storyteller

Fifth annual UTSA Storytelling Festival is Feb. 28

By Kris Rodriguez
Public Affairs Specialist

(Feb. 26, 2009)--The UTSA Department of Interdisciplinary Learning and Teaching in the College of Education and Human Development will host the fifth annual UTSA Storytelling Festival from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 28 at the Main Building ground floor on the 1604 Campus.

Free and open to the public, the event will include a keynote address by Susan Kuentz, who is a storyteller, an H.E.B. Star Award winner and a fourth-grade teacher in the Northeast Independent School District. Following Kuentz' presentation, multiple breakout sessions are scheduled including "How to Tell Stories" and "Storytelling in the Classroom." The festival provides an opportunity for professional development for current educators as well as for future teachers.

"I think this is a dying art form that we are hoping to continue to preserve," said Miriam Martinez, festival founder and UTSA professor of interdisciplinary learning and teaching.

Events such as the storytelling festival helped the UTSA Department of Interdisciplinary Learning and Teaching earn the distinction in 2008 as the first program in the country to receive the International Reading Association Certificate of Distinction for Excellence in Teacher Preparation and Reading.

For more information, contact Susan Keehn at (210) 458-5402.