Mel's Desk

Here’s the last in a short series of posts outlining the essential elements of successful storytimes. Of course, these are MY essential elements…yours may be different & I would love to hear what they are!

I’m wrapping up the list with the element of flexibility. I’ve talked about loving storytime, knowing the material, and engagement, and you’ve heard how I consider storytime to be a performance. Well, just as with any live performance, things don’t always go according to plan. Being ready and willing to adapt as we go, as we plan and as we present, will help us deliver better storytimes.

Respond To Your Needs

Storytime doesn’t exist in a vacuum! Our ability to plan and perform is affected by what else is going on in our work week or our home life. We should be ready to adapt our storytime plans based on our particular needs that day, or week, or month.

If much of your time is currently consumed by a special project, try not to stress yourself out by planning brand-new or demanding storytimes for awhile; rely on old favorites for a few weeks. (If you don’t currently keep a paper or digital record or file of your past storytimes, I highly recommend that you do!) If you’ve been out sick or are having a low-energy day, try switching in quieter songs, or present a rhyme as a seated fingerplay instead of a standing action rhyme.

Maybe you’ve been tripping over your own tongue lately when reciting rhymes; you can give rhymes a break and use activities for which you don’t have to memorize anything for a week or two. Many of us have to do many storytimes during each week–rather than do the same thing over and over, try adding extra activities and books to your plan, so you can easily switch to new things if you feel yourself getting bored. Or maybe you get too worn out if you change things up too often, and it’s better for you to stick to the same plan every day.

The point is to try to be aware of the factors that affect our storytimes, and experiment to discover what adjustments will make the process and the presentation as smooth as possible.

Respond to Your Audience’s Needs

Of course, we’re not the only ones in the equation! Being flexible also means being prepared to adjust our storytimes to our audience’s needs. We don’t have to invent a solution on the fly, although I know some amazing storytime providers who can. We can prepare some possible adjustments ahead of time, and be ready just in case.

For instance, if you give drop-in or all-ages storytimes, you know that one week you can have a much younger crowd overall, and the next week wind up with all big kids. Even my baby storytimes can vary a bit—we have weekly registration and a birth-24 month age range, so some weeks I might have mostly infants, and the next mostly walkers and talkers. Having an extra “older” and “younger” book next to me means that I can make a last-minute swap if I find myself looking at a different group than I expected!

Or perhaps you might go ahead and read the same book as you had planned, but adjust your presentation depending on your group. Often you can stretch a “toddler” book for a preschool crowd just by stopping and asking questions and making predictions together. Or maybe you might stop and comment and make predictions yourself, to help a younger group understand and enjoy a longer story.

There are lots of tactics and strategies for these types of adjustments. (Hmmm…sounds like another blog post!) I used to write down about five sure-fire ideas on an index card and keep it next to me. Then if I looked out on a supremely wiggly or disinterested group, and my mind went blank, I could glance at my card and prompt myself with something else to try.

Being flexible is important because it helps us acknowledge and accommodate our own changing personal needs. It helps us respond to the actual families we have in front of us, not the average, typical group we plan for. And making connections with our families—connections with books, with songs, with rhymes, with information, with us, and with the library—is what storytime is all about.

Welcome to the middle of a short series of posts about what I think makes for a successful storytime! I’ve talked about loving storytime, embracing the performance, and knowing your material, but I don’t think any of those elements really make storytime come to life without engagement–engaging with our material, and engaging with our audience.

Engage with the Material

We can’t convince a group of kids to have fun shaking their sillies out unless WE are genuinely having fun shaking our sillies out, as well. Part of this has to do with not worrying about how we look or what people will think while we’re on stage, but part of it also has to do with choosing materials for storytime that we enjoy ourself.

Craft your storytime (within age-appropriate parameters) to reflect the books and songs and flannelboards and other elements that you enjoy most, and you will find yourself looking forward to sharing them with the kids and their parents, and they will look forward to each week’s storytime to find out what you’ll be sharing with them next.

This means paying critical attention to what features you like in picture books, so you can make efficient decisions when new books show up at your library. For me, this meant recognizing my impatience with sappy sweet Mommy-loves-you books and allowing myself not to read them in storytime. Kids will enjoy hearing them so much more from their own mommies than from pragmatic & unsentimental me!

It means noticing when you are getting bored with a type of book or rhyme or fingerplay, and seeing out alternatives. I realized a few years ago that I was running out of steam for the “5 Little Whatsit” rhymes. I wasn’t really presenting them with any enthusiasm, and I felt my storytimes became stronger when I stopped relying on them so heavily just because they were readily available.

If you’ve been singing the same opening and closing songs for a couple of years for the sake of continuity, that’s great–we know how much impact repetition has on children’s learning–but do give yourself permission to switch out from time to time. I’ve been doing the same openings and closings for at least four years now…some moms and dads have come back with baby number two and I’m still plugging away with them! Each time we take a break at the end of summer I think about introducing a new song or two, but so far it’s felt okay to keep going. When the time is right I know I can switch, and that helps me stay engaged with the ones I have and not feel forced into a routine.

