The Stonemason’s Daughter
Teaching Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics
Fran Stallings, a storyteller based in Oklahoma, works on a weekly basis with a local 2nd grade class (7- to 8-year-old children). Their classteacher, Mr C, uses the story she tells as the basis for an amazing amount of his teaching, in particular in the STEM subjects.
Fran has posted some details of this work on the Storytell listserv. She has generously given permission for me to publish some of them here – until such time as she creates pages on her own website.
Below are some of them.
The Stonemason’s Daughter
MrC’s second graders are studying physical transformation of materials, as we did with ice/water/vapor (Snow Maiden story last week). I wanted to also address the rock cycle (vis granite/sand/sandstone) and thought of the Stonecutter circular story, but most of that plot really focuses on the Strongest Of All motif.
So I told them Kevin Strauss’ original environmental parable The Stonemason’s Daughter, which I had heard from him almost 14 years ago and he had kindly given me permission to tell the story (including his blessing on an extra bit I added at the end). If you would like to tell it, please contact him.
First I talked with the students about rocks.
What are they made of? Where do they come from?
Most of the students have seen granite, if only in countertops: they recalled noticing the different-colored crystals. Some have visited billion-year-old granite outcrops in southern Oklahoma (Blue River area; Wichita Wildlife Preserve) where they saw piles of huge water-worn boulders.
I explained that granite forms from magma that crystalized slowly underground, then was thrust up. Wind and water wear the rock down into sand; sand is carried away by water, collects in dunes (western Oklahoma) or metamorphoses into sandstone which is common here in NE Oklahoma. They have played at grinding two pieces of sandstone together to make loose sand.
Then I told Kevin’s story about a beloved but childless king who posed a contest to choose a successor: who could single-handedly remove a gigantic granite boulder from the royal courtyard?
First strong men tried (we mimed heaving and pushing), to no avail.
Then clever people came, bringing models of the contraptions they would build (Mr C wants the kids to learn about models) using wedges, levers, and pulleys (which we discussed).
None succeeded.
At last a dusty traveler asked if she could try. The daughter of a stone mason, she had just returned from studying in foreign lands. (I described how a hammer and chisel are used to carve letters, designs, statues etc. in stone.)
It took her many days, but she cut the boulder into pieces small enough to carry away. When nothing was left in the courtyard but chips, the king announced that she had won the contest!
Kevin’s environmental metaphor was that when problems are too big to solve alone, we must divide them up into pieces we can handle. With his permission, I add that she used the blocks to build a clinic for the city’s poor. The wise king wanted a successor who was not only strong and clever, but also compassionate.
I hope the students will take a second look at the rocks they encounter this weekend.
Below are some more of Fran’s posts
They are in no particular order, but serve to show what is possible.
Visit Fran’s website
to find more about her wide range of work.
In particular, explore the Earth Teller Tales, where she shares many articles about teaching natural science through storytelling.
Fran’s article The Web of Silence: Storytelling’s Power to Hypnotize is a deep exploration of many aspects of the storytelling experience, including the storytelling trance. It also offers great insight into the whole art itself.
Fran can be contacted here.
Further resources relating to storytelling in schools
- Science teaching: Hawthorn Press
- Generally using storytelling in schools: Storytelling schools
Go here for a list of all tales included on this site
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Permission to tell outlines my views on copyright
For those who are teachers: Telling stories in the classroom: basing language teaching on storytelling