Sharing the Stories & Songs of Christmas

Storytelling is a central part of what it means to be human. Holidays often create the perfect context for storytelling. They create 'space' to spend time with family and friends in varied contexts, and each offer opportunities to share stories and yarns.  

In Australia, schools have their longest break of about 6 weeks in Dec-Jan as we approach Christmas. This is a time when we also celebrate the birth of Jesus over 2,000 years ago. 

It's a time for holidays, religious observance for some, special food, music and in many cases, the exchange of gifts. Even if you don't have any religious conviction, most people look forward to holiday seasons as a special time to catch up with family and friends. But hopefully many teachers and parents will consider the deeper meaning of Christmas.

1. Sharing story through songs & music

Storytelling, is at the very centre of most Christmas gatherings. And music has a special place in our 'storytelling'. Whether religious or secular, music and storytelling are often intertwined. 

 

As a child, I grew up in a house where music was sung and played often. This included lots of popular ballads, country, blues and pop. When we went for our annual holidays at the Lake Macquarie, singing was never far from our gatherings. On hot summer afternoons at my grandparents’ home at Wangi Wangi we would swim. But after it, we would end up with community singing on the front verandah of my grandparents' house. My father would take his accordion onto the verandah and ask my mother or sister Dianne to sing. Like a magnet, people would emerge from their tents to join in the celebration. At times 50-80 people would come out of their tents and caravans to join us in my grandparents front yard.

Above: My parents performing in a community concert

 

As well, as traditional Christmas carols like "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" and "Silent Night" they would sing popular music that usually had a strong sense of story.

2. Some examples of books to share with a Christmas theme

Books about Christian traditions have been the focus of hundreds of different titles some are closely centred on the Christian message, others not so much. But the Bible's account of the baby Jesus born in a manger in a humble barn is at the very centre of Christmas celebrations for many.

'How the Grinch Stole Christmas'.

 

In our schools during the Christmas season, we often share stories with our students that have a Christmas theme. As a teacher I always found time for the sharing of the Christmas story as well as some stories with a 'twist' like the Dr Seuss classic Could the Grinch who hated Christmas 'steal it' so that it couldn't occur? This classic and well known Dr Seuss book, takes a different look at the meaning of Christmas.

 

'The Jolly Christmas Postman' by Janet & Allan Ahlberg

"It's Christmas Eve and the Jolly Postman is delivering greetings to various fairy-tale characters - there's a card for Baby Bear, a game appropriately called 'Beware' for Red Riding Hood from Mr Wolf, a get-well jigsaw for hospitalised Humpty Dumpty and three more surprise envelopes containing letters, cards, etc." 

 

'The Christmas Rose' by Wendy Blaxland & illustrated by Lucy Hennessy

 

This is a beautifully told story that traces elements of the story of the birth of Jesus.

The fields near Bethlehem are filled with great joy when angels appear telling of the birth of a very special baby. Madelon’s uncle, his men, and the magnificent kings riding on camels all have gifts for the Saviour. But Madelon has nothing. What could she possibly give him? This version of the Christmas story uses the efforts of a small child to follow others to see the Christ Child. A beautiful illustration of those who would spend great effort to come and adore Him.

The rich and evocative oil paintings by fine artist Lucy Hennessy are stunning and in their muted softness leaves the reader to imagine the scene in all of its mystery and richness.

'The Christmas Promise' by Alison Mitchell and illustrated by Catalina Echeverri

This wonderful retelling of the Christmas story is brought to us by the highly successful team that has brought us a whole series of children's stories based on the Bible. It tells of how God kept His promise to send a new King.

A long, long time ago so long that it's hard to imagine God promised a new King. He wasn't any ordinary king, like the ones we see on TV or in books. He would be different. He would be a new King; a rescuing King; a forever King! 

I love the books in this series titled "Tell the Truth". Like all of the books in the series, it tells the Christmas story in a simple way that children can grasp, while remaining true to the Bible's narrative. The book will help preschool children discover how the Bible explains how God kept His Christmas Promise.

