DOCUMENT RESUME

ED 312 664 CS 212 157

AUTHOR Sherman, JaniceTITLE Yes (Virginia), We Can See Your Story: Examining

Story Elements in the Drawing and Writing ofChildren.

INSTITUTION North Dakota Univ., Grand Forks. Center for Teachingand Learning.

PUB DATE Dec 89NOTE 17p.; Printed on colored paper.AVAILABLE FROM INSIGHTS, Center for Teaching and Learning, Box 8158,

University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND 58202($5.00 per year subscription).

PUB TYPE Reports - Research/Technical (143) -- Collected Works- Serials (022) -- Guides - Non-Classroom Use (055)

JOURNAL CIT Insights into Open Education; v22 n4 Dec 1989

EDRS PRICE MFO1 /PCO1 Plus Postage.DESCRIPTORS *Classroom Environment; Classroom Research; *Concept

Formation; Elementary Education; Freehand Drawing;Language Acquisition; *Literary Devices; StoryReading; Writing Exercises; *Writing Improvement

IDENTIFIERS Childrens Writing; *Story Writing; WritingDevelopment; Writing to Read

ABSTRACTThis paper examines children's preferences and

understanding of stories and story elements by analyzing an extensivecollection of art, writing, and teacher observations of one child,Virginia. The paper traces the progession of Virginia's understandingof character, setting, action/plot, and preference for fairy talestructures as evidenced in both her drawings and written work, whichspan the ages 4 years and 6 months to 13 years and 3 months. Thepaper also suggests ways in which tsachers, parents, and othereducators can foster children's understanding of the elements of astory. (Six figures of Virginia's drawings and writing samples areIncluded.) (KEH)

********************1*************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made *

* from tne original document. *

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(Virginia)5.236

Prospect ArchivesThe Reference Edition of the Prospect Center

(c) The Prospect CenterNorth Bennington, Vermont

CENTER FOR TEACHING AND LEARNINGUNIVERSITY OF NORTH DAKOTA

GRAND FORKS 58202

Volume 22, Number 4December 1989

Yes, (Vir$inia), We Can See Your Story:Examining Story Elements in theDrawing and Writing of Children

!INSIGHT

by

Janice Sherman

into open education

BEST COPY AVAILABLE

PERMISSION 10 REPRODUCE THISMATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY

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YES, (VIRGINIA), INE CAN SEEYOUR STORY: EXAMININGSTORY ELEMENTS IN THE

DRAWING AND WRITING OFCHILDREN

by

Janice ShermanWinona State University/

Rochester CenterRochester, MN

Who in the world isiVirginia)?

Children who have books read to themdevelop a sense of the conventions of storiesincluding formal beginnings and endings, centralcharacters, plot and climax, and structures forparticular types of stories such as fairy tales andfolk tales (Clay, 1982; Ferreiro & Teverosky, 1982).Research has substantiated that childrenas youngas two years of age have begun to distinguishstories by the formal opening and closing phrasesas well as by the consistent use of past tense(Applebee, 1978). Much of the research regardingchildren's knowledge of stories and the personalmeanings that stories hold for them has beenbased on the response of individual children toliterature in their language and play (White, 1954;Crago & Crago, 1983) or through observations ofchildren in classroom settings (Cochran-Smith,1984; Bussi,, et al., 1985).

The Reference Edition of the ProspectArchives, housed in the Special Collections Sec-tion of Chester Fritz Library at the University ofNorth Dakota, provides yet another way to exam-ine children's understanding of stories and story

2

elements. By examining the extensive collection ofart, writing, and teacher observations of individ-ual children, preserved primarily on slides andmicrofiche, it is possible learn much about achild' s preferences and understanding of storyelements.

The collected drawings, writings and ob-servations of (Virginia)' span the ages 4 years, 6months to 13 years, 3 months when she was astudent at the Prospect School in Bennington,Vermont. The progression of (Virginia)'s under-standing of character, setting, action/plot, andpreference for fairy tale structures is very visible inboth her drawings and written work.

