This past week Chance participated in his school's story telling contest. He decided on his own to just go ahead and get up to tell a story to his class.
The flier for the contest came home in his backpack shortly after the baby was born and when I saw it, I didn't even ask Chance about it since I assumed that he would not be interested.
The night before the contest, Chance informed me that he was going to tell a story for the contest. He was quite confident and wondered aloud if he would get the trophy. Then he told me that the winners would stand up and tell their story to the whole school at an assembly. I knew this as last year on the day that I usually helped out in the classroom, was the day the assembly was held. I was already at the school anyway, so I decided to check out the assembly. It was cute to have the finalist up on the stage telling their story. The kids did a really good job.
I was surprised to hear that Chance was so enthusiastic to tell a story because last year, I tried to get Chance to participate in the festival but he was not interested. I thought he would enjoy telling a story to his class as he is good at story telling. But, Chance was adamant last year that he did not want to get up and tell a story to his class.
It seems Chance's teacher had reminded the kids about the story telling contest in class and Chance decided that he would be telling a story the next day.
I had seen how prepared these kids were last year, and I was slightly concerned about how Chance would do since he had not been practicing any story. Chance walked around the house telling me the different options that he had in way of stories that he could tell. Most of his ideas were stories from books that we have at home.
Then, Chance decided to tell a story that he had made up. The story can be an original work, so that was ok. I just didn't know how this whole story telling would go over. Chance had not practiced and I was nervous that if he mispronounced a word, or used the wrong verb tense that some of the kids in his class might make fun of him. This was a big step that he was taking to tell a story he made up in front of his whole class. I wanted the experience to be a positive one.
In the end, Chance told me his story to me and then to his dad when he got home. He did a good job. It was a cute story about an eagle and a raccoon. There was an error in his use of a verb tense and his choice of words in one part was a little odd, but the story was really good and Chance was confident. His story showed a lot of creativity.
I figured that Chance did a great job telling us his story and he was confident. So his story might not be perfect and maybe some of the kids would snicker if he used the wrong verb tense. Oh well. Chance was excited and he is quite a capable kid.
He came home from school with a certificate that acknowledged that he had participated in the story telling contest. When I asked him how his story telling went, he said" good." That was about all he could muster as he ran through the house to put his pack back away and get ready to play with his friends. Chance does not often elaborate in great detail about what happens at school. He sometimes says that he doesn't remember. I don't think he does. In his world, 5 hours before is oh soooooo long ago!
He didn't get the trophy or get invited to go on to the finals. But he told his story and he is gaining confidence in getting up in front of people alone. I couldn't ask for more.
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