iceland, has created a new website at www.simnet.is/storyline This should provide even more support for the many Icelandic teachers interested in working with this approach.
For the last three years six Swedish educators from schools in the area between Gothenburg and Malmo have been studying together as part of a Government-sponsored management course for principals. Although the official course finished last year they have continued to work together whenever possible and recently they found funding for a short trip to Scotland to study Storyline. Their programme included a visit to Glendale Primary School in Glasgow where they enjoyed the opportunity to interview Jean Campbell, the Head Teacher. They also met with Steve Bell for an extended, informal seminar on Storyline.
Storyline Day at Edinburgh University
All the BEd 3rd year students studying at the Moray House Campus of Edinburgh University attended a one day Storyline workshop on Wednesday 21st September 2005. The day was organised by Barbara and John Frame,members of staff at the university. They were assisted by Sallie Harkness and Steve Bell of Storyline Scotland. Four classes of around 36 students were actively engaged in working through four different topics. The last twenty minutes of the day was spent in sharing the work by visiting each classroom. This exercise will be repeated in November.
Akureri 24 September 2005
Teachers' University – Reykjavik
At the invitation of Gudmundur Kristmundsson Steve Bell spent one afternoon – September 27th 2005 – with a group of international students from Finland, Denmark and Germany. The Storyline introduced was about visiting tourists to Iceland and, in pairs, the students created a lifesize visual of these foreign visitors. They will have the opportunity to develop their ideas with Gudmundur as their course develops.
SLO Curriculum Academy
– The Storyline Approach
The Institute for Curriculum Development in the Netherlands (SLO) in co-operation with the Edith Stein College of Education hosted a five module course for educators on The Storyline Approach on the 12th and 13th September 2005. Jos Letschert, Professor in Curriculum Studies at Twente University introduced the course and chaired two three-hour workshops assisted by Dr Beate Letschert-Grabbe, pedagogue and educational psychologist and Steve Bell, chairman of European association for Educational Design (EED). The other two modules were presented by Jan Greven from the SLO, a Social-geographer, who spoke on 'Storyline in Close-up' and Marcel Oude Booyink, a teacher trainer who described his experience of Storyline and Technical Education. Amongst the interested participants was a group of visiting educators from Africa and Indonesia.
Chinese Conference in Singapore
The 1st International Chinese Early Education Conference 2005 was held in Singapore from 19 to 21 August 2005. Organised by the KLC School of Education and supported by the Crestar Educational Group including LEGO Educational Centres, it attracted 300 Mandarin-speaking delegates and was held in The Legends Fort Canning Park. Mr Chan Soo Sen, Minister of State for Education, was the guest of honour and welcomed the participants. 60% of those attending were from China and the others from Singapore and neighbouring countries. Early Education was the focus and Steve Bell was invited by LEGO Educational Division to present a keynote speech on the ways in which Fairy Tales could be used in early education. This was as part of the celebration for the bicentenary of the birth of Hans Christian Andersen. At the invitation of LEGO Educational Centres two three-hour workshops were also presented by Steve Bell. The first was for 100 teachers in the Kinderland Kindergarten network and the second for 40 parents.
Golden Circle Seminar:
Havna Rica Hotel
Tjøme, Norway 5th to 7th May 2005
This delightful setting selected by Liv Torunn Eik and Knut Rune Olsen proved to be ideal for our purposes. The starting session reviewed the First Nordic Storyline Conference which had just finished and this was followed by a presentation and discussion of the forthcoming International Storyline Conference to be held in Glasgow in October 2006. What followed was a succession of presentations by Storyline practitioners describing in some detail major publications and developments from 11 countries.