The influence of literature on the story ele-ments and sense of story that exist in (Virginia)'sdrawings was noted in the teacher observationsduring her early experience at Prospect SchoolWhen she was age five, her teacher (K.A.) wrote:

(Virginia) has continued to do all the otherthings that she began in the fallespeciallydrawing and looking through hooks. (Virginia)'spictures are very funny and lively and she givesthem nice little touchesparticular attention toa hat,or a cane, or a piece of fruit. She so met imes

asks me to write things down on her pictures.She really likes story times, and has a goadmemory for stories she has heard before (Pros-pect Archives, p. 5)

(Y.B her teacher when she was seven , ears old,also commented on this phenomenon:

(Virgina) also likes books and stories a It leathe solemnity that surrounds her own et/or is to

1(Virginia) is a pseudonym given to protectthe identity of this child whose file is a part of theReference Edition of the Prospect Archive. Thedrawings, writings, and observations of (Virginia)utilized in this paper are all taken from the Refer-ence Edition of the Prospect Archives, North Ben-nington, VT.

read. She is particularly drawn to large scalepicture books. These obviously appeal to hervisual interest, but I think she may also tellstories to pictures. Many of her own drawingsseem to "hold" a moment within a store in herheart. (Prospect Archives, p. 38).

The teacher observations also indicate thatthe preferred medium of expression for (Virginia)was drawing. During the year that (Virginia) wasseven years old, (Y.B.) wrote:

(Virginia)' s drawing deserves some special at-tention. Her work is complex, making one cohe-sive statement while including many detailsand story elements. She uses color freely. Shelikes to draw people and animals in action andalso draws large faces. (Prospect Archives, p.29)

The Element of Character

For most children, the favorite subject forearly drawings is the human body. This is alsotypical of (Virginia)'s early drawings includingthe earliest in her file which was completed at agethree, prior to her enrollment at the Prospect School(see Figure 1). This drawing,consisting of six fig-ures, includes details such as arms, legs, feet, facialfeatures, and something worn on the heads ofmost of the figures. This interest in head gearextends throughout (Virginia)'s drawings andexpands to include crowns on the heads of royalty,feathered hats, berets, umbrellas, and even rollersin the hair. Careful examiniation of Figures 2through 6 will all reveal some attention to the headcovering of the central characters.

Favorite types of characters for (Virginia)'sdrawing and writing include royalty, witches,wizards, mermaids, and families. In regard to thepresence of characters in her drawings, (Virginia)'steacher, (Y.B.), wrote in the fall of the school yearwhen she was seven:

3

There is an abundance of fantasy in which Ithink she is the central figureso it wouldseem from her drawings. In the drawings sheoften gives the central figure her own name andthe drawings themselves often imply won-drous events. (Prospect Archives, p. 38)

Later during the same school year, (Y.B.) noted:

She has a fondness for representing kings andqueens and clowns. Sometimes the king is alsoa clown, she continues to invest each drawingwith something speciala hat, fancy chair, a"drink machine." (Prospect Archives, p. 40)

(Virginia) remained in (Y.B.)'s classroom duringthe school year when she was eight and had thefollowing entry written in her records:

Equally her drawing has been continuous andprolific. She draws many subjectslately shehas been enjoying fancy ladies, queens , princes,clowns, houses with fancy doors. These are allfamiliar themes in ( Virginia)'s work, richlyembellished. (Prospect Archives, p. 50)

The dictated and written stories of (Vir-ginia) progress from simple identification of acentral character in early stories to detailed de-scriptions in later stories. The following examplesfrom her selected writings illustrate this progres-sion:

There was a girl fishing and the food of the fishwdropped down and the whale had a umbrella and thepiece of a umbrella fell into the mermaid's mouth. Andthe girl that is fishing only got one fish and she got somepresents and threw them down into the pond . And henever knew what was happening in the water. Thecnd.n

(Age 4)

One day a man was fishing and a 'sterious thinghappened in the water. The worm biter/ the fish's mouthand he throwed up all his food and a big shark cqine longand the umbrella didn't keep him warm at all. And the

-,mbrella piece fell off the umbrella. (Age 5)

In these stories, which were presumablydictated and recorded verbatim, the central char-acter is identified (a man, a girl) but not named ordescribed. The reader has no way of knowing if itwas an old man or a little girl that (Virginia) wasreferring to, for example. It is also interesting tonote the lack of clarity in the use of pronouns.Who is the him that the umbrella didn't keepwarm?

