Spellbinder Profile - Lee Comstock
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My father was in the Army Corp of Engineers so we moved
around a lot but our "base" or home was always in Virginia. After teaching Third Grade for 2 years
I went to Germany to teach for the Army Dependent Second Grade children. After
traveling to 25 countries and enjoying teaching I returned to the US and
married my husband, Chris, whom I had met while he was in the army in Germany.
We moved around because he was in the US Forest Service so we lived in
beautiful and remote areas in the Nation's Forests.
Being somewhat flexible, I created activities, jobs, etc.
mostly for children. I was a
director of a migrant children's Day Care in Washington State, and taught
Creative Dramatics for gifted elementary students. The Kindergarten I started
in one remote school district was a real challenge because the principal said I
only " needed a log and students to have a good program." Yes, we did
butt heads!
We have a married son in Longmont and a married daughter in
Indiana plus 7 grandchildren! We
visited them all at Thanksgiving traveling 2800 miles to do it!
This is my second year as a Spellbinder and I wanted to take
the training session 2 years earlier but we were busy traveling. Last year I
told to 2 pre-Ks, a Kindergarten, a 2nd grade and 3 fourth grades. This year it
is much simpler a schedule--3 Third Grades and 3 Fourth grades. I would tell
new storytellers to be yourself and find your own style. Each class responds
differently so don't lock yourself in to perfection. Have fun and
laugh at your stories and yourself and ENJOY. Do respect the teacher, no matter
what her style or attitude.
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Spellbinders Show & Tell
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At our December workshop the following stories were shared:Gertraud Jones, Evelyn Kyle, and Susan Bilbo together told the story "When the Chimes Rang" by Raymond MacDonald Alden. Steve Skoglund shared the poem "The Song of Wandering Aengus" by William Butler Yeats and the story: "The Contest between Luck and Wisdom" from the book Wonder Tales from Around the World by Heather Forrest. Dave Fishell shared a ghostly historical tale about the William Cashin copper mine and a watchman named Lemuel "Slim" Hecox. At our January workshop:Bob Spears shared "White Wave" a Chinese tale by Diane Wolkstein. Laurie Kollasch told a very funny story: "The Cookie Girl" by David Novak. Stories are shared at every workshop and are a great resource for other Spellbinders. If you've missed these stories there are links that give you some resources for either the full text of the story, or places that you can purchase or download stories. I am also sure that the library has many of these books so check that resource too!Back to top
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Workshop highlights
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At our December workshop Ruthmary Allison lead us through a "Story Quilt" activity that was great fun! We talked of holidays and searched our memories for stories from our past. Using story sparks from the Newsletter from the National Spellbinders organization we all found we remembered things we thought we forgot! If you do not receive this e-newsletter I highly recommend signing up for it at the National Website. Oh, and the next time you see Ruthmary you MUST ask her how to smoke a ham...or was it a turkey? Anyway it was smoked in a most unusual way!  At our January workshop Ruthmary lead a discussion on choosing age-appropriate stories. One of the sources she used was Janet Yolen's book Touch Magic. Another great resource is Jack Maguire's book Creative Storytelling. The chapter in this book you might want to review is " Finding Stories for Different Listeners." He breaks down the age ranges as follows: birth to five years old, five to eight years old, eight to twelve years old, and stories for all ages. Back to top |
Bits & Pieces You might also like to know.....
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* Terri Smatla, District 51 liaison on our Board announced at our last meeting that Spellbinders are required to wear volunteer lanyards when entering schools. Spellbinders badges are not sufficient for security purposes, so Spellbinders should wear both.
*Our roster of Spellbinders is growing! This is great, but it is getting more difficult to keep up with Spellbinders who are experiencing health or other difficult issues. If you know of a Spellbinder who is in these types of situations please let Ingrid de Leland know so that she can send them a card.
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Someone to tell it to is one of the fundamental needs of
human beings. ~Miles Franklin
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