Creative Dialogues
– second language teaching
The fourth transnational meeting of a Comenius Project entitled Creative Dialogues was held in the Buchanan Arms Hotel, Drymen, Scotland, from 20th to 24th April 2005. This group is engaged in developing Storylines for use in the second language teaching of English and German. The partners of the project Gisela Ehlers (Coordinator), IQSH, Kiel, Germany; Heini-Marja Jarvinen, University of Turku, Finland; Dr. Mieczystawa Materniak, Akademia im Jana, Poland; Verna Brandford, University of London, UK, and Katrin Harder, Senatsverw. F. Bildung, were joined by Martina Kankowski, Germany, and visiting experts Prof. Dr Werner Bleyhl, Germany, Dr Ivanka Kamburova-Milanova and Dr Daniela Stoytcheva, Bulgaria, together with Sallie Harkness and Steve Bell, Storyline Scotland. The seminar proved to be very informative as a sharing experience. The members would be interested to hear from Storyline practitioners who are second language teachers.
Quality Hotel, Toensberg, 2-4 May 2005
Organised by Liv Torunn Eik, Knut Rune Olsen and colleagues from Vestfold University College this conference proved to be a great success attracting 150 educators to the pre-conference courses and 180 delegates to the two-day conference. It was the first Nordic Storyline Conference and Vestfold are to be commended for their entrepreneurial enthusiasm. The programme was well-balanced with four keynote speakers supported by a menu of parallel sessions representing many educational interests. The full programme can be found at the following website link.
In February I had the privilege of travelling along with my five sisters to England and Scotland. We were visiting one of my sisters who is working with Mercy Ships in Newcastle, England. When I realised in our travels to Scotland I would not be far from Glasgow, I decided that it would be wonderful to visit Sallie Harkness and Steve Bell. I had met both Steve and Sallie years earlier while taking a Storyline Design Class in Portland, Oregon. They had both inspired me with their positive attitudes and insight into integrating this method into subject matter. I have been using the method for about 10 years now. It had been a few years since I had taken any Storyline classes and I wanted to visit with both Sallie and Steve and talk about education, Storyline, and the joys and struggles that we face in teaching today.
by Dr Ulf Schwaenke
The author first came into contact with Storyline in the early 80s as an exchange partner from Hamburg University to Jordanhill College of Education in Glasgow. He became very inerested in how it could be adapted for use in adult education and has been using it successfully in his own work since then. Although the author of many articles on the subject this is the book he has been planning to write for many years. It is a book based on experience and practice. In it he has included:
1. an introduction to the storyline method,
2. a report on how it looks to a visitor to a school where the
approach is used,
3. some principles of the pedagogy behind the approach,
4. a guideline for developing a storyline on ones' own,
5. an overview over a variety of techniques used in storyline-teaching,
6. some ideas on evaluating the outcomes, and
7. some brief remarks on the theoretical backgrounds.
Ulf describes this book as being written by a practitioner for practitioners. He has included In chapter 8 a bibliography. In chapter 9 there are sample outlines of four Storyline topics.1. an introduction to the storyline method,
2. a report on how it looks to a visitor to a school where the
approach is used,
3. some principles of the pedagogy behind the approach,
4. a guideline for developing a storyline on ones' own,
5. an overview over a variety of techniques used in storyline-teaching,
6. some ideas on evaluating the outcomes, and
7. some brief remarks on the theoretical backgrounds.
Ulf describes this book as being written by a practitioner for practitioners. He has included In chapter 8 a bibliography. In chapter 9 there are sample outlines of four Storyline topics.
Student Week in School
Following the Storyline course in Oslo University College in January (see below) the students spent a week working with all the classes in a school. A record of their achievement can be seen on the website.
Sarah Corrigan. Lochyside
Room 13 is an art studio for children. It encourages them to express their feelings through art. It is run by the students who are in the management team. The management team are responsible for its up keep. Room 13 is based in primary schools around the country. For More information please see our website
Visit to Lochyside Primary School
in Caol, near Fort William
On Tuesday 1st February 2005 three members of the International Storyline Conference Planning Team visited this very innovative arts project. Like any visitors before us we were very impressed by the gallery of work produced. To see a few examples from the gallery click here.
to Oslo University College
Report from Marit Storhaug
On January 17 and 18 student teachers and the staff at the Faculty of Education of Oslo University College had the great opportunity to meet Steve Bell and learn from his rich experience with Storyline. Steve was invited to present Storyline to staff and the student teachers who are preparing for their final practice period in their education programme. In the fourth and final year of their education programme, many of the student teachers are required to organise a Storyline project in their practice period. The overall themes are "multicultural understanding" and "human rights". The students take over a whole school for one and a half weeks. Their pupils are from 6 to 16 years old (primary and lower secondary school). Subjects that are involved are Social Studies (History, Geography and Social Science), English and Religious Studies, among others. By way of introducing the teaching practices Steve gave two very informative presentations about both practical and theoretical principles of Storyline. He greatly inspired the student teachers, their teachers and a wider audience as well.
