In-School Residencies

Our residencies take place during the school day. Classes are 45-minutes long and taught in the classroom. In each Residency children have opportunities to hear and read stories from different cultures. The central theme of these narratives is how children have been agents of positive change. Students also write stories and develop a personal inventory of their strengths and characteristics.

WCSD uses stories from different cultures, communities and classes to enrich student discussion. The combination of folktales and true stories is also a unique way to deepen the students’ exploration of community action. In a town meeting students exchange ideas, discuss resources, and establish priorities for their service-learning project. Here again students’ oral, reading and writing skills are strengthened in their exploration of equity, compassion and action.

Past community action projects include designing a Community of Hope Quilt for The Amherst Survival Center, sewing pillowcases for children at the Athol-Orange Family Shelter, raising Salmon eggs to encourage salmon re-population in the Connecticut River. The service-learning projects are an outstanding way to combine language arts with other academic priorities.

The residencies culminate in a final project, usually a storytelling festival. This is also a great time to share your students’ service-learning objectives and accomplishments with families and the larger community. WCSD prides itself on using innovative ways to encourage our next generation of passionate and articulate citizens.

There are Eleven, Fourteen and Twenty session Residency options. All options meet the National Standards for Language Arts and include:

• Multiple storytelling performances given by a professional storyteller
• Facilitation of community service project
• Teaching storytelling techniques
• Creation of a final student performance
• Teacher workshops

The difference between the three residencies is that in Eleven Sessions, children learn fables and/or folktales to tell at a final performance. In Fourteen Sessions, children write and perform their own stories to tell to the community. In these sessions, the community action campaign is supervised by the teacher and happens outside of the Residency. In Twenty Sessions the student service-learning project happens during the Residency and is supervised by both the WCSD program coordinator and classroom teacher. In Twenty Sessions, the teacher can decide whether to have the students write their own work or perform existing folktales or fables.

WCSD facilitates school visits by experts, community members and non-profit leaders to deepen program participants’ awareness, compassion, and understanding about issues relating to their community service projects.

Students participate in a final performance to demonstrate their mastery of storytelling skills. This may be a community festival or a performance in the classroom. Additional opportunities are available to those who wish to pursue storytelling.

“The format of the program tied beautifully to our writing program: engaging opener, main idea, events, character development, problem, resolution and conclusion. Jennifer’s storytelling was sensational. The children enjoyed her games and the modeling throughout was most helpful.”
J. Beyer, Educator, Massachusetts

Contact us about a Residency

Schools in Massachusetts! Check out the Massachusetts Cultural Council’s Creative Schools Program

Creative Schools Program applicants who work solely with Creative Teaching Partners will be awarded an automatic 20 points in their application review. Jennifer Jacobson is a Creative Teaching Partner, so consider funding options through the Council.