By Dr. Robert Glenn

Guest Columnist

As both an educator and a parent, I hope you are planning to take advantage of a tremendous opportunity that is coming to our community in a just a few short days. As a community we are truly fortunate to have this annual event available to us, but more importantly, available to our children. I am so glad to see that many of our schools are taking advantage of this tremendous learning opportunity. But, if for some reason your child is not one of the lucky ones who will be attending the Third Annual Athens Storytelling Festival as a part of a school field trip I hope you will take the effort to make an important investment in your child’s future by taking your family.

Storytelling is an art form that has been with us as a human experience ever since we first started sitting around the fire together. It began as a way of passing knowledge from one generation to the next. Oral history through story telling is a long established tradition in all cultures across the world. And, storytellers hold an important and valued position within the cultures of all mankind.

Storytelling as an art form quickly moved from just a form of preserving history, to a way of teaching values and beliefs. History contains many examples of educational storytelling. The slave Aesop is remembered to this day for his collection of fables, each with a moral. The tradition of Aesop was utilized by the Brothers Grimm as they repackaged sometimes grisly stories to help children learn important lessons, like the story of Little Red Riding Hood teaching the importance of not talking to strangers. Perhaps one of the greatest of all storytellers was Jesus, who used parables to make complex theological lessons understandable. And, in more modern times we have had storytellers like Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan who effectively used stories to communicate and draw people together.

Perhaps the greatest educational benefit of storytelling is that ignites a child’s imagination and teaches them something they don’t often get in today’s mostly electronic world, how to think. The ability of stories to ignite the imagination, stimulate critical and creative thinking, and to dramatically increase the ability of one to communicate complex ideas clearly and succinctly is well documented. We are fortunate to have the very best storytellers in the country coming here to show us how it is done. I plan to gather up my family and attend as many sessions as I can. I hope I will see you there. It is an investment in your family that will bear incalculable returns.

In addition to a great lineup of storytellers this year’s event has a special addition especially for the young, or young at heart. As a gift to the children of our community, Athens State University is sponsoring a free concert featuring the award-winning and Grammy-nominated children’s group known as Trout Fishing in America. This group is a wonderful children’s group who specialize in what I call “adult friendly children’s songs.” That is, they sing songs that are just as much fun for the adults as they are for the children in the audience. I first became aware of this group when I took my own children to a performance at the Springfield, Mo. Zoo more than 15 years ago. Since that time we have traveled to other states to catch their performances in Oklahoma, Texas and Tennessee. My children remain loyal fans even today. My daughter Katie, a college junior, is traveling north just to hear them. I hope you will help us spread the word to families who might be looking for an alternative to trick or treating, or may be looking for a nice family activity to supplement their other Halloween plans. The event will take place on the Square, in the main tent for the Athens Storytelling Festival. The concert itself will take place at 5 p.m. and will end at 6 p.m. So, there will be plenty of time to attend the concert and still have time for other activities. See you there!

Dr. Bob Glenn is president of Athens State University.