Last year the students made storylines on the same topics and their experiences are described on this web site.
Nordic Storyline Conference
2-4 May 2005 in Toensberg, Norway
Swedish study visit
to Storyline Scotland
In November Eva Marsh and Ylva Lundin visited Scotland to learn more about Storyline. Eva works for The Swedish National Agency for School Improvement and Ylva is a Storyline tutor and designer commissioned by Gothenburg Road Traffic Department and the Municipal Consumer Guidance Office in Gothenburg to design topics for road safety and about energy and environmental issues. Both have a wide experience in organising inservice courses on Storyline. Read a short report of their visit. or go to their website.
Teacher education and learning outside the classroom
Jesús Piqueras
For the last two years I have been working with storyline as a teacher trainer at the Stockholm Institute of Education. We want to develop a deeper cooperation between our teacher education programs and institutions like science centers, museums, botanic gardens or aquariums (i.e. institutions where learning occurs outside the classroom). I will be grateful for any information about experiences in this area from other universities and countries.
I look forward to hearing from interested teacher trainers.Jesús Piqueras
jesus.piqueras@lhs.se
Lärarhögskolan i Stockholm
UKL, Box 34103
100 26 Stockholm
Sweden
In view of recent tragic events in South East Asia it is with mixed feelings that our Storyline visit to Thailand is recorded.
Following the very successful Storyline course tour to Scotland organised by Noppadon Hor Thong of the Institute of Education Resource Materials, Bangkok, in October 2003, Sallie Harkness and Steve Bell were invited by Mr Noppadon to present four courses in Thailand from 4th to 12th December, 2004.
The first course was held in Chiang Mai in the northern highlands of Thailand. This course was organised by the Committee of the Private Sector and was on offer to teachers working in the many private schools in this area. Excellent accommodation for the course was provided in Dara Academy, a co-educational Christian school which has some 6,000 pupils. One hundred teachers attended and great support was provided by Dr Ratsamee Dangsuwon, Director of Dara Academy, and her staff. Several teachers from the school had been on the Glasgow visit. The topic for this course was 'Families in the Community' which was well received by the many participants. The Scottish tutors were extremely grateful for the warm welcome and rich hospitality provided by their hosts.
The second course was held at the Phuket Rajabhat University Campus on the 8th & 9th December. Here the organisers were three of the university staff who also had visited Glasgow in 2003. This very successful course, which featured the topic 'New Neighbours', was attended by 80 teachers and 40 student participants. It was based on the island which, three weeks later was devastated by the tsunami. Our hearts go out to the organisers and participants who have suffered loss, injury or death in this terrible tragedy. Phuket is the most beautiful of islands and the tutors were once again extremely fortunate to have been introduced to its amazing environment by very generous hosts.
On the return to Bangkok two more courses were presented.
The first was held at the Rajabhat University Chandarakasem Campus and was organised by Ms Patchara Poomacharti (pictured below in gold suit). The delegates were students at the university and staff from the Demonstration School of which Patchara is the Assistant Principal. As this course was aimed at early education the topic of 'Families in the Community' was selected once again.
Patchara was also responsible for directing the final course which was based at the Ambassador Hotel in Bangkok and was open to a wide variety of participants including professors and lecturers from the medical faculty of the university. Also attending were a group of lecturers in teacher training from Laos.. A very special introduction in support of Storyline was given by Prof. Dr Somwung Pitiyanuwat, Director of the Office for National Educational Standards and Quality Assessment. The topic used was 'Capital Tours' which had been specially adapted for use in South East Asia.
Sincere thanks must be accorded to the interpreters at each of these courses – Mr Phiphat of Montfort Academy in Chiang Mai, Ms Ratana Narupatr in Phuket and Dr Walai Panich in Bangkok. Thanks also are due to the many technical and student helpers who gave support at the different centres.
