By 1812Blockhouse
Mansfield educators will soon have a chance to step out of lesson plans and into the lively world of storytelling. On Thursday, February 19, the Mansfield Partners in Education Team will welcome teachers and administrators to the Renaissance Theatre for an evening workshop devoted to arts integration and the craft of helping young voices find their shape.
The program, titled Story Crafts and Story-Crafting: Inspiring Young Voices Through Orature and Literature, is designed for educators working with students from Pre-K through sixth grade, including special education classrooms. The event is a collaboration of the Renaissance Performing Arts Association, the Mansfield Art Center, and Mansfield City Schools, organizations that have spent years looking for practical ways to weave creativity into everyday instruction.
Learning by Doing
Rather than a lecture from the stage, the session will feel more like a studio. Teaching artist and storyteller Lynette Ford will lead participants through hands-on activities that teachers can carry straight back to their classrooms. Her approach blends spoken storytelling with writing exercises, encouraging students to experiment with both voice and pencil.
Ford’s methods focus on confidence as much as composition. By guiding children to tell stories aloud before committing them to paper, she helps reluctant writers discover that they already have something worth saying. The exercises are meant to fit easily into existing curricula, whether in language arts, social studies, or even science.
An Evening at the Renaissance
The workshop will run from 4:30 PM to 7:30 PM at the Renaissance Theatre. Educators may attend one or both sessions, and dinner will be provided for everyone who registers. The usual fee of $125 has been covered through the sponsorship of Charles P. Hahn, CFP, with additional support from Meijer, Inc. and a grant from the Siebert Arts Fund of the Richland County Foundation. Contact hour verification for CEUs will be available.
Registration is open now at rentickets.org. Questions can be directed to 419-522-2726 ext. 212 or to dauphne@mansfieldtickets.com.
Meet the Storyteller
Lynette Ford, known to many as Lyn, brings decades of experience to Mansfield. She was the first storyteller in Ohio nominated for a Governor’s Award for the Arts and has appeared at festivals from the National Storytelling Festival to Hawaii’s Talk Story Festival. The National Storytelling Network has honored her twice with ORACLE Awards recognizing leadership and service.
Beyond the stage, Ford serves as a teaching artist with the Ohio Alliance for Arts Education and mentors young writers through Thurber House. She has written several well-loved books, including Affrilachian Tales, Beyond the Briar Patch, and Hot Wind, Boiling Rain: Scary Stories for Strong Hearts. She is also a respected member of the National Association of Black Storytellers Circle of Elders.
Why Stories Matter
Organizers hope the evening will remind teachers that storytelling is not an extra, but a foundation. When children learn to shape experiences into narrative, they practice listening, empathy, vocabulary, and imagination all at once. Those skills travel far beyond the classroom.
For Mansfield educators, the February workshop offers more than new techniques. It promises a few hours to rediscover the joy that first drew many of them to teaching, the simple thrill of watching a young person realize that their own story deserves to be told.
Source, Images: Renaissance Performing Arts Association
