Spread The Stories
“Stories are our primary tools of learning and teaching, the repositories of our lore and legends. They bring order into our confusing world. Think about how many times a day you use stories to pass along data, insights, memories, or common-sense advice.”
It is rightly said “that through stories we make a connection and this connection garners interest in the reader.” People remember these stories for years. It is re-told multiple times by the legends, which helps society understand nature and how humans adjust to the environment’s change. Stories represent the values and ideals of society and culture.
If chosen aptly, stories can easily communicate the massive problem to the audience in an intelligible way. It builds connection, trust and allows the audience to embark on the journey with it.
When children listen to stories from different genres, to name a few – Kashi Majili Kathalu, Vikram Bhetal, Fairy tales, Arabian Nights, and our leaders’ biographies, they feel inspired and try to follow these great people and emulate their personalities. Spiritual self-development is obtained through value-based stories. Stories are good guides in our lives.
Stories are also a part of our day-to-day lives. Festivals are celebrated by narrating or enacting stories from the scriptures. Our daily conversations with family, friends, and neighbors are nothing but our experiences told in story form. At school, we use stories to understand the new concept, like the lesson on gravity inevitably begins with the story of how an apple fell on Newton’s head!
Hence, stories play a vital role in our life. As a Librarian, I engage my students with varieties of stories along with activities. Through such stories and related activities, we communicate to learners the significance of the IB learner profile. It encourages students to become more enthusiastic about learning, enhancing the sense of community and collaboration in the classroom. Students who hear stories are inspired to write their own to tell and share them with their classmates.
Silver Oaks International School(Vizag branch) promotes reading by giving storybooks on children’s birthdays. This culture of giving books continues from our guest speakers to other donors who want to contribute to our student learning. I have defined a library goal to reach children of different age groups with 20 stories every year to create a love for reading.
In my library lessons, students use their initiative and take responsibility and ownership of their learning. They have the ownership to choose the book of their choice, share the stories, resources, and information with their peers. I create opportunities for students’ interests and voices to be heard. Our library offers flexible spaces for students to think, plan, collaborate, modify, socialize, reflect, and create. Scaffolds and supports are available to instill independence for even the youngest visitors in our School library. Students make responsible decisions and are seen self-regulating and navigating the library freely.
I connect the IB learner profiles, transdisciplinary skills, and concepts to stories and the Units of Inquiry. They are often found using technology tools and various apps to help students share their learning. I connect through read-aloud sessions, reading with a purpose, and five keys to storytelling, supporting literacy.
My life experiences and passion for storytelling motivated me to launch my Telugu youtube channel for all age groups [Channel Name- Sri Valli Gavicherla] dedicated to narrating old age stories that fit our daily lives today.
I love being a librarian because my services as a librarian are a way to serve my nation by making strong libraries; building curious and informed researchers, and it helps to create powerful nations.
By Sri Valli Gavicherla
Silveroaks International School,Vizag