Because they involve child choice and opportunities for cooperation, story dictation and story acting can contribute to a democratic classroom culture( Mardell & Kucirkova 2017). They can also foster inclusivity: In the classrooms we observed, we found that even reluctant storytellers eagerly acted in others’ stories and participated as audience members. Further, nearly all of the children eventually contributed stories of their own.
These findings suggest that story dictation and story acting can play a positive role in creating a caring community of learners, which is a key part of both developmentally appropriate practice and early childhood program standards( NAEYC 2020, 2025). Moreover, as Souto-Manning proposed, story dictation and story acting can be a vehicle for advancing equity( NAEYC 2019).
Story Dictation and Story Acting in Action
In the September 2006 issue of Young Children, kindergarten teacher Jane Rothman wrote about how she integrated story dictation and story acting into her teaching after participating in a demonstration led by Paley. We refer to Rothman’ s article and others in the Young Children archive as we explore the steps involved in implementing these practices, which include
› Introducing story dictation and story acting to children
› Gathering stories › Scaffolding story dictation › Observing story content and form
› Inviting storytellers and peers to act out the stories
› Scaffolding story acting
A discussion of each follows.
Introducing Story Dictation and Story Acting to Children
In her Young Children article, Rothman described how she introduced story dictation and story acting to children in her class. She“ explained, simply, that we were going to tell stories and act them out”( 71). She designated a carpet as the stage for acting, but teachers can use masking tape to delineate a performance space on the floor. Rothman established how acting roles would be assigned( a point we elaborate on later in the article), then transcribed a few stories in front of the class and invited children to act them out.
In our research, we followed similar procedures with two adaptations: First, to prepare children for engaging in and watching story acting, we elicited their prior knowledge related to pretending, acting, and viewing a performance. Second, to boost children’ s confidence in themselves as storytellers, we read aloud two to three stories told by children of a similar age( gleaned from Lee 2016) and guided children in acting them out.
Gathering Stories
Educators can gather children’ s stories in a variety of ways. Rothman, for example,“ would go to the block area, tables, even the sandbox, to write down a child’ s story”( 71). She, a teaching assistant, or an adult volunteer recorded children’ s stories on loose sheets of lined paper as the child watched— a strategy that can foster print awareness( Pesco & MacLeod 2024). In our research, teachers gathered stories in 6- by 8-inch notebooks with colorful hard covers that we purchased at a dollar store.
Once a child completed their story, the adult read it aloud and identified the characters, allowing the author to choose which one they wanted to play. Rothman gathered a few stories daily, as did Paley. This is feasible because it usually takes just a few minutes for children to tell stories and act them out.
64 Young Children
Spring 2026