The wonderful illustrations by Catalina Echeverri are also faithful and consistent with the Bible-centered story-telling of Alison Mitchell. Together, they make this a book that both parents and children will love.

'The Nativity' by Julie Vivas is a wonderful book. The story is close to the Bible narrative and the illustrations as you'd expect from Julie Vivas are superb.

'The Christmas Book', written and illustrated by Dick Bruna. Bruna's delightful and simple telling of the nativity story is special. He manages to tell the greatest story ever told with his typical simplicity. This one is suitable even for preschool children.

'Room for a Little One: A Christmas Tale' by Martin Waddell & illustrated by Jason Cockcroft

That cold winter's night, 
beneath the star's light... 
...a Little One came for the world. 

First kind Ox welcomes Old Dog, then Stray Cat, Small Mouse, Tired Donkey, and finally the baby Jesus into his stable on the first Christmas night. Delightful story that tells of the momentous event.

'A Baby Born in Bethlehem', Martha Whitmore Hickman's retelling is based on the gospels of Luke and Matthew. It begins with the revelation to Mary that she will have a child who will be the son of God and ends with the visit of the Wise Men. The text emphasizes the joy of Jesus' birth. Giulliano Ferri's pencil and watercolour illustrations contribute to making this a great book for four to eight year olds.

'The Best Christmas Pageant Ever' by Barbara Robinsion . This book tells the story of how one of the "worst Kids" in the world finds out about the real Christmas story for the first time as he takes part in the church Christmas pageant. The story itself is very funny but it also manages to communicate the Christian message accurately.

'The Baby Who Changed the World' by Sheryl Ann Crawford, Sonya Wilson (Illustrator). In this imaginative retelling of the Christmas story, the animals get together and discuss the approaching arrival of a new baby that some say will grow up to be a strong and powerful King. When Mary and Joseph enter the picture and the events of the true Christmas story unfold!

'The Christmas Story: According to the Gospels of Matthew and Luke from the King James Version' by Gennadii Spirin (Illustrator). This telling of the Christmas story begins with Mary's meeting with the angel Gabriel then proceeds to the birth of baby Jesus in a stable, the visit of the shepherds and the three wise men. Spirin's Orthodox Christian faith is reflected in the wonderful art that makes this a special retelling of the story of Jesus (although not all will find the images match their idea of what Jesus might have looked like).

 

3. Sharing family anecdotes & stories that enrich children's knowledge of the past (BUT avoid controversial topics!).

Another wonderful thing about holiday seasons is that you have time to sit with our children and share the events of the year, and perhaps those we shared with family and friends in years past. "Can you remember the time when we egged Mr Smith's car"? These build children's knowledge of the family and the world, as well as their own ability to share stories. "Tell us the story about the time you got lost in the bush Dad". 

 

"What was it like going to school when you were a kid Mum?" "What was the funniest thing that happened at school this year"? "Tell us another story Grandad from when you were a kid". As you share your own stories as parents, you help to build family traditions, as well as teaching them how to tell stories themselves.

4. Engage your children in preparations 

Having time to do things with your children as you prepare for a time like Christmas will often create those 'spaces' where things can be shared as we make the preparations. Get your children to help decorate the Christmas tree. This isn't just for fun or to fill in time, it allows space and time to share stories and for your children to become better storytellers themselves. 

 

In the case of parents, you might share stories of the type "I remember when...". "Do you know where this Christmas decoration came from?" "Do you remember when you made this silver star"? Or perhaps, while you're getting your children to help make some decorations you can simply share jokes and anecdotes, or reminisce. 

 

A special time in our home is decorating the tree each year with decorations that our children made over 30 years ago! Looking at precious decorations is a great story telling event. "Do you remember who made this?" "Did you know that this decoration was on my mother's tree". Stories will flow!

5. Get children involved in using 'procedural texts'

One of our family's most treasured traditions is the making of the Christmas pudding. As a child, my grandparents involved my sister and me in this activity. This was always one of our special family events at Christmas. I implemented the same tradition with my daughters, and more recently, my grandchildren. As well as the fun we have as we prepare for the cooking, we have to follow the recipe, share stories, and lick the bowls. This is a great language event as stories and anecdotes just flow.

