ES3+Solution

​ **__Solution__** ** What creative ways can they retell besides just talking? ** Technology: webquest, videos, online games, smartboard or overhead, tape recorder, voice threads Puppets: sticks,socks Graphic Organizers: story maps, story strips Realia: wearable art, real pictures, real props Dramatic Play: center with various props and familiar books to use Readers Theatre EXAMPLES: []

When dramatizing literature stories, children engage in greater comprehension of stories, psychologically connect to characters, authentically sequence events and retell stories, use more elaborate language, and immerse themselves in the literary elements (i.e., plot, setting, characters) (Christie, 1987; Dansky, 1980; Galda, 1984; Guttman & Frederiksen, 1985; Pellegini & Galda, 1982; Silvern, Taylor, Williamson, Surbeck, & Kelley, 1986).

How does retelling look in other grades? Retelling has been a good strategy to show how much a student has learned and to increase their comprehension of the text. Older students can also benefit from retelling because it allows students to learn to organize and describe events which enhances reading comprehension.Story retelling provides ELLs an opportunity to analyze stories and build oral language as they acquire related vocabulary (Schienkman, 2004). Using pictures to retell a story can be highly beneficial to second language learners. It provides visual support that [|scaffolds] comprehension as ELLs learn new vocabulary. Retelling stories helps ELLs begin to understand sequence, plot, and characterization as they build vocabulary and comprehension skills. But most important of all, it provides the fundamental skills ELL students need to begin retelling stories on paper.

**How does the curriculum address and when does it address retelling? How can we adapt the curriculum to increase students’ critical thinking and problem solving?** Solution:

After looking through the primary reading curriculum (Literacy By Design) I discovered that Retelling/Summarizing is only briefly taught in Kindergarten. The comprehension strategy is introduced and practiced early in the year during Theme 2: Schools Have Rules. The curriculum uses retelling with a narrative passage, __When Kangaroo Goes to School__. The curriculum does provide a graphic organizer that the teacher uses to model retelling for the students. There is also the same graphic organizer available for students to complete independently after watching the teacher. While there are other points in the curriculum that touch on Sequencing (Synthesize) and Determining Importance (Purpose for Reading), there is only once that Retelling is explicitly taught to students.

Looking closely at the Kindergarten Literacy By Design Curriculum, it is clear that Retelling/Summarizing is not addressed frequently enough. Students need much more exposure and practice with a comprehension skill to reach mastery, and using the curriculum as is, doesn’t meet that need. Teachers must supplement with additional modeling and practice of retelling and summarizing skills so that students can use their knowledge in new ways.

During my research I found numerous Retelling/Summarizing graphic organizers that are more kid-friendly and more appropriate for Kindergarten students than those provided by Literacy By Design. The organizers I found allow for students to use pictures (with or without words) to retell a story. I also found numerous resources for teachers to use with classic children’s books that may not be included in the Literacy By Design curriculum. It is important for teachers to use provide opportunities students to practice their retelling skills.

While my research did not directly tie into the 21st Century Literacies, what I did learn is that teachers need to be the ones who use Creativity & Innovation, Critical Thinking & Problem Solving, and Communication & Collaboration to address the gaps that exist in our current reading curriculum. Once teachers do the above they will be able to create authentic learning opportunities for their students.


 * The main solution is that teachers cannot rely on the curriculum alone to thoroughly teach the Retelling/Summarizing skill. They must provide additional opportunities for this skill to be taught and practiced. I hope to take this solution to my classroom next year (using the numerous resources posted under the activities/resources), where I can help my students master the standard.**

How does retelling look for narrative/expository? Retelling using narrative is very easy for students of all ages! They start at the beginning of the story and sequence the events until the end of the story. For expository in younger grades it is very difficult. For upper grades you can have students retell facts about events that they are reading. For example the Revolutionary War. They would tell all the key facts and events leading up to and the ending of the war. To support the facts they need to know the text features and be able to locate them in the text. For younger students it is retelling something they learned in the process of reading an expository text. If we were reading about the life cycle of a butterfly they would retell it using words they know. They may also use vocabulary words that you have pointed out during the course of the book. They would also need to support their facts using the text features in the book.