By the time she is seven (Virginia) hasbegun to name the central character as well as tohave eliminated much of the confusion surround-ing the use of pronouns as can be seen in thefollowing writing samples:

The house is a log cabin. A girl lives in the log cabin.Her name was Ruth. She lives with her mommy. Thechimney was made out of rocks. The Mommy's nameis Ruth too. The rope is made out of bark. The log issquare. (Age 7)

Once there was a wizard. His name was Allquoneya.He lived in an underground cave. The room looked likethis: a big cauldron on the fire always cooking, a shelffilled with jars of cut up frogs and books, a bed andwardrobe, ami light , plus a jar of water. He had a browncat with a bone collar. The wizard had a beard and bighat with stars and moons on it and a robe with stars andmoons too. Hehad some gold buttons and silver curvedshoes. . . (Age 7)

This last writing sample, completed during theschool year when she was seven, is rich withdescriptive details about the central characterwhom she has imaginatively named Allquoneya.It is possible to picture this wizard in I.:5 pointedhat and long robe bent over his cauldr, e i to stir themagic potion.

An increase and persistence for rich de-scriptions of her central character is evident in thewriting sample that (Virginia) completed whenshe was nine.

4

Ma was not a kind woman but she was pretty. She hada sweet voice. She had long red hair that was always tiedup in braids. Blue eyes and pink cheeks. She always hada butterfly dress on and black sandals. Pa was n icest , bu t

no one knew where he was. Ma said, "It doesn't matter

I was the oldest in the family (except for ma). My nameis Mary and I an 14 years old. My brother is 4 years oldand his name is Jacob. I have a little sister she is 9 yearsold and her name is Millie. Ma's name is Anna and sheis 35 years old.

We lived in a house next to a house that everbody saidwas haunted. I believed it so didn't everybody else. I

thought that Pa was captured in the house next door.One day I said to Jacob and Millie "Let's go to thehaunted house."

"But isn't there skeletons, goblins, ghosts and witches,"asked my little sister Millie and my little brother Jacob

. . (Age 9)

An increasing amount of details for centraland subsidiary characters is easily traced throughthe above examples of (Virginia )'s writing anddrawing. This shows a growing awareness of theimportance of character as an element of a story.

The Element of Setting

The child's awareness of home as a place orsetting is often visible in his/her drawings of housesat an early age. These usually are quite ste;eotypedwith the :ypical drawing including the exterior ofa two-story house with windows, door, peakedroof, chimney with smoke. Landscape details of-ten include grass, sun, and tree(s). The coverdrawing and writing completed by (Virginia) whenshe was five years old fits this typical pattern.

As (Virginia)'s concept of place or settingbroadens, it is reflected in both her drawing andwriting. Figure 2 and the accompanying story, alsocompleted by (Virginia) when she was five, serveas an example of the importance of school as a

setting for children of this age. It is the first exten-sive experience with a setting other than theirhome for many children.

By the time she was seven, (Virginia)'s draw-ings depicted her understanding of the interiorand exterior of buildings, outdoor settings withabove and below theground details (Figure 4), andan awareness of architecture in different lands(Figure 3).

The selected samples of her writing previ-ously discussed also indicate an expanding con-cept of the awareness and importance of setting. Inthe writing dictated when she was age 4, the readerhas almost finished the passage before discoveringthat the girl was fishing in a pond rather than theocean, a stream, or river. The first writing samplefor age seven (The house is a log cabin ... ), showsthat by this time the importance of setting beingintroduced early in the story has been recognized.This is also apparent in the following writingcompleted at age six.

This is a tree house. And a witch lives ih the tree houseand there was people that went in. And when they wentin they didn't come out alive and the owl in his hole inthe tree was very mad . . . (Age 6)

The use of setting to create a mood for thestory is very evident in the writings of (Virginia) byage seven when she wrote the story about Allquon-eya, the wizard. The reader is given details ofwhere the cave was and what it contained. Thesedescriptive details of setting to p.-ovide a flavor ormood for the story become more evident when shebegan to Ivri te chapter stories such as this onecompleted at age ten.

The Planet

Chapter 1

Oliver sat on the front porch cross legged, look-ing out on the early morning misty moors ofEngland . . .