6. Involve your children in the making of presents, cards and gifts

Some of my favourite presents as a parent have been the gifts that my children and grandchildren made for me. It's fun to involve children as we make preparations for the exchange of gifts. This might be making yummy food, lollies or snacks to share with neighbours. Once again, there are recipes to follow, stories to tell, gift labels to write, and much more. Card making is just one fun non-food way to link literacy activities to holiday seasons. As well, children might make a book to give to their grandparents or their teacher. Making items for family and friends to hang on their tree is a great literacy activity already mentioned above.

Summing up

Literacy and storytelling are implicated in pretty much all aspects of life. Holiday seasons are just one context that offer opportunities to ground storytelling in 'real' life. As we engage with our children every day, there are numerous ways that the stories we share can help to build their knowledge and their proficiency as users of language whether in spoken or written form. As well, we can develop a shared history that binds family members together.

Do we listen to children but never really 'hear' them? The lost art of understanding our students.

I've had a paper on my study floor for several years in my pile of papers loosely categorized as those ‘I must read some day’. Many times, I've picked up a photocopied extract from a book titled ‘The Call of Stories: Teaching and the Moral Imagination’. The book was written by psychiatrist Dr Robert Coles. Each time I would skim a few paragraphs and think, "now why did I place this paper from a psychiatrist here to read"? I was flipping through the pile again this week when I saw the Coles' extract once more. I read a few pages and finally realized why I’d kept it. I wrote a post on the topic for another blog I write for parents and teachers who want a faith-basis to school education. But after posting it, I thought that what I'd seen in Coles' book was just as relevant for non-religious schools.

 

I strongly believe that Coles' work needs to be read by teachers, parents, doctors, psychiatrists and even politicians. After reading his work one key aspect resonated strongly with many of my own instincts about nurturing and understanding our students at school. We often fail to truly listen to the stories our children want to tell us. Essentially, their stories about what matters most to them. Instead, we more often observe and draw conclusions based on their behavior, the things we’ve listened for, and responses to our questions.

 

Coles unpacks the lessons he was to learn about knowing and understanding his troubled patients. One of the simplest, yet most profound lessons, was simply that patients - and I would add students at school - want to tell their stories. The question for this post to parents and teachers is do we often we fail to truly listen, and instead begin to ask questions about the things WE want to know, not what they are trying to share.

 

With the mentorship of good teacher and senior colleague, Coles realized his patients were telling him the stories they thought he wanted to hear, and refraining from those things that mattered most to them. They at times did try to share their stories, but more often than not, he failed to listen to many of these things. Instead, he pursued his own narrow questions and they would stop sharing the things that mattered most to them. These became the 'hidden' things of their lives. If we reflect on this in relation to our students, what might these things be? Often, they are their special challenges, hidden pain, life frustrations, hidden hopes and fears. As teachers, I suspect we often miss the stories that offer an insight into who our students really are.

 

 

 

As I read Coles' work, I could see special significance for teachers who try to understand their students. I suspect our school students often carry around stories to which we barely listen. If they do attempt to share them in the 'cracks' of school life, they tend to interrupt the flow of our plans for the day and we fail to listen. Most students arrive at school full of life and keen to tell others the stories that matter to them; stories about the things that matter to them. But do we listen? If we don’t, we lose so much. In the comments they make, and the stories they might share, we would gain a richer insight into the things that matter most to them, not to mention their fears and hopes.

 

In my book ‘Pedagogy and Education for Life’ I say much about story, but Coles’ work has reminded me that we need to amplify the importance of storytelling in our classrooms even more. Children are born to be story tellers. If given opportunities they will share stories in class, walking into school in lines, at group tables with other students, at sport, while waiting in assemblies, or simply waiting at the school gate to go home. Some teachers might see the buzz of such conversations and stories as unimportant chatter. But if only we would listen I suspect sometimes we might just hear children speaking of the fears, phobias, hopes and aspirations that impact on their lives.

