Couple Passes On Storytelling Skills
By Kerrie Frisinger
Photos by Simon Wheeler
Ithaca Journal — January 12, 2006
Several years ago, professional storytellers Martha Hamilton and Mitch Weiss feared that funding for their workshops was drying up, so they started thinking about backup plans.
Hamilton completed certification to become a school librarian. That's right about when the Ithaca husband-and-wife team started noticing signs — including a book deal and opportunities to work abroad — that they should stick with stories.
They heeded the signs and mark their 25th year as the Beauty and the Beast Storytellers.
In a commemoration of sorts for that silver anniversary, the couple recently published an updated version of their book "Children Tell Stories: Teaching and Using Storytelling in the Classroom." And on Jan. 29, a 20-minute film that accompanies the book will play at the Willard Straight Theater on the Cornell University campus.
The book and film show educators how to teach the art form of storytelling in a unit that helps with reading and writing, self-confidence and public speaking, the authors say.
"We all need to be better storytellers, better communicators," Hamilton said. "It's the great equalizer, storytelling, because you never know who's going to be good at it."
Hamilton and Weiss have been performing in tandem for almost their entire relationship, but many of their most rewarding experiences come from branching out into the classroom, where every day is different and children continually surprise them, they say.
"We would have had a hard time, after 20 years, performing every day," Weiss said. "We've been lucky in Ithaca."
Despite budget cuts two years ago, the duo has maintained a 17-year stint in the Ithaca City School District, now working in six of the district's eight elementary schools. The individual schools pay half of the cost, and donations from organizations or individuals in the community cover the rest, Hamilton and Weiss said.
Overall, they work in about 10 school districts and have traveled as far as Taiwan to share their methods with other teachers.
The storytelling units last three or four weeks, starting with students reading a stack of short stories and ranking their favorites. Once each child is assigned his or her own piece, the student draws pictorial story maps to personalize the story, rather than merely memorizing. Weeks of practice, along with coaching on body language and other techniques, culminate in a family festival where students perform.
Karen Powers, a third-grade teacher at Northeast Elementary School in Ithaca, has worked with Hamilton and Weiss for all of their years in ICSD. The storytelling unit is an "incredible confidence-booster" for her students, but it also coincides with a number of state learning standards, she said.
"Once the kids have internalized this whole process of a story having a beginning, a middle and an end, it translates into their writing," said Powers, who is featured in the film with former students.
Ithacan Peter Carroll, the filmmaker on the project, has known Hamilton and Weiss for years and remembers his son participating in their storytelling sessions. Still, he came to understand their work far better after spending hours with the couple and seeing how engrossed the students were in the work.
"There was this giant 'a-ha' moment: 'This is what you do,' " Carroll said. "There's such a difference between hearing about it and experiencing it."
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Mitch Weiss and his wife Martha Hamilton demonstrate effective techniques for storytelling to the third-grade students of Steve Ryan's class at Cayuga Heights Elementary School Wednesday morning. The couple have been telling stories and teaching storytelling for 25 years.
