Back to School with Master Storyteller

Turning Picture Books into Pathways for Student Growth

One of the biggest challenges in education is time. There never seems to be enough of it, especially for the kind of deep learning and skill building that matter most. Over the years, I’ve found a way to make time through projects that students mostly work on at home, with the classroom becoming a space for sharing, feedback, and reflection. I refer to these projects as BOBs because they evolved from my Building Outside the Blocks approach to teaching.

Each year, I facilitate anywhere from 5–10 BOBs, and this will often include a three-part Building Outside the Blocks project, or a tri-BOB. All tri-BOBs revisit a project over time and provide students with multiple opportunities to grow and develop the specific skills of the BOB.

Back to school is the perfect time to begin with a project that’s both simple to enter and powerful to grow. Master Storyteller (MST) starts with an easy invitation: choose a picture book, in any language you wish, explain why you chose it, and read it aloud to the class. That’s it. At first glance, it looks like a read-aloud. But it’s actually the first step in a learning journey that revisits and deepens skill over time. The skills built through the MST series include verbal, visual, written, and digital storytelling skills. It’s one of my favourite examples of how learning spirals when students revisit a skill with new layers of challenge and creativity.

Many years ago, before I had read Daniel Pink’s A Whole New Mind, I had this idea to cultivate students’ storytelling skills. I realized that storytelling is not only engaging but also a deeply transferable skill across life and careers. I had even been so amazed by the project, I wrote my first post. Whether it’s pitching an idea or sharing lived experiences, story structure is everywhere.

MST 1: Read a Picture Book

The first iteration was simple: students chose a picture book and read it aloud to the class. This low-barrier entry-point gauges fluency, comfort with voice, and narrative style. Since I let students read/choose a story in whatever language they wanted, it was a true snapshot of their skills. Each learner had the chance to shine in a familiar way while practicing a skill that builds confidence and presence.

When I read the reasons for their selections, it illustrates how identity-powered this project can be. Students have selected books that their parents or grandparents read them in their first language or they select a book that they have read many times because it’s their favourite, or they grab the nearest picture book and use it but, when tasked with explaining their choice, they tell the truth and yet find some morsel of the moral interesting or make a connection that actually made it a good choice for them. The reason for the choice is a touch of insight that makes it special and, potentially, identity affirming.

MST 2: Present a story with visuals

In the second iteration of MST, students are tasked with creating visuals for an existing story of their choice. Over the years of facilitating this project, I have seen students use puppets, animation, slideshows, stop-motion, costumes and video, comic strips and so much more. Students stretched their storytelling beyond text, exploring multimodal ways to connect with their audience while expressing creativity and identity.

Seeing students play with mediums is a lot of fun. Often, students try something they had been curious about or a platform they had heard mentioned by a friend, or they use a medium they’ve wanted to experiment with. MST2 is where play meets creation.

I really enjoyed the experience doing the MST 2. It allowed me to be imaginative and learn a new skill on how to create a video with my ideas. I am most proud of how the video turned out. I tried my best to make each slide stand out by picking the right colours, fonts, and images. I am also proud of learning a new skill on how to edit a video. Jazlyn

MST 3: Write and tell an original story with visuals

This process culminates in the MST 3- where students write and tell an original story. After explicit instruction in the writing process and some story writing, students write and present their own original story with visuals. It may be a fictional or a personal narrative. Through the MST process, the students have heard a variety of stories and have co-constructed the criteria for effective storytelling. They have developed visuals to complement a story and have seen myriad mediums. Now, they are provided with the time and space to become story tellers.

Storytelling is an ancient tool and an essential lens. While story connects us all, it is also a great way for students to connect to themselves through their lived experiences, wonders, and desires. Maybe they explore a genre of writing outside their experience or comfort zone. They may share a story about their lives or something that happened to them. Stories invite kids to explore possibilities, create characters, and invent worlds. They may develop a character and put him/her/them into a story where they control the setting and the plot. Writing stories gives kids a chance to express who they are, what they imagine, and how they see the world. It affirms their voice and helps them build confidence in sharing it. This also nurtures creativity, which is a life skill that goes beyond the classroom.

Bringing it all together

I offer a scaffold for the MST presentations. The first time, they can present just to me, the MST 2 requires an audience that can include their friends so they can present it to me and the audience separately or as part of a gallery walk that I do the day before presentations begin. The MST 3 is something everyone shares either as a gallery walk with their vocal recording or as a read aloud to the entire class.

I love how Master Storyteller transforms students in time and over-time. MST illustrates how learning can build in layers, honouring both student identity and skill development along the way. What begins as reading becomes storytelling. What begins as a single voice becomes a chorus of creativity, with visuals, performance, and/or digital expression layered in. Students don’t just practice a skill once; they return to it, grow into it, and see themselves evolve as communicators and creators.

The MST tri-BOB helps teachers set students up for a meaningful, recursive learning experience that helps them enact next steps in learning, build fluency, analogue and digital storytelling skills, and contributes to a class community who supports and champions each other. In a world that runs on story, giving kids the tools to tell theirs is one of the most powerful gifts we can offer.

At its heart, MST is more than a project; it’s a reminder that deep learning doesn’t have to be complicated or time-consuming. By starting small and spiraling back with intention, we make room for skill, identity, and creativity to flourish. Storytelling is how we make sense of the world and share who we are within it. When students see themselves as storytellers, they are not just practicing a skill- they are claiming their place in the world of ideas and voices that matter.

In a world that runs on story, we can’t just teach kids to read and write them- we need to give them the space to become storytellers.

Why the tri-BOB approach works

• Spirals toward mastery: Each iteration builds on the last, shifting from reading to storytelling to multimodal expression.

• Learner-led identity and voice: Students choose texts meaningful to them, from childhood favorites to personal narratives.

• Inclusive, strength-based learning: Multilingual students can begin in their first language, and shy or emerging readers can enter at their own pace.

• Classroom as audience + critics: Peers listen, question, and offer feedback, turning the process into a community of practice.

• No extra class time required: With thoughtful scaffolding, most of the work happens at home, ensuring deep learning without displacing curriculum time.
  
  What BOB should I write about next?

— Noa