Children, Youth, and Families

Reviewed By: Debbie Hill

REVIEW

This web page is a section of the International Storytelling Center. To fully understand this Web page, it is necessary to describe the organization that has prepared the site. On the Website, the organization describes its history, beliefs, mission, areas of interest and their team. The belief is quoted as: "The International Storytelling Center believes in the power of storytelling…that storytelling is at the heart of human experience…that our stories can enrich our lives and work". The mission of the International Storytelling Center is to rekindle the desire of people everywhere around the world to tell (and listen to) the stories of their culture. "The International Storytelling Center inspires and empowers people around the world to capture and tell their stories, listen to the stories of others, and use storytelling to produce positive change." Through their work, the Center inspires and empowers people around the world to use storytelling to focus on: Children, Youth, and Families; Health and Healing; Leadership and Management; Communities and Peace; and Cultural Preservation. Last, it describes its team, staff members, Board of Governors, and two impressive partners who are Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies and the Library of Congress: the American Folklife Center. The site is very complete, all links are working and the site has a 2003-2004 copyright. It has a way to contact the organization through e-mail and phone. The rest of the Website describes the organizations' programs, resources, storytelling festival, current news and their center. The center has a new facility and gives many pictures online to show off its new buildings. It has a free Storytelling e-mail newsletter one can receive, e-mail postcards that one can send to friends with one of five pictures of the International Storytelling Center. All the pages are organized and with nice pictures. The section that was originally linked to is one of the areas of focus, Children, Youth, and Families. On this page it states its goal: ”The International Storytelling Center provides the experiences, knowledge, and tools to help educators–and the parents of the children they teach–use storytelling to enrich the lives of our children and, in partnership with children's parents, help build family cohesiveness". They describe how a classroom teacher through effective storytelling can enhance their teaching skills and stimulate children's learning development. After describing how storytelling can help students, they tell a success story of how a student had been affected by storytelling. They give an example of a success story each time they describe one of their areas of interest. The center is setting a good example of telling stories in their own website that teach the areas of interest. This is an excellent and informational website that one can refer to about the International Storytelling Center for reliable information.