

E-text prepared by MFR and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
(http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made available by
Internet Archive (https://archive.org)



Note: Images of the original pages are available through
      Internet Archive. See
      https://archive.org/details/educatingbystory00cath2





Play School Series
Edited by Clark W. Hetherington


EDUCATING BY STORY-TELLING

Showing the
Value of Story-Telling as an Educational
Tool for the Use of All Workers
with Children

by

KATHERINE DUNLAP CATHER

Author of “Boyhood Stories of Famous Men,”
“Pan and His Pipes and Other Stories,”
“The Singing Clock”


[Illustration]






Yonkers-on-Hudson, New York
World Book Company
1918


      *      *      *      *      *      *

WORLD BOOK COMPANY

THE HOUSE OF APPLIED KNOWLEDGE

Established, 1905, by Caspar W. Hodgson

YONKERS-ON-HUDSON, NEW YORK

2126 PRAIRIE AVENUE, CHICAGO

The Play School Series, of which _Educating by Story-Telling_ is a
member, is based on the work of the Demonstration Play School of the
University of California. Breaking away from the traditional idea of
the subjects of study, this school has substituted a curriculum of
activities—the natural activities of child life—out of which subjects
of study naturally evolve. Succeeding volumes now in active preparation
will relate to the other activities which form the educational basis
for the work of the Play School, including Social, Linguistic, Moral,
Big-Muscle, Rhythmic and Musical, Environmental and Nature, and Economic
Activities. Each volume will be written by a recognized authority in the
subject dealt with, as the author of _Educating by Story-Telling_ is in
her special field.

PSS: CES-I

Copyright, 1918, by World Book Company

All rights reserved

      *      *      *      *      *      *


AUTHOR’S PREFACE


This book has grown out of years of experience with children of all ages
and all classes, and with parents, teachers, librarians, and Sunday
School, social center, and settlement workers. The material comprising
it was first used in something like its present form in the University
of California Summer Session, 1914, and since then has been the basis
of courses given in that institution, as well as in private classes and
lecture work. The author does not claim that it is the final word upon
the subject of story-telling, or that it will render obsolete any one of
the several excellent works already upon the market. But the response
of children to the stories given and suggested, and the eagerness with
which the principles herein advocated have been received by parents and
teachers, have convinced her that the book contains certain features that
are unique and valuable to those engaged in directing child thought.

Other works have shown in a general way how vast a field is the realm of
the narrator, but they have not worked out a detailed plan that the busy
mother or teacher can follow in her effort to establish standards, to
lead her small charges to an appreciation of the beautiful in literature
and art, and to endow them with knowledge that shall result in creating a
higher code of thought and action. No claim is made that all the problems
of the school and home are solved in the ensuing pages, and the title,
“Educating by Story-Telling,” makes no assumption that story-telling can
accomplish everything. The author does assume, however, that when used
with wisdom and skill, the story is a powerful tool in the hands of the
educator, and she attempts to indicate how, by this means, some portion
of drudgery may be eliminated from the schoolroom, and a more pleasurable
element be put into it. She undertakes to demonstrate how it is possible
to intensify the child’s interest in most of the subjects composing the
curriculum, not by advancing an untried theory, but by traveling along
a path that has been found to be a certain road to attainment, not only
for the gifted creative teacher, but for the average ordinary one who is
often baffled by the bigness of the problem she has to solve.

Grateful acknowledgment is made for permission to use copyrighted
material as follows: to the Whitaker, Ray, Wiggin Company for the story
entitled “The Search for the Seven Cities” (page 149); to Dr. David Starr
Jordan and A. C. McClurg & Co. for “The Story of a Salmon” (page 255) and
“The Story of a Stone” (page 331); to the David C. Cook Company for “The
Pigeons of Venice” (page 263), “The Duty That Wasn’t Paid” (page 278),
“Wilhelmina’s Wooden Shoes” (page 283), “The Luck Boy of Toy Valley”
(page 302), and “The Pet Raven” (page 317); and to Henry Holt & Co. for
“The Emperor’s Vision” (page 306).

                                                  KATHERINE DUNLAP CATHER




CONTENTS


                                                                      PAGE

    AUTHOR’S PREFACE                                                   iii

    EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION                                               ix

                                PART ONE

          STORY-TELLING AND THE ARTS OF EXPRESSION—ESTABLISHING
                                STANDARDS

    CHAPTER

        I. THE PURPOSE AND AIM OF STORY-TELLING                          1

       II. THE STORY INTERESTS OF CHILDHOOD—A. RHYTHMIC PERIOD          12

           Sources of Story Material for the Rhythmic Period            19

      III. THE STORY INTERESTS OF CHILDHOOD—B. IMAGINATIVE PERIOD       20

           Bibliography of Fairy Tales                                  31

       IV. THE STORY INTERESTS OF CHILDHOOD—C. HEROIC PERIOD            32

           Sources of Story Material for the Heroic Period              41

        V. THE STORY INTERESTS OF CHILDHOOD—D. ROMANTIC PERIOD          42

           Sources of Story Material for the Romantic Period            51

       VI. BUILDING THE STORY                                           52

      VII. TELLING THE STORY                                            58

           Books on Story-Telling                                       68

     VIII. STORY-TELLING TO LEAD TO AN APPRECIATION OF LITERATURE       69

           Some Authors and Selections That Can Be Presented through
             the Story-Telling Method                                   81

           Sources of Material to Lead to an Appreciation of
             Literature                                                 82

       IX. STORY-TELLING TO AWAKEN AN APPRECIATION OF MUSIC             83

           Illustrative Story, “A Boy of Old Vienna”                    89

           Sources of Material to Awaken an Appreciation of Music       94

           Pictures to Use in Telling Musical Stories                   94

        X. STORY-TELLING TO AWAKEN AN APPRECIATION OF ART               95

           Artists and Paintings That Can Be Presented to Young
             Children through the Story-Telling Method                 102

           Artists and Paintings for Children of the Intermediate
             Period                                                    103

           Artists and Paintings That Lead to Appreciation of the
             Beautiful and to Respect for Labor                        104

           Artists and Paintings for the Heroic and Epic Periods       105

           Bibliography of Art Story Material                          105

           Sources for Moderate-Priced Reproductions of Masterpieces   106

       XI. DRAMATIZATION                                               107

           Pictures Containing Subjects for Dramatization              116

           Books and Stories for Use in Dramatic Work with Little
             Children                                                  116

           Bibliography of Material for Dramatization                  117

      XII. BIBLE STORIES                                               118

           Sources of Material for Bible Stories                       131

     XIII. STORY-TELLING AND THE TEACHING OF ETHICS                    132

           Stories to Develop or Stamp out Certain Traits and
             Instincts                                                 137

           Sources of Material to Use in the Teaching of Ethics        140

                                PART TWO

         THE USE OF STORY-TELLING TO ILLUMINATE SOME SCHOOLROOM
                      SUBJECTS—STORIES FOR TELLING

      XIV. STORY-TELLING TO INTENSIFY INTER