 

 

Robert Coles was taught by his mentor Dr Ludwig something critical about not missing opportunities to listen well as a psychiatrist.

 

“The people who come to see us bring their stories. They hope they tell them well enough so that we understand the truth of their lives. They hope we know how to interpret their stories correctly.”

 

While we might be teachers, not psychiatrists, I wonder how often we miss such stories and opportunities? Whether our students' comments and stories are happy, sad, important or just great memories, do we give them opportunities to share them? And if they do, do we actually listen?

 

I share a number of stories in my book about teaching moments when I have gained great insights into my students in the cracks of classroom and school life. One of them concerns a ‘non-talker’ I met in a Kindergarten classroom where I was teaching part-time in a NSW country school.

 

As a researcher, I visited classrooms regularly in the town to explore using writing as a means to encourage young writers to express themselves. I would visit the same Kindergarten classroom each week and run an immersive writing workshop. I started in the first visit by handing out blank books and asked them to: “tell me a story in the writing books.” This might seem ridiculous to the average Kindergarten teacher, but it caused no problems for the children, for if you asked many why they go to school they might just say "to read and write". I stressed that they were to choose anything that was important or special to them. No-one refused to participate.

 

One little girl finished her work and shared her story with me. She simply left her seat and came to me quite excited and keen to read what she had written, much of it was invented spelling. She read her work with great enthusiasm and pride. When the School Principal dropped in on this particular morning (no doubt to check on the visiting researcher), I asked the little girl to share the story with her. She did so and returned to her desk. The Principal was aghast and when she spoke to me later, she shared that the little girl “didn’t speak”, and had said nothing to her teacher in the first 8 weeks of school. In fact, she had been tagged to join a “non-speakers” group so they could monitor her progress.

In my pedagogy book I share a number of stories, that give some insight into the surprises we often receive as teachers when we observe our students closely and listen to them. One story is of an experience I had with an African American student I taught in an Indianapolis Elementary school in the 1980s while a visiting Professor at Indiana University. Chanda (a year 5 student) was not my most cooperative student. She rarely completed tasks, and often didn’t even start. One morning as she dropped her bag on the desk, the contents fell out, including a bundle of paper with writing on the many sheets. I asked her what she was writing? To which she replied:

 

“Nothing, sir.”

 

I gently prodded a little more and said, "what are you writing about". She responded, "not much Sir". I had the good sense to say, “I’d love to see your writing”. She reluctantly pushed a sheet across the table and said, “It’s just music, sir, just bin writin music.” 

 

I began to read her quite poetic and rhythmical writing, and discovered that there was a dozen or more examples like the first that I picked up. Yes, it was music! Some wonderful music (and poetry) that offered a window into her challenging life in a 'Trailer Court'. Chanda went on to share that she had been writing music at home for some time and it was one of her passions.

 

I could go on to share many other stories of students who would wander into my classroom in the morning before classes for a chat. I always tried to listen, and if I did, they often shared many things. Some seemingly banal, others profound, some disturbing, but all offering insights into aspects of their lives and a sense of who they were as people.

 

 

One of Robert Coles’ great insights while working with adult traumatized psychiatric patients, was that all people deep down are story tellers and want to tell their stories to someone who will listen. Sadly, he found that if people do share something of our lives, but they sense others aren't interested, then they stop and withdraw into telling us what they think we wish to hear.                                                            

As an elementary school teacher and later as a university lecturer, I found that our students do want to share some of their life story if they have a relationship of trust with you. Their sharing of personal stories often happens within the classroom in the ‘cracks’ of the school day. But it also happens as we walk in lines to school sport, as they unpacked their bags at the start of the school day, or as they prepare to go home. I always loved playground duty as a young teacher (I know, teachers will think I'm mad), because this was another less formal place where children would come up and talk about the things important to them.

Assisting the formation of our students as people who will take their place in the world is a foundational part of education. To have any right or opportunity as a teacher to do this, we must create contexts where our students are willing to tell their stories. And when they do, we must listen carefully so that we might just come to a deeper understanding of who they really are, and what their hopes for the future might just be.