Sally Crandall Tells Her Story

Storytelling Start
I started storytelling as a school librarian. I discovered that when we all jumped into a story and didn’t take a breath until it spit us out on the other side, the experience drew us together and set the tone for the lesson to follow. During my time as a librarian, I found good readers make pictures in their heads of the story they are reading, and I knew, from my own listening experience, that good listeners do the same. I believed then, as I do now, that reading stories and listening to stories exercise many of the same faculties.

“You have a rare gift for creating the most extraordinary pictures and making them real.” - Adele Browne, coordinator for the first annual Hock Hocking Liars Contest.

Background
I have a master’s in Library Science and have worked with books and kids in a school library for eighteen years. Before that I was a Montessori kindergarten and preschool teacher. Now, in between working on stories to tell, I work on stories to write and have published several articles in AppleSeeds Magazine and an emergent reader entitled Beavers.

Memberships and Involvement
I am a member of the Greater Columbus Arts Council Artist In the School Program, Artsbridge in Marietta and Parkersburg and the Muse Machine in Dayton. I also am a member of the National Storytelling Network, the Ohio Order for the Preservation of Storytelling, and I serve on the board of the Storytellers of Central Ohio.

Recent Venues
Please take a look at some of the places I have been giving storytelling workshops and performances.

Some recent performances include:

Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, I spent a week in the public schools 2009.

Columbus Metropolitan Library Summer Reading Program 2008 and 2009

Weaver Middle School, Hilliard, Ohio 2008

Dowd Center For Homeless Children, Columbus, Ohio 2008

Tuscarawas County Public Library, New Philadelphia, Ohio 2008

Thomas Jefferson Elementary School, Ashtabula, Ohio 2008

Jackson Intermediate School, Hebron, Ohio 2008

Southwest Libraries- Grove City and the West Side.  2008

Grandview Library, Grandview Ohio.  We did string stories and string figures. 2008

Children's Hospital Hemetology Camp.  2008

Southern Ohio Storytelling Festival 2008. (www.sostoryfest.com)

A sampling of recent teaching and workshop activities includes:

Buckeye Valley West Elementary School 2009.  I spent a week up in Ostrander working on string stories, tall tales and more with the students and staff.

St. Joseph Montessori School 2008. We did a day long workshop centered on the story of the Cow Tail Switch. Through drama and writing, we followed the children of chief Ogalusa as they searched for their lost father, restored him to life. 

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Thurber House Writing Program 2008. This summer I worked with the 4th through 6th grades.  We walked over to Big Dog Cycles to write cycle poems and share them using my mic in the parking lot.

Weeklong Storytelling Camp for 4th to 6th grade 2007.  At St. Joseph Montessori seven 4th -6th graders interviewed senior citizens, listened to great tellers, rode the bus, wrote in our journals about the people we saw, and prepared stories for our senior buddies based on the stories they told us.

Honors and Awards
I was one of the winners of the first National Storytelling Contest held in Hillsboro, Ohio
In 2005, I was awarded first place in the first annual Hock Hocking Liar’s Contest

Professional Development

I attended the Kennedy Center two day workshop for teaching artists on planning residencies. 2006

I attended the Greater Columbus Arts Council's two day workshop entitled Arts Integration for Teaching Artists Seminar.2006

Click on the following to read about my Services/Programs, Who I Work With and How I Work.

Click on Heads or Tales  to take a look at my storytelling blog.

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