5

Chapter 2

Oliver aad his family were on a vacation iiiSpain. It was hot and the shriveled plants that g,authere was a very dismal to look at (sic) . . .

The ability to change setting within thesame story has now been recognized by (Virginia)and effectively accomplished in her writing. Byage 13, the written and pictorial expression ofsetting has been eloquently mastered by (Vir-ginia) (Figure 6).

The Element of Action/Plot

Cognitive psychologists and others wouldagree that experience with motion and movementfor the child begins during infancy. Moving ob-jects catch the attention of the infant and the tod-dler is liberated by the ability to walk. The re-peated drawings of human figures which youngchildren so commonly practice may appear to be"still-lifes" or inanimate portraits at first glance.The curved lines of feet or arms, however, may bethe young child's attempt to represent motion inthe form of walking feet or waving arms. Figure 2,completed NA, hen (Virginia) was three, shows sucha possibility. The cover drawing includes action inthe form of a child swinging in the tree. By agefive, (Virginia) is using sequential pictures t o showaction as indicated by the drawing and accompa-nying text in Figure 3. Action in the form of speechis appearing in (Virginia)'s drawings by age seven(see Figure 4). This particular drawing illustratesa great deal of action both above and below groundThe birds in the sky, the building of a sand cast!the tending of a garden, and the activity or inactiv-ity of the moles in their tunnels all seem to bewoven together to provide a multiple story andplot. Figure 5, completed at age nine, seeks toconvey a simple, yet familiar plot. It would seemthat a vendor is selling ice cream and popsicles inthe park. A young girl comes to make a purchaseand both characters in the "picture story" arepleased by the action. End of story.

During (Virginia)'s first year at the Pros-pect School, her teacher (K.A.) wrote of the role ofactior for this child within the classroom settingas well as her drawings:

(Virginia) has played in block blocks, buildinghouses and hiding under large pieces of cloth.She likes to dress up and play house; she hasdone painting and drawing and her picturesare detailed and livelygirls, houses, peopledoing things. She was able to make a fairlycomplicated window picturewhere you opena flap and see what is underneath. (Virginia)has played in the sand, mixing imaginary des-serts, and played with water, using funnels andtubes. She has done a lot of gluing and collageand has made several dolls. (Prospect Ar-chives, p. 3)

This entry attests to the engagement with, aware-ness of, and representation of action which con-tinues through her early elementary years asindicated by this observation racorded by herteacher (Y.B.) when she It as eight.

(Virginia) has continued to be active in dra-matic play. She was a magic rabbit, a sorceress,the quec n in THE TINDER-BOX, Eric theRed's wife, and wicked Queen in Snow White.She continues to develop the expressive powerof her voice and also to be able to provide theproper narrative line to keep the action clearand help the audience. Indeed, during theSnow White production, she was, all at once,the Queen, prompter, narrator and directorwithout at all disturbing the flow of the produc-tio n. (Prospect Archives, p. 50)

Similarly, ( Virginia)'s dictated and writtenstories are full of action. Examples completedprior to age seven seem to be primarily a series ofactions woven together without the conceptuali-zation of a plan or plot (see stories for age five andsix). By age seven, however, a plan or plot isevident in most of her writing such as the ex-ample:

6

One day a witch was stirring her big black cauldronwhen a frog jumped in her cave and the frog saidunder a spell because the wizard put nie under a spell.Can you help me get out of it?" But the witch didn't helphim. She put him in the pot and stirrin him up Thenthe wizard jumped in a cave and said what did you dowith my frog. I put him in my cauldron. What? saidthe wizard. Get him out or you will be a frog too. Butthe witch didn't take the frog out. So the wizard turnedthe witch into a frog to his castle. Ane (sic) he put thefrog in a dungeon. The dungeon was filled with spiderwebs and the frog cried and cried. The wizard was happyall the time. (Prospect Archives) (Age 7)

The development of multiple plots appearsin (Virginia)'s stories written with chapters usingcentral characters placed in different settings andinvolved in a variety of actions. Recall the previ-ously cited story entitled The Planet. (Virginia)places Oliver, the central character, in a variety ofsettings and situations which lead him to adven-ture on a new planet which he has created. The plotand action of each chapter is woven together tocreate a more complex plot which cements thechapters together as a complete story.

