ABSTRACT
As I read Melissa Tonachel’s chapter, I wanted to be a “fly on the wall” and observe her telling a personal story about her experiences living in the woods during a period of her life, to see how she so adeptly mediates the children’s responses to her story; whether to help them construct their own meaning-making, develop their emotional lives, and/or connect to others. In this commentary, I discuss Tonachel’s storytelling practices in her first-grade classroom and the importance of these practices in connecting with the emotional lives of the children she teaches.
