Dear class,
I enjoyed your storytelling yesterday. The Pourquoi or Just so…-style short stories lend themselves nicely to an oral storytelling scenario. Those students who have already told their story will have their Speaking and Listening mark entered on the Yr 9 tracker before the end of tomorrow so you can ask Mr Bakewell for your marks when you see him next. (Of course, you can email me and I’ll get back to you with your mark, if you’d prefer not to wait.)
Your home learning is two-fold:
- I’d like you to write your reflections on your storytelling ‘performance’ (for that’s what it was) in the comments box below. Think about what you did well in preparation for, and in the execution of, your story; consider, too, what you need to do to get an even better mark. You might use the marking criteria below to suggest a mark for yourself; use the criteria too when considering what you have to do to get a higher mark (if this is possible!) next time.
- I would also like to hear your thoughts on the African Folk Tales scheme of learning. While you may tell me what you enjoyed and what needs to be improved, I’d especially like you to concentrate on what skills you have improved during the last half-term and what you feel you still need help with.
I look forward to reading your comments, which should be entered below by Wednesday 10 July.
Again, well done!
Mr Legowski
English at Dartmouth Academy 
1)I feel that my preparation went well yet when it came to the actual performance my nerves got the better if me and I ended up holding my book and not gesturing. I did look at the audience several times and I did vary the tone in my voice. As for my mark I don’t know but I know it will not be high.
2) I do enjoy story writing but I do not have much confidence when it comes to performing. I have improved my story writing during this topic and I am very proud of my story I have written. But I feel that I need help with my confidence.
1) I dont think that I rehearsed my story enough, so when it got to the actual performance I did not know my story well enough to tell it from memory and I ended up basically reading from the sheet, which meant that I wasn’t looking at my audience, and would not have been speaking as clearly and with as much expression as I could have been.
2) I do enjoy writing stories in school but I don’t really have the confidence when I have to read my story out. The skills I have improved this term are definitely my writing skills but I think that I need to improve my confidence when telling my story.
1) I didn’t get to read my story out, but in preparation for it I revised reading it aloud and not aloud until I could nearly do it without the book.
2) I enjoyed the scheme of learning overall, but I don’t know which particular part I enjoyed the most. The topic helped me to add detail into what I was writing, but I need to improve adding tone when I read aloud. To improve the topic, we could have looked at different African stories to get more of an idea what they are like.
1) I didn’t read out my story last week
2)I did enjoy some parts of the of the scheme of learning because I do like writing stories but in the lessons I had no Idea on what to write and didn’t like the topic. I improved in my writing skills because I like my story even though I don’t think I quiet understood what a just so story is but I think I need to improve on my confidence and story writing skills.
1) I think that my performance was okay however I did not look up as much as I could, this is because I wasn’t as prepared as I could of been, which affect my speaking aloud.
2)I enjoy writing stories how ever I do not enjoy performing them in front on the class. I think I have improved this term with my punctuation and connectives. To improve I still need to be more confident when speaking and show this by varying tone and pace.
1) In preparation I feel like I was more confident and I knew my story well but when it came to the actual performance I was really nervous and forgot parts of my story so had to keep referring to my sheet of paper. However, I did look up some times to make eye contact with people and read it clearly.
2) This scheme of learning was good but it was really long and I didn’t like having to write a story about ‘how the…’ Also, I really don’t like speaking in front of other people on my own. However, I did learn some new writing techniques.
1) I didn’t read out my story, however i think i prepared well, as i practiced reading it aloud a few times and i also worked hard on trying to bring an element for a younger audience as well as an older one. (I do think that in the the end my story was drifting towards a lower age group and next time i will improve on this to get a higher mark).
2) Overall, i have enjoyed this scheme of learning. The part i enjoyed the most was hearing our stories read aloud, but in pairs (not as a whole group). The part of this scheme of learning that i least enjoyed was reading the original stories at the beginning of the topic, as i found them very difficult to read. I think i have improved my ability to tell a story to an individual with more confidence.