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Tall tales highlight StoryFest Drew Fleming photo Cailey McCandless, of Hoover Elementary School, tells a tale during the 17th annual StoryFest Wednesday at Southern Oregon University. She was chosen as one of the Hall of Famers at the storytelling festival, which drew 2,000 fourth- through eighth-graders from 32 schools. By JOHN DARLING ASHLAND � Some 2,000 Jackson County schoolchildren have been telling tall tales � all with the encouragement of parents and teachers. In the climax of the 17th annual StoryFest Wednesday, the 89 best fourth- to eighth-grade tale-tellers gathered at Southern Oregon University to do dramatic readings from world folklore for a roomful of judges drawn from all parts of the community. With sweeping gestures and accents, the children brought to life stories of Br�er Rabbit, the Gorgon, Rapunzel, King Midas and the Minotaur. The annual storytelling program, sponsored in 32 schools by Jackson County Education Service District, guides children to research old tales, put them in their own words and develop a style of presenting it to audiences with their own interpretation, said the program�s creator and director, Barbara Griffin. StoryFest has been specifically engineered by ESD and area schools to find its place in school curriculum by meeting state assessment standards for literature, writing and speech. "Keeping a tradition of storytelling down through the ages is a very fragile thing," Griffin said. "It preserves the human wisdom of the ages and the real joy of it is that the kids learn skills that have an active, immediate purpose." "I really learned how to speak in front of crowds better and not be nervous," said Scenic Middle School sixth-grader Kirsten Haga, whose tale was "The Horned-Toad Prince." "I got to find my own story in the library, one I thought was really funny. My parents and I worked on the Southern accents. I think it�s going to help me speak in front of audiences all my life." Some 2,000 area schoolchildren digested, wrote and retold tales in their schools. Judges picked three from each school, forming 13 tale-telling groups at StoryFest. From these, judges picked a Hall of Fame of 13 entrants. The Hall of Famers are: Phoebe Knowles of Bellview Elementary; Olivia Plotnick of Sams Valley; Lilly Walker of Lincoln Elementary; Shay Summers of Orchard Hill; Josh Houghton of Briscoe Elementary; Cailey McCandless of Hoover Elementary; Caleb Morrison of Helman Elementary; Kristen Haga and Rachel Kathol of Scenic Middle; Sophia Jensen and Katie Hultz of Pinehurst; Abby Whitman of Lone Pine Elementary; Brendan Morrell of Jacksonville Elementary; and Ellie Drosdick of McLoughlin Middle School. The final storytellers were videotaped and will become part of the permanent library of ESD and their schools, said Cynthia Griffin, ESD graphic artist. Judges rated storytellers on stage presence, body movement, tone, enunciation and delivery. "I�ve done it so many times now, that reading to a big roomful of people is not a problem," said Matthew Krein, Evans Valley Elementary fifth-grader who read "The Animal�s Share," a story about tricksters. "I picked all the voices myself. It�s fun being not-yourself. It kind of makes me want to be a storyteller or an actor." Parents said StoryFest gives their children the opportunity to delve deep into learning and creativity that would then be used to develop public communication skills. "She worked very hard at developing characters and voices," said Roi Crouch of her daughter Anahe Estigarribia, a Briscoe fourth-grader who presented the Greek myth of Pegasus. "She learned the courage to speak in front of a lot of people. All the kids did, all on their own initiative without pressure from the school. I was thrilled." At the heart of storytelling is the goal of gaining an intuitive understanding of human behavior and culture, said Lincoln School teacher Michele Warrence-Schreiber, whose daughter Lila read the story of Pegasus. "Folktales tell our history, our story as a people and it�s very important to pass these along while at the same time building life skills and character for the children," she said. "They start out extremely nervous," said Jefferson Elementary media specialist Judy Hale. "But they gain confidence that shows all the rest of their lives, plus a joy of sharing folktales that they can identify with in our present-day culture." "They may start out scared," said Griffin, "but after all this, they won�t ever be that scared again." Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.