Storyteller Delights Assembly Audiences

Storyteller Jim Cogan made his yearly visit to the lower school on Oct. 22 to share more tall tales with his unique, animated style of narration. Cogan spoke to two separate assemblies, sharing different stories with each. The theme of each assembly dealt with bullying, a topic that was also discussed at the Power of One assembly earlier in the year.

At an assembly of K-Gr. 3 students, Cogan told a Native American story of a coyote and a frog who stood up to the bullying bear so that day and night would follow one another correctly. Cogan had help from some audience participants for the next story, which told of villagers in Burma who were mystified at the sight of a mirror, something they had never before seen. The final story was about a turtle in Jamaica who wanted to fly to New York with his friend the pigeon, but would not refrain from talking during the trip.

Later, at the Gr. 4-5 assembly, Cogan told a story from his childhood about a boy named Eugene that he used to bully at school. Instead of standing idly by, Jim’s friends intervened and helped him realize how wrong it was to treat Eugene so poorly. Jim and Eugene eventually became very good friends later in life.