Sallie and Steve are particularly grateful to Mr Noppadon Hor Thong who managed their entire visit with great kindness and efficiency.
Note: Please click on the photographs above to go to the photo galleries.
Storyline Book for Thailand
A translation of the Local Radio Station book into the Thai language has been published by Chulalongkorn University Press ISBN 974-13-3327-7 to coincide with the recent visit of Storyline Scotland tutors to Bangkok. The publication was organised by Mr Noppadon Hor-Thong, Director of the Institute for Education Resources Development and the text was translated by Assoc. Prof. Walai Panich of Chulalongkorn University who also added some chapters to link the text with her own experience of Storyline and to the work of her students in topic planning.
Promoting Storyline in Scotland
As the curriculum focus changes in Scotland towards more emphasis on creative work, problem tackling and imaginative thinking it is, once again, necessary to promote Storyline as a strategy to meet these aims. With this in mind designer, Bruce Bell, has produced a series of small cards highlighting the approach and advised the targeting of the Storyline Scotland website. The cards will be used to promote the effectiveness and relevance of Storyline to Scottish teachers.
Latest news from Greece
For the past four years Ifigenia Iliopoulou has been introducing Storyline to students and teachers in Greece. Her contact with this approach developed from a special study for her master's degree taken at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow. She is particularly interested in working with pupils at the early stages and especially in the area of environmental studies. She tells an interesting story of her experiences which you can read by clicking below.
Antoinette Camilleri Grima’s dream of using Storyline for the teaching of intercultural competence has become a reality. It first materialized in the shape of a publication by the European Centre for Modern Languages (Council of Europe), entitled "How Strange! The use of anecdotes in the development of intercultural competence" (2002), and is available in both English and French. The book itself is the result of an international project which consisted of the collection of intercultural experiences, in the shape of anecdotes, that serve as input to the development of Storyline in the foreign language classroom. Storyline is now being put into practice as part of teacher education programmes at the University of Malta with the specific aim of developing intercultural competence of teachers and pupils.
A delightful outcome from the Second International Storyline Conference held in Elsinore, Denmark last November is the wedding of Jos Letschert and Beate Grabbe held near Enschede, Holland on Saturday 9th October 2004. During the conference they managed to design their own love story. Jos and Beate now have the opportunity to combine their personal and professional enthusiasm and expertise as a very loving married couple. CONGRATULATIONS!
at Kirkbymoorside CP School
Lorna Karetnyk, Deputy Head
Having been out of school for a term doing an Acting Headship I felt that on my return to school after the summer break we needed to do something special at the beginning of term that would encourage team building. The children had been split into different classes and two members of the teaching team were new to the school. It seemed to me that Storyline was the ideal vehicle for doing this. We took the first week of the new term to work on it. The teachers from five classes with children aged from 7 to 11 selected the Capital Tours Storyline as we felt we could adapt it to suit the ages of the children. We planned the outline and introduced the Storyline to the children together. It proved to be a great start to the term as it gave the teachers a chance to get to know each other and the children time to gel as a class. It also served as a very useful baseline assessment of our children. We discovered that their knowledge of European countries and capitals was very limited at the start of the project.
Elsinore Conference Report
website address
Many people have requested access to the conference report of the last International Storyline Conference 2 held in Elsinore in Denmark last November. For this reason Cecilie Falkenberg has organised that it can be reached with the new address
& Teaching with Technology (SETT)
The Scottish Learning Festival organised by SETT was held in the Scottish Exhibition Centre in Glasgow over Wednesday and Thursday 22nd & 23rd September. This major event attracts thousands of educational professionals from all over the country and has the aim of preparing teachers for the challenges of tomorrow by helping them connect with major educational developments. It was therefore very exciting for Sallie Harkness & Steve Bell to be invited to make a short presentation on ‘Storyline for Learning and Teaching’ under the general heading of National Priorities in Education & Practice. Click here for more information
Enterprising Careers:
University of Strathclyde
Teachers and headteachers from a group of Foundation Schools in Holland visited this Centre from 21st to 24th September on a study tour funded by the European Platform. Linda Brownlow, depute Director of the Centre for Enterprise, Career Development & Work, hosted this annual visit which is now into its third year. School visits played a major role in the programme. The Dutch group was led by Hans Kroes. The programme focussed mainly on Enterprise Education but also included a Storyline input. Over the years close links have been formed between the Strathclyde Centre and Dr Piet Conijn of the Educatievestad in Holland.
