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June 2003

Award speaks to Mittelstadt's telling career

By Amy Parmelee
Staff Writer

Dr. Jim Mittelstadt

An observation in an elementary school classroom has lead Dr. Jim Mittelstadt to tell stories for more than 20 years, and the Florida Storytelling Association recently thanked him for those stories.

Mittelstadt, a professor in the College of Education and Human Services, received the Annette J. Bruce Lifetime Achievement Award in March. The award is named for the founder of the state association.

"It came as a total shock," Mittelstadt said. "I've just been having fun for the last 25 years."

He was teaching elementary school when he noticed how his stories would capture the attention of his students. He noticed the same phenomena in adults after he started teaching college in 1967.

"It's not me, it's the story," Mittelstadt said of a story that's shared well and honestly.

Mittelstadt began researching the psychological, sociological and cultural aspects of storytelling. The "listener trance," he said, is real, and the experience creates a more significant memory pattern and sense of community among listeners.

He added that teachers who use storytelling methods tend to be more relaxed at the end of the school day, and children love the sounds storytellers use.

"I love it as a pedagogy for its deep structure," he said.

Mittelstadt spends much of his time traveling to schools in an effort to show teachers the power of storytelling and to provide enjoyment to students. About 10,000 area children a year hear his stories.

He said that even if someone doesn't understand the story, the communal feeling that develops in the room is understood.

"Stories need to be shared time and time again," he said. "If something has no need to be shared, then there's no need for the story to exist."

Mittelstadt loves the interaction between storyteller and audience and the openness that listeners have as they become entranced by the story. That interaction allows the storyteller to adjust the story to each audience.

"Every time you tell it, it's a different world," Mittelstadt said.

College of Education and Human Services Dean Katherine Kasten said Mittelstadt's award from the association is much deserved.

"Similar to storytellers in most cultures, Jim Mittelstadt has a special place on the faculty of the College of Education," Kasten said. "He has been an ambassador from the college to tens of thousands of schoolchildren, teachers and community members during his 30 years at UNF."

While Mittelstadt has incorporated storytelling into his research and courses, his interest in storytelling goes beyond scholarship.

"You don't just tell a story," he said," you let them see how much you love the story."