Preference for Fairy Tale Structure

ONCE A PON A TIME THERE VVAC AHOUSE AND A LION The END (sic from coverillustration). One day a man was fishing and a'sterious thing happened (story at age five). Awitch, a frog, a cauldron, a castle, and a wizardwho was happy all the time (story at age seven).Mythical characters, exotic settings and magicalevents are common occurrences in the drawingand writing of (Virginia) which have been illus-trated here. Space constraints for this publicationlimit more examples of castles, queens, princeswhich abound throughout her years at ProspectSchool. In describing ( Virginia)'s observable inter-ests at age eight, (Y.I3.) wrote:

guess I've already mentioned most of

(Virginia)`s interests: Drawing, writing, dra-

matics, and handwork. I can add here that indrawing, writing and dramatics, she has a pref-erence for fairy tale and magic motifs. There arealso fancy ladies and houses with greatly de-tailed and elaborated windows and doors. De-tail is striking in both drawing and writing. Inher writing, she experimen ts with styleflash-backs, d ialague, first person, etc. The dialague isremarkably real . . . (Prospect Archives, p. 56)

Once upon a time there was an enchantingchild named (Virginia). She was magically trans-formed into a lovely young lady. And we hopethat she lived happily ever after.

Implications for Educators

Reading, drawing, writing, creative dra-matics, calligraphy. Workbooks, worksheets, flash-cards, fill-in-the-blank. The methods and the re-sults obtained are in sharp contrast. Is your class-room providing the kinds of opportunities thatwill allow (Virginia), Bobby, Suzette, Joe, and Mariato acquire the concepts and elements of story andto express them in their preferred medium? If youare, you too can observe character, setting, plot/action, and fairy tale structures in the drawing andwriting of your students.

The following suggestions are but a fewways in which teachers, parents, and other educa-tors can foster children's understanding of theelements of a story:

a) When reading pictures books to youngerchildren and story books to older children, directquestions and foals discussion on where the storyis taking place, whom the story is about, and thevarious events that happen in the story. Noteunusual features such as differences in architec-ture, geography, and costumes which indicate set-tings different from those with which they arefamiliar. For younger children it is probably ad-visable to focus on setting or character or action foran extended period in order to develop under-

7

standing of each concept. Have children comparethe settings, characters, and actions from severalbooks that you h- read.

b) Provide children with the opportunitiesto draw the settings, characters, and actions fromthe stories that have been read to them or that theyhave read. Prepare them in advance so that theycan be listening to the story from that perspective.For example, "When we finish reading this story,I want you to draw a picture of whom you thinkthe story was about... (or) where you think thestory happened...(or) what you think will happennext." For older children, this involves listeningcarefully to details about the settings, characters,or actions within the stories. Children can also beinvolved in creating settings or costumes for char-acters with blocks, clay, pictures cut from maga-zines, and other materials.

c) Before reading stories to children, havethem make predictions about the characters in thestory, where it takes place, and what happensbased on the illustrations.

Once upon a time, there was a classroomwhere children were encouraged to read, listen,explore, think, and express themselves. Andeveryone lived more happily ever after. (Educa-tors, this doesn't have to be a fairy tale).

8

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Figure 1(Virginia)

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41

References

Applebee, A. N. (1978). The child's concept ofstory: Ages two to seventeen. Chicago:University of Chicago Press.

Bussis, A. M., Chittenden, E. A., Amarel, M., &Klausner, E. (1985). Inquiry into meaning:An investigation of learning to read.Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associ-ates.

Clay, M. M. (1982). Observing young readers.Exeter, NH: Heinemann.

Cochran-Smith, M. (1984). The making of areader. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.

Crago, M., & Crago, H. (1983). Prelude to literacy.Carbondale: Southern Illinois University.

15

Ferreiro, E., & Teberosky, A. (1982). Literacybefore schooling. Exeter, NI I: Heinemann.

Reference Edition of the Prospect Archives. (Vir-ginia). Bennington, VT: Prospect Archiveand Center for Education and Research.

White, D. (1954). Books before five. Portsmouth,NH: Heinemann.

Janice Sherman is an Assistant Professor of Ele-mentary and Early Childhood Education atWinona State University /Rochester Center, Roch-ester, MN. She is a candidate for a doctoral degreein Teacher Education at the University of NorthDakota.

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