Swedish Visit
Sanna Ranweg is a freelance Storyline Tutor working in the area around her home town of Lulea in the north of Sweden. She is engaged by the University to give courses for students and is also kept busy with courses for teachers in her region. Her opinion is that Storyline is being adopted more and more in Swedish schools, especially at the early stages and in secondary school. Her work in the university has been greatly supported by the publication of the recent Storyline handbook in Swedish. As part of her own personal development she spent several days in early September 2004 visiting schools in Scotland observing classwork and interviewing teachers and headteachers.
Norwegian Teacher
Trainers visit Glasgow
Marit Storhaug, August 2004
On Monday 16th August a group of lecturers from Oslo University College Faculty of Teacher Education visited the University of Strathclyde's Jordanhill Campus. The main purpose of this visit was to meet Steve Bell and discuss ways in which Storyline might be used as a tool in the initial and inservice training of teachers. The group represented a variety of different subject areas; geography, science, social studies, history and English. Several members of this group already knew Steve and his work and use Storyline in their own teaching. They felt it would be useful to introduce other colleagues to the method.This meeting inspired these "new" colleagues to return home and start using what they had learned. They were particularly interested in the possibilities the method offers for collaboration between colleagues who teach different subjects as this is an area which is strongly emphasised in the new plans for teacher education in Norway.
New Norwegian Storyline Books
This book is one of a series of three which have been written to support teachers and students who are working with Storyline in primary education. Each deals with a different stage – early education, the middle years and the upper stages. The authors are Liv Torunn Eik and Knut Rune Olsen, lecturers in Vestfold College of Education, Merete Fagernes a very experienced tutor in early education and Janne Fausganger of Stavanger College of Education specialising in mathematics. The books aim to model good practice with examples suitable for the selected stages and demonstrate how these link to sound educational targets in problem solving and social competence.Click here for the publisher's website
Storylineboken
– a new Storyline book in Swedish
Cecilie Falkenberg and Erik Haakonsson have selected and up-dated contributions by several authors from the Danish Storylinebogen first published in 2000 by Kroghs Forlag. This new attractive Swedish publication not only describes the philosophy behind the Storyline approach but is also informative about how to design and plan topics and gives very practical ideas for classroom activities. For more information from the Swedish publishers Runa Foerlag click here.
Steve Bell
Since I was holidaying in North Yorkshire in early June I took the opportunity to visit this school to view the results of several Storylines which had been initiated there. I was greatly impressed by the high quality of the work on show and by the enthusiasm and imagination displayed by the pupils. It was obvious that both teachers and pupils were excited by the wide variety of activity and the depth of involvement. Storyline has been introduced to the school by two of the teachers Jill Wells and Lorna Karetnyk and their efforts have obviously been rewarded. I had a lovely day there. I have heard that, since my visit, the school advisor has expressed her interest in this approach and hopes to invite Jill & Lorna to give a presentation at a 'Themes for Schemes' course. I wish them and the school all the very best.
Storyline 1 Summer Course in Oregon
The Storyline 1 course is validated by Portland State University. To gain credit the participants have to attend all five days of the course, keep a reflective diary with an entry for each day and turn in a storyline plan for their grade level. This five day programme has been running for a number of years and has been designed to combine practice and theory. During the first two and a half days a storyline example is developed. The storyline plan is then analysed in terms of curriculum opportunites. On the morning of day four experienced storyline practitioners share their experiences with course members and in the afternoon grade level groups look at the required curriculum and consider which topics might be taught in a Storyline. The fifth day is devoted to Storyline planning. Participants are encouraged to adapt the Storyline they have experienced for use with their own classes or to plan a Storyline with a similar structure. This year thirty two teachers took part in the course. Most of the participants said they had heard about Storyline from colleagues and were interested to learn more about this way of working. This positive attitude made it easy for the course tutors to start work on the chosen topic which was ‘New Neighbours’.
