Meetings
Story Circle meets alternately from 7-9 pm on the 3rd Tuesday of the month, at the William K. Sanford Library in Colonie, and from 6-9 pm on the 3rd Wednesday of the month, at the Guilderland Public Library, to share works in progress.

Every other month, from 6:00 to 7:00 at Guilderland, we have a topic for panel/round table discussion. In the list below, the facilitators for the meetings are given. Click here for our facilitator guidelines.

Our 2010 Meetings

Tues. Jan. 19 7-9	Colonie
Wed. Feb. 17 6-9	Guilderland - Facilitator for Round Table: Marni Gillard Manifesting - Exploring the Power of Our Imagining and our Belief as We Grow our Storytelling Work. Marni says: "I worked for 6 months with a manifesting coach and it was fun and brought me some new strategies AND some new avenues for work."
Tues. Mar. 16 7-9	Colonie
Tue. Apr. 21	CANCELLED DUE TO Riverway Storytelling Festival -- 23 free events in and around libraries in Albany and Rensselaer Counties
Tues. May 18 7-9	Colonie
Wed. June 16 6-9	Guilderland - Facilitator for Round Table: Carol Connolly The Craft of Storytelling Carol will lead the discussion of this blog, given as a keynote at Sharing the Fire: The Northeast Storytelling Conference in March this year.
Tues. July 20 7-9	Colonie
Wed. Aug. 18 6-9	Guilderland - Facilitator for Round Table: Louise Koenig Using the Senses with Storytelling - Relating and Listening, with an Emphasis on the Latter Louise will introduce the use of some of the 5 senses and emphasize listening, including how listening brought her to writing one of her stories. She'll then tell that story. At the end, there will be a comment, question and/or answer session.
Tues. Sept. 21 7-9	Colonie
Wed. Oct. 20 6-9	Guilderland
Tues. Nov. 16 7-9	Colonie
Wed. Dec. 15 6-9	Guilderland

DIRECTIONS:

The William K. Sanford Library is located at 629 Albany Shaker Road, just off Northway Exit 4, and 1/4 mile east of the intersection of Wolf Road and Albany Shaker Road.

The Guilderland Public Library is minutes from the southern end of the Northway (I-87). Take Rte. 20 West at the end of The Northway (Rte. 87). The library is located at 2228 Western Ave., one mile west of the intersection of Rte. 155 and Rte. 20, on the left, beyond the Elementary School. (518) 456-2400

The Association for the Protection of the Adirondacks, 897 St. David's Lane, Niskayuna New York, 12309:
From I-87 Northway Exit 6 Rte 7: West Schenectady/Latham, take Rte 7 (Troy Schenectady Rd) west toward Schenectady, about 5+ miles. You go through a lighted intersection at Pierce Road, about 3/4 mile later you'll see Bellevue/Ellis Woman's Hospital on your left, the next street is Vrooman. If the traffic isn't too heavy you can take a left on Vrooman. Vrooman comes to a "T" at St David's Lane and the AfPA is directly across the intersection to the left. Or if traffic is heavy, go to the next light, where Rte Sven and Union Street divides, before the divide there's a left hand turn/light into St David's Lane. AfPA is about 1/2 mi down the road on the right.
From I-90, Exit 25 onto I-890: Exit 7 on I-890, go east on Rt. 7. After several lights, (about 2.5 mi)Rt. 7 intersects with St. David's Lane on right side at light (church on opposite corner). Turn right on St. David's Lane. Vrooman Ave comes in at left. Just after this intersection, slow and turn right into the Center

CANCELLATION POLICY:

It is up to the facilitator to decide to cancel a meeting due to weather. They can consult with Carol Connolly or Kate Dudding if they wish to.

If the facilitator decides to cancel a meeting, they must:
1) Send out an email message via Story Circle listserv (or ask Carol Connolly or Kate Dudding to do it.)
2) Notify the library.

Story Circle members who are planning to attend may call either the facilitator or the library to determine if a meeting is being held.

A Process for Critical Response

To guide our responses to stories told at our meetings, we are using the following coaching method, provided by West Virginia storyteller Granny Sue Holstein. Granny Sue highly recommends it to storytelling guilds for improving and strengthening a teller’s performance.

The Four Part Coaching Process

1. Listening: Close, attentive listening that shows the teller that he/she has complete attention. This is displayed as body language and facial expression that reflects the active listening process.

2 Appreciations: Given only when the teller request them. These can be global (I love the way you tell that story) to specific (You projected that child’s confusion so well). Appreciations end when the teller signals that he/she has heard enough.

3. Suggestions: Given only when the teller requests them. Suggestions are notcritiques or criticisms. they offer an idea the teller might want to try (Have you thought of......), note a reaction to the story (I didn’t understand the part where.....), or ask a question to clarify a point (Why was the mother so angry?). Most importantly, all suggestions must be positive. The teller decides which to accept, reject or save for later consideration.

4. Wrap-Up: The teller’s opportunity to ask questions of the listeners about the story. (Was that part clear to you?), or anything else the teller might want to know.

An important element of the process is that the teller decides when the process stops. For example, the teller could opt to stop after appreciations, or anywhere else in the process. The teller is in control, assisted by the facilitator. All present must be “active” listeners for the process to work effectively.

To be added to our mailing lists (US mail and/or email), for more information, or for comments, please call (518-786-1271) or write to us.