Katie Knutson is a storyteller and teaching artist based in the Twin Cities who has performed and taught around the US and in Canada, Chile, Italy, and the United Arab Emirates. She has been called an “enchanting and magical” performer, and an “articulate, fun and inviting” workshop leader. Katie began storytelling in high school and is now the Executive Director of Northeast Storytelling (NEST).
As an educator and teaching artist, Knutson currently works with Stages Theater Company and St. Paul Conservatory for Performing Artists. She has received three Arts in Education grants from the Minnesota State Arts Board in partnership with Folwell School, Performing Arts Magnet; Neill Elementary; and the Gifted and Talented Department of Bloomington Public Schools to be their Storyteller-in-Residence for at least one year each. Katie loves integrating Storytelling and Drama with Math, Science, English Language Arts, Spanish, and Visual Art to bring required curriculum and standards to life in an active and engaging way, all while embedding Professional Development for classroom teachers. Residencies are most successful when educators are involved in the planning process and actively engaged with their students. Katie has contributed to three books on storytelling and wrote/curated the New Voices column in Storytelling Magazine.
More About the Artist
Katie is not a native Spanish Speaker, but can incorporate Spanish into programs. She is at a conversational Spanish level, and considers herself a learner. In addition, Katie thrives working with PreK-6th grade and adults, but can work across age ranges. She is currently developing programs for memory care.
Program Offerings
Workshops
Storytelling 101
In this hands-on workshop, we will explore the basics of storytelling, from inspiration through performance. Topics include: story craft, focus, sensory details, character choices, movement, vocal warm-ups and care, performance techniques, and feedback. Whether you want to tell a personal story or a traditional tale, Katie will teach you techniques to stand up and make your voice heard!
2-5 hours
Customizable for Traditional Material or Personal Narratives
Finding Dynamic Characters
Do your characters tend to look and sound similar? Using theatre and storytelling techniques, we will explore multiple ways to develop rich, three-dimensional characters through movement, sound and psychology. Come well-hydrated and ready to move.
1-6 hours
Building Listening Skills
Active listening does not come naturally to most people – it needs to be taught. In this hands-on workshop, participants will learn and practice active listening skills that can be used in daily interactions to promote clear, meaningful communication.
1-2 hours
Customizable for grade 3 to adult
Team/Community Building
Theater and improvisation games are a fun way to build community, encourage creativity and teamwork, and try something new. These fun play-based workshops will help your team members showcase new skills, listen intently, and relieve stress so they can work together in challenging times.
Public Speaking Basics
In this participation-based workshop, participants will learn and practice many of the important basics of public speaking including projection, eye contact, confidence, and expression.
Grade 2 to adult
Find, Craft & Tell Your Organizational Story
Is your business or non-profit struggling to clarify your message or engage with potential customers? Connect to the heart of your organization in this hands-on workshop. Katie will help your team uncover their individual stories, your collective story, and your company’s story. With a little polish and practice, you will be ready to share that story with the world.
Adults
Drama Games for the Classroom
Every teacher knows how important movement is, and how hard it is to make time for it. What if movement time was also learning time? In this workshop, teachers share their needs and Katie teaches games to help meet those needs. With her background in both theatre and improvisation, Katie knows hundreds of games to increase focus, teach vocabulary, review concepts, introduce ideas, inspire creativity, engage reluctant writers, celebrate mistakes, encourage risk-taking, and build community. Come hydrated and ready to play!
60 minutes to 3 hours
Customizable for teachers of PreK-12th grade
Porquoi (How and Why) Stories: Integrating Science with ELA
In this workshop, you will learn the methods Katie has used with Kindergarten through fifth grade students to help them turn scientific facts and questions into Pourquoi stories. This example of cross-curricular arts integration includes scientific research, using the scientific method, writing, speaking, listening, drawing and collaboration. Katie will walk you through the process, step-by-step, as we create our own Porquoi stories together. A version of this lesson plan was published in Science with Storytelling: Strategies for the K-5 Classroom (McFarland, 2017).
90 minutes to 3 hours
Customizable for teachers of PreK-5th grade
Residencies
Storytelling
Your students will learn the Art of Storytelling in an age-appropriate way. This could include research, writing, editing, retelling, drawing, games, story coaching, student feedback, public speaking, memorization techniques, a student storytelling performance, and even digital storytelling. Storytelling residencies can focus on a particular kind of story, such as folk tales, pourquoi stories, fables, personal narrative, family stories, or historical fiction.
Early Literacy Building Blocks
Using storytelling, drawing, and drama techniques, we will work together and individually to bring stories to life. Concepts like sequencing, print awareness, story structure, cause/effect, comprehension, and more can be reinforced in this active residency for PreK-2nd grade.
Fracturing a Folk or Fairytale
Well-known stories like The Three Little Pigs or Goldilocks provide the structure to create imaginative stories of your own. Using storytelling and drama techniques, students will create both a class version of a fractured story and their own individual stories.
Theatre
Your students will collaborate to tell a story. Whether we start with a script, favorite story, or historical event, we will end with a performance. These residencies often include acting instruction, memorization techniques, proper vocal use and warm ups, group retelling, theatre games, student feedback, public speaking, and prop/set/costume planning and construction.
Porquoi (How and Why) Stories: Integrating Science with ELA
Using research, the scientific method, imagination, writing, collaboration, listening, and more, your students will create a story that answers a question about why something in the natural world is the way it is. This step-by-step collaborative process can be used to create a class story and/or individual stories for older students. A version of this lesson plan was published in Science with Storytelling: Strategies for the K-5 Classroom (McFarland, 2017), and was presented at the National Storytelling Network’s Earth Up Conference.