Literature-based
Storyline Courses in Stockholm
In early June, Sallie Harkness ran two one-day courses in Skarpnacks skola in Stockholm, Sweden. This was at the invitation of Mait Adegård the Vice Principal of the school who has organised many similar events over the last eight years. The first course was open to teachers from the area and the second was designed for members of staff at the school. The books to be used were specially selected and you can read in more depth about Sallie's experiences by clicking below.
Storyline at the Second International Conference on Imagination in Education
Jeff & Sarah Creswell of Storyline Design, Oregon, USA, were delighted to be involved in running a workshop this summer at the above conference in the Coast Plaza Hotel, Vancouver, Canada. One of their colleagues Carla Wilson, a professional musician and Storyline enthusiast was also on the programme. This has become an annual conference organised by the Ierg (Imagination in Education Research Group) at Simon Fraser University. Around 350 delegates attended from all over the world. Sarah and Jeff were pleased that the Storyline courses were clustered together giving a strong Storyline presence. Not knowing how many participants may opt for their workshop they planned for 25 with an idea that it could reach 40. However, they were amazed to find that 80 educators had selected their presentation. With some difficulty and a lot of co-operation everything worked out well. Both presenters and participants seemed happy with the results. Carla's workshop also created a lot of interest. It seems that the delegates were very interested in how the strategies in Storyline matched the philosophies of Kieran Egan's philosophy of imaginative in education.
Links www.ierg.net and www.storyline.org
Icelandic Storyline Conference
Rósa Gudrún Eggertsdóttir has sent me information about an Icelandic Storyline Conference to be held in the University of Akureyri on 13 November 2004. This is designed as a national conference for Icelandic teachers but Sallie Harkness and Steve Bell have been invited to present papers in English. You can reach all the information about the programme by clicking on
The film Circus follows the work of Class 3 at Skarpnäcks school in Stockholm when they are working with a Storyline on the theme of Circus. It follows the stage by stage work in the classroom until the highlight of the Circus Performance at the end of the project. Although the film is in Swedish, Steve Bell presents,in English, the principles being followed at each stage of the work. The story follows a teaching plan from beginning to end. The video costs 300 Swedish kroner and can be bought from Skarpnäcks school by phoning + 46 (0)8- 50815600 or by e-mail to maria.lonnelid@skarpnack.stockholm.se
American Community School
Cobham, England
On Wednesday, the 14th of April, 35 Norwegian educators from Askollen skole, Drammen, Norway visited the American Community School, Cobham, England. The purpose of their visit was to learn about effective teaching strategies including Storyline. Rebecca Plaskitt hosted their visit sharing about a current historical storyline, multiple uses of math manipulatives, and ideas for teaching reading and writing. The photos show the Norwegian teachers participating in these activities. In addition, the guests were introduced to our art program as well as our special needs and guidance program. The ACS presenters included Mrs. Pike, a 4th grade teacher, Mrs. Meadows, the art teacher and Mrs. Walker-Williams, the guidance counselor. Everyone enjoyed a beautiful spring day as they ate lunches, toured the school and took photos. Anne-Margrete Marthinsen, Head of Askollenskole, presented our school with several Norwegian children's books that will be added to the International languages section of our school library. This opportunity to exchange educational ideas was a benefit for all the teachers involved.
News from Oslo
A message from Marit Storhaug, an associate professor at the faculty of Education at Oslo University College. "We are nine colleagues in both social science and science education. We work in an interdisplinary way with environmental issues in a course called ‘Nature, Society and Environment.' This year we got a ‘quality prize’ for the best learning environment from our college which we hope to use for a study tour to Scotland." Their programme, this September, will include a visit to the New Lanark Museum followed by a Storyline course at Jordanhill Campus of Strathclyde University . Marit says in her request for a presentation – "Some of us teach Storyline to the students and we are all interested to learn more about it." Their interesting website describes their previous experiences with this approach.
