Provocations and Environments in Storytelling

Provocations are at the heart of storytelling. While preparing to teach a class, I recently reflected on the role of provocations in classroom environments. I remembered a specific incident about how dramatic play engaged children in our program. 

The educators were working to jump-start vocabulary development in our bilingual classrooms. The work started by observing how boys and girls interacted in the dramatic play area of each classroom (as dramatic play was ripe with language development) and the words children used during play. I realized that the traditional dramatic play settings (especially kitchen sets) often are divided by gender as children approach kindergarten.

While observing the dramatic play area, educators observed complex vocabulary and negotiation of stories that extended over time. Understanding that dramatic play was the heart of language in our classrooms and traditional dramatic play areas did not entice our preschool boys the same way it attracted girls made me look for spaces where the boys were working. Educators discovered that the boys spent a significant amount of time in the building area of our classrooms. The educators discussed the different language used in the building area compared to the dramatic play area. 

How did we extend the language in our classrooms and include all children in dramatic play?

The educators decided to fundamentally change the classroom environment to see how we could engage all children in the rich art of storytelling during dramatic play. We removed the kitchen and the building areas and replaced them with a series of provocations. In one classroom, the children became enthralled with the outdoors and nature. A family camping trip had inspired rich discussions about sleeping under the stars. We set up a camping provocation in the middle of the classrooms, a camping scene with a fire pit, tent, camping chairs, lanterns, and other camping gear. 

The classroom dynamics changed after installing the camping provocation as children of both genders engaged in the new dramatic play area. Language and social negotiations thrived by having the dramatic play area in a new location in the center of the room. Moving the provocation to the center of the room also invited children to connect to the dramatic play space from all other classrooms. As the space evolved, the centralized location supported materials from different classroom areas—children engaged in scaffolding the provocations with new materials from around the classrooms that became everything imaginable, and language expanded further.

At one point, an easel made it to the center of the room. We discovered that it made a wonderful place to record key elements of our stories. While the children were not interested in writing on the easel as part of their dramatic play, the easel became where educators started to document children's stories. Educators used small pieces of paper for handwritten notes of children's ideas and words during play. The children became drawn to the images of their play on the easel and began to scaffold play inspired by the documentation. We realized around this time that our provocation space was much more than a dramatic play area; it was a stage where children told their stories. 

What methods can educators use to capture the rich dialogue in the classroom?

We tried inviting the children to write their stories following their play, but interest was limited. As one of the educators worked with the children in capturing their stories, someone suggested bringing the easel to the group's story writing activity.

We asked, "Could we use this documentation to tell the story of our play? "

We brought this question to the group, and they decided to create a book telling the story of our camping play. With the children's imagination caught, we saw the whole class engaged in story writing. Eventually, we set up a writing station near the dramatic play area. The writing station empowered the storytellers to work with actors on story points during re-enactments—a necessary missing piece to support the continuous circle of language development, storytelling, and story writing.

What we learned from this long-term process may help your practice.

We needed to shift the engagement of the classroom away from traditional gender roles.

That location of the environment and the flexibility of materials to migrate in the classroom, increased language, and social negotiations,

Documentation helped scaffold storytelling, enriching and deepening the experience of telling and extending the story by providing reminders of crucial elements of the story, 

Finding a way to engage in story writing was an iterative process that caught on when the group discovered their big idea for classroom books.

We changed how the educators thought about the dramatic play, and removing our limiting beliefs about space, fundamentally changed how we could see the children's interactions.

Throughout the year, six classroom books were created and became some of the most cherished books in the library. The journey in our program ended up being repeated through many of our classrooms as we let go of traditional expectations. It became a new way to think about literacy leading to my learning about the work of Reggio Emilia and a lifelong love affair with child-directed learning.