Highlighting the materials you enjoy may mean being creative with your theme planning, or doing away with a theme-based storytime altogether! For those of us who present with themes, this can seem like sacrilege, but in fact thousands of storytime providers every week skip the theme entirely (or back into a theme instead of start with one) and the world marches on! (I know, it’s shocking.) I like themes, but I don’t like it when I find myself considering a lame rhyme or a second-rate picture book just because it “fits.” I promise, no one is scoring your game, and there are creative ways to introduce just about any topic, so choose what you like best.

Of course, now I feel I have to include the caveat that we should all experiment from time to time with new books, songs, games, and all that. We want to present what we love, but we also need to stay open to the possibility that we might fall in love with something completely unexpected. Last fall I read “I Want My Hat Back” to a group of adults, and one of them came up to me afterwards and said, “I didn’t really like that book until I heard you read it.” Listen in on your colleagues’ storytimes, ask around for fresh ideas, and try something new every once in awhile. Then tell us about it so we can try it too!

Engage with the Audience

So we want to have a storytime stuffed full of great materials, but storytime isn’t storytime until it’s presented to an audience. Another aspect of storytime engagement is seeking out a connection with our groups as we present. It’s the personal connection that our families feel with us that brings them back, as much as the storytime or library experience.

Look for ways, as far as possible, to build genuine relationships with your storytime children. Work on learning their names, by using nametags, preregistration, or introductions in storytime to help you out. Arrive and set up for storytime as early as your schedule allows, so you are there as families come in and can chat with them before storytime begins. Chat as you break down your storytime set up if you don’t have time to stay and play afterwards.

Make eye contact with individuals in your audience while you are performing. You will feel connected to them, and you’ll also be aware of where their attention is focused and when it wanders a bit. This can help you assess which materials are the most effective and most fun for your listeners. If your group size is manageable, ask open-ended questions as you read the books to foster participation and help you learn the children’s personalities.

In addition to scripted action rhymes and fingerplays, consider handing out props such as scarves, shaker eggs, pipecleaners, finger puppets, or other small items and leading the children in some open-ended movement activities. This gives you a chance to make comments directly to the kids in the middle of storytime: “Oooh, Connor is twirling his scarf above his head! Let’s all try that!” Or, “I see Louisa lifting her knees up so high while she marches! Can you march too?” The kids will love that you are paying close attention, and so will their grown-ups.

I realize these tips are skewed to my experience of small-to-medium size storytimes of no more than 50 people in the room, child and grownups (and often less). If your groups are larger, what tips do you have for us that help you make connections and engage with your audience?

What thoughts do you have about engaging with your materials and how doing so effects storytime? Let us know that too! And come back next week for my last “Essential Elements” post!

All professions have tools, and one mark of expertise is knowing how to choose the best tools for the job, and knowing how to use them well. For storytime providers, our tools include the books, songs, rhymes, and activities that we use in storytime. Selecting age-appropriate materials that work well for a group audience, and becoming thoroughly familiar with them, is a critical aspect of successful storytimes.

Know What Is Appropriate

To craft a storytime that is enjoyable and effective, we need to be aware of the characteristics of books, songs, and rhymes that make them developmentally appropriate for different ages of children.

I remember when I was just starting out with storytimes, and I wanted to share one of my favorite books with the group for a Food storytime. But “Bread and Jam for Frances” was just too long for the young preschoolers I had, and we were all drooping by the time I made it to the end of the story! Nowadays I save Frances for Kindergarten groups and choose stories like “All for Pie and Pie for All,” by David Martin for the younger kids.

I had a hard time writing this post, because there’s just so MUCH to say about selecting age-appropriate materials, and ultimately I can’t squeeze it all in to this post. But learning how long of a story a 1 year old group can sit through, versus a 3 year old group, versus a 5 year old group, is part of this process. We need to experiment, too, to find the right combination of stories for an all-ages or family storytime. And spending some time reading about what gross motor and fine motor skills a typical baby, toddler, or preschooler is likely to have mastered will help us choose fingerplays and action rhymes that will be enjoyable challenges and not frustrating experiences.

We also need to become familiar, through trial and error, with the kinds of materials that work well in a group setting. I love “Each Peach Pear Plum” by the Ahlbergs, but it’s too tricky for a large group–they can’t all get close enough to see the details and “spy” the characters the text is asking them to look for. Inviting one child to do all the motions in “From Head to Toe,” by Eric Carle, is a lot of fun–but when 20 kids are kicking like a donkey it’s a completely different situation!

So knowing our materials well and building an expertise for how they will work in a group helps create a successful storytime, but there’s another aspect of “knowing the material” that’s critical as well.

Memorize It

I know not everyone feels the same I as I do on this one, but I believe that the best presenters are the ones who do not have to look at their notes extensively or read song lyrics or rhymes off of cue cards. They know all the verses to the the songs they are going to sing. They’ve practiced all the motions to the fingerplays. They have read their books at least a couple times before storytime–possibly dozens of times if it’s an old favorite.