Storyline as a stimulus
to dialoque (in Norwegian)
"Knut Åge Teigen, a teacher at Ringstabekk skole, has written an essay on storyline as a vehicle for tolerance and dialogue. The essay was the written exam for the course in Religion, "Can you learn dialogue?", at the Faculty of Theology, University of Oslo. The storyline described and analyzed was called "Rainbow Street", based on the familiar "Our Street"- structure, and used in 9th grade secondary school. The main goals were related to the subjects Religion and Social Science. The essay's title was "Tolerance, freedom of beliefs and the multicultural Norway – storyline as an entrance to dialogue in the classroom".
International Visit to Kärrdalsskolan
Message from Ylva Lundin, Storyline Consultant www.storyline.se
Last week I had a wonderful experience. There was an international conferense called "Learning to change our world" on the initiative of our Prime minister Göran Persson. The delegates should visit schools that work with sustainable development and Kärrdalsskolan was choosen for one group. They have used the storyline "Commuter Karl" for grade 3 to 5. Seven delegates from Brazil, India, Zambia, Sweden and Macedonia came to the school. Gunilla Fransson from the Traffic and PublicTransport Authorities started with a short presentation of their work. Then I told them about what Storyline is and a little about what they where going to see. Thereafter the children took over and guided the delegates in English and Portuguese. The delegates were told what they have been working with and were shown the work including videofilms and radio programmes made by the children. All films and programmes where translated into English by the children so that the delegates would understand. The children were very serious and they did a fantastic job especially if you consider that they only have studied English for two years. Thereafter the delegates where taken for a walk in the surroundings by the teachers so they could discuss the work with them. One good thing is that "Commuter-Karl" is already translated into English so that the delegates could get a copy ofthe topic outline in their hands.
in Aberfoyle Primary School
Steve Wretman and Helena Moreau, editors from the Skolbarn (Schoolchildren) teachers' magazine published in Sweden enjoyed a morning visit to Aberfoyle Primary School last week, Tuesday 2nd March. They were especially interested to see the Rain Forest storyline which filled the Primary 1/2 classroom. After chatting to the children they spent some time interviewing the teacher Linda Bancroft. Over the last year the school has become the focus for several foreign visitors and Carol Omand, the headteacher, has recently had an article published in the TES Scotland describing her experiences.
Storyline in
Kirkbymoorside Primary School
The news of Storyline travelled via Norwegian friends to this primary school in the north of Yorkshire, England. Jill Wells and Lorna Karetnyk became curious enough about it to attend the International Storyline Conference 2 in Elsinore in November 2003. There, they attended workshops and lectures which persuaded them to implement their ideas on return to their school.
Dutch Headteachers
visit to Strathclyde University
A group of 14 headteachers who are following a two year course leading to a Diploma in Management Studies visited the Faculty of Education at Strathclyde University this week (starting Monday 16 February). Their course leader Henny Lamme explained that they were very interested in studying the Scottish system of primary education, recent developments in schools and the latest forms of headteacher training here. The study course was designed by Jim Allan, Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Education, with input from members of staff. Visits were made to schools in South Lanarkshire.
Storyline Visit by Faroese Students
The Scottish wintery weather made four visitors to Aberfoyle Primary feel at home. The foursome – Katrina Joensen, Friogero Olsen, Bergtora Neilsen and Ester Poulsen – are from the Faroe Islands. And they are in Aberfoyle working with the pupils as part of their four-year teaching degree. The students are working with two classes at P1/2 and P2-3/4 and headteacher Carol Ormand said they had been having a wonderful time. "They're delightful young people and it's been great having them here." she said. Margaret Doran, Stirling Council's head of schools, visited the students this week to welcome them to Aberfoyle.
[Article taken from Stirling Observer newspaper 30 January 2004, with thanks to Donald Morton, Deputy Editor]
Storyline and Staff Development
News Archive 1 / News Archive 2 / News Archive 3
Those of you who participated in the recent International Storyline Conference 2 will know that one of the presentations on offer was by Mait Adegård, Vice Principal of Skarpnäcks school, Stockholm. It was entitled "Using Storyline to improve the quality in education by affecting change through staff development. "What you may not know is that this was also the title of the thesis she wrote for her Master's degree in a postgraduate study at the University of Greenwich, England. In fact she had to fly directly from London and the graduation ceremony to join us in Elsinore. With some difficulty I have accessed a photograph of her big day. Congratulations Mait!
