As a producer, story consultant, and teacher, I’ve spent thirty years helping writers discover, structure, and successfully finish their stories.  During that time I realized that the same methods I’d developed that had proven so successful with adults could also help children.  I started the Kids Talk Story program to provide kids with the ability to discover and write their own stories.

I started small with an evening class of a few middle-school kids in my living room.  Word spread, from parents as well as excited kids and the class grew.  In a couple of months, as more kids joined we moved the evening class to the middle school cafeteria.  Shortly after that we started an after-school class at an elementary school.  Parents weighed in with reports of great results: students who had dreaded writing now enjoyed their language arts homework assignments—and excelled.  More teachers joined Kids Talk Story, adding their knowledge and experience to the program.

At the same time, the Kids Talk Story program began as the core English course for adjudicated teens in Hawaii at the Palama Settlement In Community Treatment Program and was an unqualified success.  Kids Talk Story now provides a new original program, G-POW (The Girls’ Power of Writing Club) to all ages of girls at the Palama Settlement.

Kids Talk Story entered the school system in Hawaii in 2007 as an afterschool program supported by the federal government.  We showed a consistent 16% improvement in test scores.  The program is flourishing.  Kids Talk Story classes have been offered in Hawaii, Arizona, Georgia, and Canada.

Margaret South
Founder and President,
Kids Talk Story