It takes more effort and preparation to become this familiar with the material, but when we are, it helps us give better storytimes. This is because it frees us up to pay closer attention to the audience, and gauge their reactions and their engagement. We can make better eye contact with the children who are listening to us, which helps them stay focused. I also think when we have our songs and rhymes memorized, it’s easier for us to invest the words we say with more expression and give them a more dynamic reading…something else that helps keep young children’s attention on us. Last but not least, when we KNOW we know what we’re doing, we feel more confident, and that confidence translates to a more effective presentation (which is another one of my essential elements).

So knowing our stuff, is, I think, an essential element of successful storytimes. What are your thoughts? Let us know! And come back next week to find out what else is on my list!

Storytime is a different library service than reference work, reader’s advisory, or circulation assistance in that it is not a one-to-one transaction. It is a performance, a show, not a conversation. To present the best storytimes, I believe we need to understand and accept this.

Be Comfortable on Stage

When we’re prepping our storytimes, we need to not just prepare our material, but prepare ourselves to be in front of an audience, and be their center of attention. Their eyes will be on us, their attention will be to our actions, and not only do we have to accept this, but we have to go out of our way to ensure it! This is a very different mindset than we have the rest of our week. (Well, I don’t bust out in song in the produce section, but maybe you do.)

We need to be willing to expand our working definition of professional behavior so that it includes singing, dancing, and expressing ourselves to grownups and children without being self-conscious. Even reading books to a group requires a different skill set than reading to one or two children at home.

Fill the Stage

We can be comfortable on a stage and still not be very practiced at it. This is natural! Not all of us have high school drama or band or choir solo experiences to draw on, or are natural extroverts. But I think successful storytimes do require thought beyond book and material selection, to dramatic conventions such as voice projection, audience awareness, prop manipulation, staging, pacing, and continuity.

When you watch actors on TV or on the stage, it’s easy to get caught up in the story and forget how much rehearsal and attention to detail goes into every show. Actors do breathing exercises to help them project their voices; they do walk-throughs of each scene to learn where they need to stand and how to hold their hands and when and where precisely to pick up and set down props. They practice their lines on their own until they can say them fluidly, then practice them with the rest of the cast to fine tune the timing. Even improv comedians practice! They may not be rehearsing lines, but certainly they work on how to express emotions with their faces and bodies and they build their general background knowledge so they can make connections on stage and they brainstorm possible reactions to different scenarios.

Storytime Providers are Performers

Storytime providers have lines, and sets, and props, as well. Preparing for storytime shouldn’t just mean choosing your books and your songs, but practicing holding your book and singing your song. It means setting your stage so you know exactly where each item is and you can put your hands on it at the right time. Bands prepare set lists and know who is going to introduce each song; storytime providers can too. You don’t have to follow your plan to the letter, but thinking a sequence through in advance and planning some transitional comments can save you time and lessen your distraction during storytime itself. Part of your thinking about storytime is running through possible situations ahead of time—what will you do if no one wants to get up and dance? What will you do if you have a super-chatty three-year-old?

A couple of years ago, I was presenting a “Moon and Rockets” storytime to a crowd of infants and young toddlers. I was sitting in my chair, talking about what astronauts wear, and all of a sudden I looked down and saw my friend Tyler. He was about 8 months old, and had crawled all the way across the room, grabbed the hem of my skirt, and pulled it out over his head. I laughed and said, “Tyler! Astronauts ALSO wear underwear, but we aren’t talking about that today!” Everyone else laughed too, and Tyler’s mom scooped him up, and on we went with storytime.

This is a funny story, and I love to tell it because believe me, I am not always so quick witted and people don’t always laugh at my jokes! But I tell it also because that response is not something I would have been capable of as a newbie storytime provider. It took a lot of practice and a lot of storytimes to get me to the point where I am that comfortable on stage. Where the unexpected doesn’t (usually) disconcert me, where I’m comfortable with all eyes on me (even during slightly embarrassing moments), where I can interact spontaneously with my audience, and where I’m able to keep storytime moving along to the next scene.

Give Yourself Credit

I also think we owe it to ourselves and our profession not to disparage our fill-the-stage performances or our funny improv moments as “just being goofy” or “just being a kid.” You know what? You may be having a great time (in fact that’s another one of my essential elements), but if people are enjoying your storytime, it’s not just by chance. Consciously or unconsciously you are working hard to command the stage, empower yourself, and employ dramatic techniques to enable your audience’s understanding and enjoyment. Don’t brush that off. And if your style is not over-the-top, you are still filling the stage. You don’t have to chew the scenery to embrace the performance. (In fact one storytime provider I know is so Zen and calm I always leave her storytimes feeling like I’ve been to the spa.)

I think that treating storytime as a true performance contributes to a successful storytime. What do you think? Let us know! Then come back next week to find out what else is on my list!