Storyline Study by Finnish Researcher
Riikka Pyysalo is a Finnish PhD student in Education at the University of Cambridge, England. Her background is in educational studies, sociology and learning psychology and she completed her earlier studies at the University of Helsinki and the Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich. While she has mainly pursued the research path she has always been interested in the practice of teaching, learning and schooling. She taught Finnish to migrant children in Germany and worked as a substitute teacher in Finland. She has also worked with distance teachers learning to use educational technology. In educational research, a great deal of work is being conducted in the field of learning. However, the students' voices have often remained unheard. It is these voices that are the focus of her research work. It was through a combination of contacts and findings in her earlier work and lucky coincidences that she came to know Rebecca Plaskitt, a teacher in the Lower School of the American Community School in Cobham over a year ago. She became very interested in the innovative Storyline work being practised there and had the opportunity to visit her classroom last Spring. The idea of collaboration started emerging and now Riikka is actually collecting data for her PhD in Rebecca's classroom.
Freja and Eskil
– New Danish Reading System
Once again Jørgen Frost introduces a new reading system for the introductory period of school. Taking his starting point in Nils Hartmanns novel about two children from the Danish Middle Ages, and in the principles of Comprehensive reading, he offers a refreshingly new approach for tomorrow’s balanced teaching in reading. A beautiful book for reading aloud and many small easy readers are among the important elements. In Freja and Eskil, the children get the opportunity to let their imagination and creative urges run riot and in this way influence the teaching. That is why the system amongst other things consists of several exciting storylines prepared by Steve Bell.
Next Golden Circle Seminar in Norway
Liv Torunn Eik, Knut Rune Olsen and their team of colleagues at Vestfold College of Education, Tønsberg, have established an exciting Storyline Centre in Norway. Apart from the growing number of publications they are producing, they also organise a Storyline Network which meets at regular intervals giving teachers and lecturers opportunities to share their experiences. At the recent meeting in Elsinore, Denmark, the Vestfold Team offered to host the next seminar of the Golden Circle in May 2005 in Tønsberg.
Storyline Material for WWF Sweden
Agneta Kristensson, a Director of Education, working as an inspector of schools in the western part of Sweden for The National Agency of Education, has written a description of how she thinks Storyline can be used to study concepts like 'sustainable development'. This was done at the invitation of WWF Sweden. She first became interested in Storyline on visits to Edinburgh as the head of a school in Alingsås in the mid-90s. Since then her career has taken her in other directions but she has still found time to produce this valuable support for teachers interested in environmental issues.
Thai Teachers visit Strathclyde University for a Storyline Course and Study Tour
Sallie Harkness, a Storyline consultant, recently designed and organised a one-week course visit to Glasgow for 29 teachers from Thailand. The group was led by Mr Noppadon Hor-Thong of the The Institute for Educational Resources Development in Thailand with Dr. Suchinda Kajornrungsilp acting as interpreter. Several members of the Primary Education Department of the Faculty of Education of Strathclyde University were involved as presenters and school visits were made to primary schools in East Renfrewshire organised by Ian Fraser, Head of Education Services for East Renfrewshire Council.These proved to be extremely useful and popular with the group. The photograph shows from left to right Dr Suchinda, Sallie Harkness, Graham White (Head of Primary Education), Mr Noppadon and Steve Bell at the presentation of certificates to those attending.
Successful Conference in
Elsinore 3rd to 5th November 2003
The International Storyline Conference 2 held recently in the Comwell Borupgaard Hotel attracted almost 300 delegates from 19 countries. Once again the participants responded with enthusiasm and the evaluations recorded a high degree of satisfaction of the complex programme it offered. We are greatly indebted to Cecilie Falkenberg and Henrik Stein, from the University College of Copenhagen and North Zealand, for organising the event so efficiently.
