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Retell

Students will build on their knowledge of retelling to recall important details. Students will learn to discern what is most important to use in the retelling. Learning to retell a story thoughtfully is critical to learning to write a story and to build comprehension. Sometimes the child practices, referring to the book constantly, until the story is learned and the child feels confident enough to share. Students can use retelling cards, small props, puppets, story guideline posters, and even the book to help them as they learn to retell. Sometimes the teacher asks the child to do a spontaneous retelling as an assessment of what the child understands about the story. Retelling is the part of synthesizing that my students and I study in depth along with summarizing and paraphrasing the third month of school.

Getting Started: The Facts, The Sequence, and the Meaning

Retelling and summarizing actually are a part of synthesis. However, I decided to study the two strategies early in the year. Students have to understand summary to participate in reciprocal teaching groups and strategy circles. Children practice retelling and summarizing, the lowest levels of synthesis, before inferring, determining importance, forming their opinions, and changing their perspectives, the highest levels of synthesis.

Regie Routman stresses the importance of teaching children to retell in her book, Conversations. As I read her words, I was reminded of the need to emphasize this tool as a way of improving comprehension and writing.

To begin, I practiced retelling, as Routman suggests. When I worked with the book Talking Eggs, a book I've read many times, I found that I referred back to the text constantly to get the details right and in sequence. I had to retell aloud and check myself using the book before I was ready to share. With each rereading, I gained a better understanding of the story as well.

As a result of my retelling practice, which is not something I've done in a long time, I discovered the benefits for students. I made my list of what I needed to teach them.

1. Tell the story. Don't memorize the author's words but develop a personal, storytelling voice.
2. Use an expressive voice.
3. Pick what is most important to tell.
4. Tell details in the right order.
5. Decide whether to include props or voices.
6. Reread constantly to check the facts.
7. It really takes a lot of practice to get retelling right.

A storyteller once suggested using a rope with knots tied in it as a way to remember each part of the story. The teller needs to think through the story and see it in parts in order to tell it. For example, to tell the story of the Three Little Pigs, the teller might decide to tie 5 knots: one for the beginning of the story, one for the first little pig, one for the second, one for the third pig, and one for the ending.

The storyteller began by telling a story we never heard before and then asked us to retell the story to our group. Holding the rope in my hand was a tactile reminder of the parts of the new story as I saw them. The rope helped me practice retelling the story to my small group in our workshop with confidence. Similarly, retelling cards can cue the storyteller. (See below.)

Tell students why it's important to work on retellings, as Regie Routman suggests. They may not know that retelling helps us get more involved with a story and improves comprehension - each time we tell it. Lots of practice retelling stories helps improve writing stories. Tell the students that the stories used in class will be in a center for them to read if they get a few minutes. (Stories teachers highlight in this way often become favorite rereads or texts for teachers to used in shared reading.)

Here's another tip: If you're an intermediate teacher, ask your K-2 colleagues how they teach retelling. As a school-wide coach, I discovered that often upper-grade teachers are unaware of what children studied before arriving at their classroom doors. Retelling is usually the comprehension part of primary assessment. K-2 teachers have done a great deal of the legwork teaching retelling by the time students reach the third grade. In the upper grades, teachers can then build on what students already know.

Sample Lesson: Retell Nonfiction Stories With Your Students

Materials

1. Story from the newspaper for the teacher to use when demonstrating retelling
2. Story for students to retell (Weekly Reader or Time for Kids, if available)
3. One set of retelling rings for each partnership (see below)
4. One assessment car per student (see below)

Introduction

• Talk about the process and benefits of retelling. Retelling makes you reread. The students will notice that to tell someone else's story will require that they read the story many times. Therefore, retelling helps readers comprehend.
• It has been said: "Read one time for an overall impression, 2 times for details, and a 3rd time for comprehension."
• So . . . retelling builds comprehension, helps students learn to tell stories, and write! It works many muscles at the same time!
• The teacher may want to share a story about a time she learned something new and how difficult it is to try something the first time.

Model Retelling

• Say, "Let me retell a story I read in the newspaper using these retelling cards."
• Tell a story you read in the newspaper. Model how using the retelling cards helps you remember what to say. (See cards below.)

Model Assessment Procedure

1. To make students comfortable with assessment, evaluate yourself using the same assessment card the students will use.
2. Talk through the potential problems that may occur when evaluating one another and how students should handle the challenges: disagreements, uncomfortable feelings, forgetting in the middle, for example.
• If a partner is unsure how to mark the card, go back to the story together to find whether the detail is in the story.
• If students are not sure, then they should give their partners a point. They should give as many points as possible since this time is the first practice session. Be generous. Be kind. Treat the experience as a learning opportunity.
• If the partner forgets what to say during the retelling, s/he should consult the story. Reread it and pick up where s/he left off.
3. Ask students to think about the process and what they're learning about retelling for reflection time at the end.
4. Put a copy of the newspaper story on the overhead. Let kids read the article to check your retelling.
5. Ask, "How is retelling different than reading the story?" For example, stress that the reader has to...
• Select the most important details and add personal style. Storytellers can't memorize the entire story.
• Add individual expression, gestures, and voices.
• Be aware of the audience when telling the story. Be sensitive to the people listening by watching their faces. For instance, talk louder if you sense they can't hear.
• Revise on the spot! If the storyteller assesses that the story isn't clear, add an explanation. If it's getting too long, breeze through the less important parts.

