Vivian Paley's storytelling curriculum and culturally responsive teaching

Vian Paley

The objective of this work is to examine how Vivian Paley's practice of 'sense and sensibility' in teacher inquiry is likely to be useful beyond the kindergarten classroom or, if you wish, beyond formal education.

Vivian Paley is known for her 'storytelling' curriculum as a basis for reading instruction. This is not so strange when one considers that the basis of reading is verbal language interaction, understanding and comprehension which begins at a very early age and forms the basis for reading.

The Storytelling Curriculum

The 'storytelling curriculum' of Vivian Paley "consists of two interdependent activities which are those of:

Dictation; and 2) Dramatization (Cooper, 2005)

According to Cooper (1995) it has "long been recognized for its impact on young children' psychosocial, language, and narrative development." Cooper relates that due to the educational policy of the present Washington administration:."..holistic, play-based curricula like storytelling are rapidly being replaced in early childhood classrooms across America by curricula aimed at specific sub-skills of the reading and writing process." Storytelling curriculum advances the goals of a "balanced approach to early literacy instruction, including oral language development, narrative form, and word study." (Cooper, 1995)

Summary and Conclusion

The teacher must keep in mind the different methods of learning applicable and effective and model their practice with this consideration. While in many cultures the art of storytelling has been lost however in many of the minority cultures storytelling is still a major way that knowledge is imparted from parent to child and this is the method that many children are comfortable and familiar with in relation to participation with others and the learning process.