About Us
A Short History of Speaking Stories
Speaking Stories began as a way to address the lack of engaging reading materials for second language learners, third graders and up. In 2011 the World Wide Web added native sound to its platform, making it possible for us to create web-based stories with sound, pictures, and other comprehension supports.These stories enable struggling readers to read above their reading level and internalize reading strategies that good readers use intuitively. In 2012 we produced a pilot Speaking Story, Chapter 1 of the science fiction novella, “Black Amazon of Mars”.
Over the next several years, we made major enhancements to the effectiveness of the pilot story, trying the story with a variety of middle school struggling readers. We had very good responses from our readers, who were engaged by the story, able to read above their current reading level, and motivated to read the story to its end. Teachers, tutors, and kids requested more Speaking Stories.
As we came to understand our readers better, we realized that the most motivating and empowering stories are ones that speak directly to what matters in the reader’s life. Looking for stories from the diverse communities in which struggling readers live, we offered writing-reading workshops in which students can write the stories and poems that will become the next Speaking Stories. We quickly saw that such workshops benefit writers, readers, and their communities:
- Writers are empowered by knowing their stories help younger readers read well.
- Readers are empowered by the role model of the story writers.
Now we seek to train libraries and other community organizations to run Speaking Stories workshops in their own communities.
Who We Are
ALLEGRA MAY, Web Developer—Allegra has a Master of Arts in Teaching from Harvard Graduate School of Education and has made films about child development at Harvard University’s Center for Cognitive Studies. She has been a Member of Technical Staff at Lucent Technologies, where she was responsible for process design, project management, and software documentation. For ten years she was an independent film maker, directing and editing a number of documentary films.
ELIZABETH KIMBALL, ESL and Writing Teacher—Betsy is a teacher and linguist who has taught English Language Learners and writing for over 20 years. She has a Master of Arts in English from Middlebury College, a Master of Arts in English Language and Linguistics from the University of New Hampshire, and a Master of Arts in Russian from the State University of New York at Albany.
ROLAND GOODBODY, Writer—Roland is an award-winning actor, writer and director in seacoast New Hampshire and Maine theater. He won a Lifetime Recognition Award in 2012 and the Best Short Play writer award in 2013. Roland was an archivist at the University of New Hampshire Library for 28 years. He is English and has a university degree from England in English and American Studies.
And Our Many Helpers
We want to thank the many people who have contributed in so many ways to the concept and execution of Speaking Stories. These include:
Catherine, Gina, Rosemary, Marie, Doug, Brian, Gaile, Bryan, Joanne, Quinn, Mary, Jean, Allison, Lisa, Tim, Michael, Shan, Haidee, Peggy, Kerima, Steve, Wendy, Aaron, Grace, Valerie, Margaret, Amy, Karen, Michelle, Lou, Chuck, Heather, Georgie, Helaine, and Kate.