Practice

1. Ask students to select partners or triads to work with.
2. Tell them to choose a story from their weekly magazine. (Instead, the teacher might select a piece ahead of time to read and retell.)
3. Write these directions on the board to remind students what to do.
• Read the story.
• Practice telling the story using the retelling cards as guides. (See below.)
• Ask partners to check each other's attempt on the assessment card.
• Make sure each partner retells the story.
• If partners are waiting for others to finish, read and retell another selection (from the magazine) or try retelling to another team.
4. Collect the assessment cards when you call time.

Reflection

Ask students to write their answers to these 2 questions in their reader-response daybooks:

(1) What did you learn about retelling today?

(2)How can you use this strategy in your reading life?

Try a Retelling Center Year-Round

I told a story about Fred Rogers on closed-circuit television. I actually came across several students trying to write a retelling of the story. When I asked why, I got answers like, "I want to be able to tell the story when I get home," to "I thought it would be good practice for me to retell the story to improve my writing." Aren't students smart?

One student showed me her retelling of the story and said that something was missing but she didn't know what. I thought it was fine, but she was not satisfied. I suggested she use my copy of the story to help her. I know that when I'm retelling a story, I have to REREAD the story several times. She got me thinking about the role of retelling in my comprehension instruction.

I looked up retelling in Reading With Meaning: Teaching Comprehension in the Primary Grades. Debbie Miller gives her students this advice, "Tell what's important... in a way that makes sense... without telling too much." I think that's good advice. Try it though and you find it easier said than done.

I was reminded of an adult writer who once told me, "When I really get down about my writing, I retell or copy someone else's story. Sometimes just feeling powerful words come off my pen makes me feel like I can write again"

Am I missing something obvious here? Should retelling be more prominent instruction in my classroom? Have I skipped children too fast into writing, forgetting the value of retelling and storytelling? Could retelling be an activity on which to focus year-round?

I'm thinking, when you don't have something to write, read! Then, try retelling it. Or, how about a center? All we have to do is change the books and put up a chart: "Tell what's important...in a way that makes sense...without telling too much." Debbie Miller

And what about nonfiction? I've never had kids retell sections of the social studies or science book before, but why not? How about using a different retelling structure for nonfiction. How about, Tell what you learned... in a way that makes sense... with details that will interest others. We could retell nonfiction in partners or groups. We could retell nonfiction in our writing notebooks for homework.

That fifth grader who wasn't satisfied with her retelling has really got me thinking. Retelling is just the beginning of synthesis - a very complex, metacognitive skill! First, the reader must read and understand the story. For the retelling, the teller must sift the important from the unimportant. Since the student can't tell the whole story, it requires summarizing some parts and then slowing down others. Retelling requires constant rereading and ordering of facts in sequence. An audience either acts interested or does not. Observant retellers revise on the spot which links to improvement in writing.

Retelling is a skill we must not overlook as being too easy or too primary. Let me think on that.

Try Retelling Fred Rogers' Commencement Speech
 

Have you heard the story that came out of the Seattle Special Olympics? For the 100-yard-dash there were nine contestants, all of them so-called physically or mentally disabled. All nine of them assembled at the starting line and at the sound of the gun, they took off. But one little boy didn't get very far. He stumbled and fell and hurt his knee and began to cry.

The other eight children heard the boy crying. They slowed down, turned around and ran back to him -- every one of them ran back to him. One little girl with Down's syndrome bent down and kissed the boy and said, "This will make it better." The little boy got up, and he and the rest of the runners linked their arms together and joyfully walked to the finish line.

They all finished the race at the same time. And when they did, everyone in the stadium stood up and clapped and whistled and cheered for a long, long time. People who were there are still telling the story with obvious delight. And you know why?

Because deep down we know that what matters in this life is more than winning for ourselves. What really matters is helping others win, too, even if it means slowing down and changing our course now and then.

Nonfiction Retelling Rings

The following pages, when copied and cut, make a set of cards. Students love having hints in their hand that help them improve their retelling. If students retell in pairs, partners can evaluate the "reteller" with the evaluation sheet provided. As always, model first using a story that everyone can see.

Assessment Card Name_________________ Selection _______________ Told what the story is mostly about. Summarized what was learned. Told what new was learned. Told the main ideas in order. Told what features of text the author used. Explained the author's purpose for writing the selection. Told the most important idea learned. Told how the reading changed what the teller believes. Told how the reading changed how the teller will act. TOTAL: