THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 24, 1994 TAG: 9406220133
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ERIC FEBER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: 940624 LENGTH: Long
Thanks to Julia Harper, who teaches the hearing impaired at Camelot Elementary School, Daw's ability to spin a mean yarn became common knowledge around the school.
{REST} This weekend, Daw's talent can be experienced by one and all at a Story Festival taking place Saturday at Old Dominion University's Chandler Hall.
Daw, a Camelot Elementary School third-grade teacher and now a professional storyteller, started off telling stories to her students.
``Julia (Harper) kept the doors to her classroom open, she was directly across the hall from my class,'' Daw said. ``Everyday she'd hear me tell stories to my students. I guess I was a little loud at times.''
Impressed with Daw's ability, Harper told other teachers about her talent. During a meeting on ways to celebrate Children's Reading Month last year, Harper mentioned Daw's name to the committee.
``Well, one thing led to another,'' Daw, 31, said. ``I told stories during the Reading Month activities, then to the whole school. Later, Camelot teachers told colleagues at other schools about what I did.''
Last year, Daw was asked to perform at the Chesapeake Reading Council Banquet. A friend of Daw's at the banquet heard her talents and got her to appear at the Stockley Gardens Art Festival in Norfolk. Other wagging tongues got Daw to tell stories on the WHRO-TV Kid's Club and finally into the birthday party circuit.
Daw is in demand, with impressed parents gladly hiring her to take the place of video games or clowns. Daw even has a business card with colorful kid's renditions of a smiley face, heart and sun above her name and the simple title storyteller underneath.
Dawuses no props, no costumes and no fancy lights - just a story in her head.
In the short time it takes for her to tell a story she becomes all the characters, gesturing, motioning, acting and taking on whatever voice needed for each particular personality.
The result is a room full of quiet children staring at her wide-eyed with wonder - and some adults, too.
``I notice parents usually listen to me with the same rapt attention as the children,'' Daw said smiling.
Daw said her ability to tell stories began when she was a little girl growing up in Houston, Texas.
``I loved to play pretend,'' she said. ``I fixed up a closet in my room. I put a chair in there and I'd tell stories to my dolls and I'd sit in there and write stories. Plus, I came from a strong literary background. My family placed a high value on books.''
Fortified with this book tradition and propensity to tell stories, Daw got into forensics and drama in junior and senior high school. She got a degree in history from Texas A&M University and earned a master's degree in arts and teaching from Regent University in Virginia Beach.
She thought she'd head right back to Texas after earning her Regent degree, but she landed a job teaching third grade at Camelot and has been here since.
As an elementary school teacher, Daw said her natural ability with a story came in mighty handy. Her first thought was to use this talent as a special teaching tool.
``The kids learned a lot more and paid more attention when I told them stories,'' she said. ``It made lessons come alive and it was one way to get them to be quiet. I think something profound happens when children hear a story. All these children, whether in the classroom or at a party, are totally with me. They are relaxed, working their imaginations and are away from the violence of television and video games. It's soothing for them to hear a story.''
Daw said she found storytelling to be the best way to teach character building and values to children. She also cited several studies and books on how therapists use stories and storytelling in sessions with their patients.
Some traditionalists may not consider her a true storyteller, Daw said, since she tells stories taken from popular children's books. But that doesn't matter to her audience, she said. A good story is a good story, no matter who wrote it.
In picking out material for her 4- to 10-year-old age group, Daw said she reads scores of popular children's books.
``If it makes me laugh out loud then I know kids will like it, too,'' she said. ``I usually have a good feel for what they like.''
After Daw picks a proper book, she reads and rereads it out loud. Then she rehearses, usually while driving in her car with a tape recorder going or at her Chesapeake home in front of a mirror. During this creative process, she adds her own voices, dialects, gestures and histrionics.
She said her repertoire, which includes about 12 stories and several humorous poems, is divided into participation stories and quieter tales.
``I start off a session with an action story,'' she said. ``It plays off the energy of the children. I have them clap, shout, stomp, yell or sing along. They love to do those things. Then I follow that with a listening story.''
Favorite stories in Daw's program include ``The Little Old Lady Who Wasn't Afraid of Anything,'' ``Heckedy Peg,'' ``Ira Sleeps Over,'' ``Chrysanthemum'' and such Shel Silverstein poems as ``Dirty Dan'' and ``Peanut Butter Sandwich.''
``I always end my sessions by holding up the book I just told,'' Daw said. ``Librarians in schools tell me that when I tell a story, they can't keep the book in the library. That makes me feel good.''
Daw attributes her success to the magic of books.
``When I'm telling my stories,'' she said, ``it's just me and the power of the word.''
by CNB