Writing
Storytelling and writing go hand-in-hand. Using games and activities, Katie will motivate your students to write fiction, personal narratives, or better speeches. By the end of a writing residency, formerly reluctant writers often beg, “Can we please write for just a few more minutes?” Customizable to your curriculum.
Building Bridges
Using techniques developed by Jack Zipes and Children’s Theater Company, this residency will use traditional stories to build critical literacy and performance skills, and address social justice themes.
Grades 3-8
Theatre Residency
Witness your students collaborating to tell a story. Whether we start with a script, favorite story, or historical event, we will end with a performance. These residencies often include acting instruction, memorization techniques, proper vocal use and warm ups, group retelling, theatre games, student feedback, and prop/set/costume planning and construction.
Customized Arts Integration Residencies
If you are required to teach it, there is a good chance Katie can find a way to make it more engaging using Storytelling and Drama. She loves the challenge of designing a program from scratch and will work with you to achieve your educational goals. Katie has integrated the arts into many diverse subject areas including music composition, insect life cycles, properties of rocks, critical literacy, social justice, immigration and migration, and standardized test vocabulary.
Performances
Brave, Smart & Persistent: The Untold Stories of Women in Folklore
We’ve all heard stories about dainty princesses waiting around to be rescued by handsome princes, but those don’t sound like a lot of the girls we know! Come hear stories of ferocious females who use their minds, hearts, muscles, and sheer determination to solve problems and save the day. Girls and boys alike will enjoy these adventurous stories that reflect the strong, capable women they know and love.
Around the World and Back Again
From a Russian witch in the woods to a bilingual Mexican mouse in a kitchen cupboard, these global stories will give you a taste of other cultures and countries. How would you deal with a huge, growling dog or a bear with an attitude? No matter where you go, kindness, generosity, perseverance, and ingenuity are key. Maybe we’re not that different after all.
Little Ones Doing Big Things
Feeling small? Come hear stories about tiny characters who save all the animals from a drought, unearth a giant turnip, and even befriend a lion! These interactive folktales remind young listeners that they are powerful and capable, just like the unlikely heroes of these stories.
Wiggle, Giggle, Stomp! Stomp! Stomp!
This program, designed for the littlest listeners, will have parents and children dancing, chanting, clapping and stomping their way through stories, poems and songs. Katie can’t do all of that by herself, so she will bring along some of her puppet friends to help.
Watchful Eyes and Creaking Floorboards: Scary Stories
You want ghost stories? Are you sure? These shiver-inducing stories will have you on the edge of your seat or hiding behind it. This show can be customized based on the age of the audience.
The Grimmer Side: Classic Stories for a Modern Time
You think folktales are for kids? Think again! Your bedtime books probably didn’t include murderous stepmothers, cannibalistic fathers, girls who cry blood, and heads rolling across porches. (And that is just one of the stories!) Hear some of the darker fairy tales that were never intended for little children.
NORMal?
What is Normal? We are becoming more open to those who break societal norms, from strong women leaders to proud LGBTQIA+ community members. It is easy to think of this as a new phenomenon, but our history says otherwise. These gender-bending folktales help us all learn to find our own place and root for protagonists in all forms.
Against the Odds: Rachel Carson and the Writing of SILENT SPRING
Rachel Carson overcame personal and societal obstacles that would have stopped most of us. This quiet, yet determined introvert persevered to write Silent Spring and become the “Mother of the Modern Environmental Movement.” How did she go from writing best-selling books about the sea to writing about pesticides? This is her story of writing a book that would change the world.
Performance includes a 40-45-minute portrayal of Carson, followed by a Q&A both in and out of character. (Recommended for Adults)
Design Your Own Program
Do you have a theme or idea that is not included here? No problem! Katie custom-designs most of her programs. Simply reach out to design the perfect program for your audience.
“Katie is a dynamic storyteller! I appreciated her ability to adjust her stories and technique depending on the specific class, the overall mood, ability, etc [of my students]. Her story choice was always right on point. The students appreciated that she chose a wide variety of stories, especially from different cultures. She is always “alive” on stage, and the students strive to be like her!”
Amy Wright, 5th Grade ELA Teacher, Breck School
“Katie was a very positive teacher and animated performer. Students were excited and able to share their story [in front of the class] as well as retelling it [one-on-one]. Students who were not usually interested in writing, were interested when she prepared them for each story.”
Wendy Meskimen, 4th Grade Teacher, Neill Elementary School
“Katie can listen a story out of anyone!”
Mary Hamilton, Professional Storyteller & Teaching Artist
“This residency was uplifting, very positive. It served as a reminder of the importance of the arts in education. I was able to observe students while she led class, paying attention to engagement, participation, and comprehension. I also experienced the stories, games and activities. I look forward to using some new games that I learned.
Katie not only shares the world with us through her story telling, she also invites us into the process. Through this generosity, she has positively impacted this lives of even more people. She takes story telling from passive listening, to active engagement, which has lasting outcomes. Katie is very effective, and I believe a part of it is that she practices and continually learns how to improve.”Lisa Monson, 4th Grade Teacher, Folwell School, Performing Arts Magnet
“I took Katie Knutson’s workshop at a Northlands Conference some years ago. The workshop was wonderful with many, many hands on activities that I used immediately with my work in elementary and middle schools. Katie is a charismatic leader who peppers her teaching with stories and humor. She utilizes an effective combination of lecture, participation, and research to arm educators and storytellers with a wealth of information and activities. I have been acquainted with Katie’s work for decades and alway find her to be professional, prepared, and creative.”
Jim May, Emmy Award-Winning Storyteller, Teacher, and Author“
