Lyn Ford tells stories from her native culture, the African-American tradition of the Appalachian region. Her stories are derived from family, community, the oral tradition of her culture, and he own life experience. A professional storyteller, Ford tours the United States and Canada.

Today's increasingly interconnected and globalized world demands that students be taught to appreciate human diversity and recognize universally held values and beliefs. Authentic, culturally based folktales can lay the foundation for this cultural understanding. Professional storytellers like editors Sherry Norfolk and Lyn Ford are deeply committed to bringing people together through story. In this book, they have identified a group of culturally diverse storytellers whose carefully researched tales authentically reflect the cultures from which they come. The book includes well-crafted, culturally authentic folktales contributed by storytellers of varying cultures and ethnicities. Commentaries from the contributors follow each tale, reflecting on the story and its significance to the culture it represents. Sets of questions for teachers and librarians also accompany each story to facilitate discussion. Teachers, librarians, and information specialists find that stories engage students' attention and empathy. The commentaries provide insights into the significance of cultural norms, customs, and beliefs represented in the story, and the discussion questions and guides help them drill down with students to achieve deeper understanding. Resource lists of additional relevant materials at the end of each section promote continued learning.

This book is about the intersection of storytelling and science. Recognizing that humans are hard-wired for narrative, this collection of new essays integrates the two in a special way to teach science in the K-6 classroom. As science education changes its focus to concepts that bridge various disciplines, along with science and engineering practices, storytelling offers opportunities to enhance the science classroom. Lesson plans are provided, each presenting a story, its alignment with science (Next Generation Science Standards), language arts (Common Core State Standards) and theater arts standards (National Core Arts Standards). Instructional plans include a rationale, preparation, activities and assessment.

This book supplies stories, essays, lesson plans and specialized storytelling strategies to help teachers "level the playing field" for all learners and better serve children with special needs. More than 57 percent of the over 6 million American children with disabilities are in inclusive (i.e., general) classrooms; "self-contained" classrooms serve children whose disabilities are either more severe or disruptive. As much as 20 percent of the children in an inclusive classroom are identified as "disabled," with the highest percentage of these having learning disabilities. While most classrooms have at least one child with a disability, teachers often have little or no training in educating and caring for these children. The need for resources that support educators working with children with disabilities or social/emotional difficulties is clear. This book fills this critical need, supplying school and public librarians, classroom and special area teachers, and storytelling teaching artists with storytelling strategies for reaching and teaching children with special needs in inclusive classrooms, self-contained classrooms, and public and school libraries. These full-text stories, essays, and lesson plans from experienced storytelling teaching artists provide educators with a wide range of adaptable storytelling and teaching strategies for specific disabilities and enable storytellers to discover news ways to perform their storytelling magic. The book also offers compelling real-life anecdotes that demonstrate the impact of these strategies in inclusive and self-contained classrooms; presents an introduction to the skills of storytelling, why they are useful, and how to use them; and includes suggested modifications for a wide range of disabilities as well as detailed resource lists.

Folktales, Food and Folklore from the African-American tradition in Appalachia

A lone man wanders from swamp to swamp searching for himself, a wolf-girl visits Wales and eats the sheep, a Welsh criminal marries an 'Indian Princess', Lakota men re-enact the Wounded Knee Massacre in Cardiff and, all the while, mountain women practise Appalachian hoodoo, native healing and Welsh witchcraft. These stories are a mixture of true tales, tall tales and folk tales, that tell of the lives of migrants who left Wales and settled in America, of the native and enslaved people who had long been living there, and those curious travellers who returned to find their roots in the old country. They were explorers, miners, dreamers, hobos, tourists, farmers, radicals, showmen, sailors, soldiers, witches, warriors, poets, preachers, prospectors, political dissidents, social reformers, and wayfaring strangers. The Cherokee called them: ' the Moon-Eyed People'.

"Mark's 101 snippets of sound advice are clearly written, touched with humor, offered in a common-sense, easily accessible format. This book is a quick yet worthwhile read, gleaned from Mark's own steady growth and experience as a successful storyteller and educator. Gather a tip or two at a time, or make this book your evening's entertainment; it can become a self-coaching guide for any new or learning storyteller and a great enrichment tool for the experienced raconteur." --Lynette Ford, storyteller and author of Affrilachian Tales: Tales from the African-American Tradition in Appalachia