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Company A Structured Approach to the Retell Step
Lynette Bachman, a reading teacher in Illinois, recently shared with us her adaptation of the Retell step. We thought her suggestions might be helpful, and she graciously gave us permission to share her ideas. Lynette asked her students to do more on the Retell step, and her students responded.
Structured Retell Materials
Retell Step Directions
Retell Graphic Organizer
Retell Checklist
Lynette Bachman explained that last year, she took the Retell step to a new level by formatting it similar to the Illinois Standards Achievement Test (ISAT) writing. As a result of this emphasis on writing stronger retellings of the stories, some of her reading improvement students produced sizable and well-organized writing responses both in their classrooms and on the ISAT standardized test.
Lynette developed the Retell Step Directions page that guides her students step-by-step through retelling each story. First, she directs students to use the Retell Graphic Organizer to identify the main idea and at least two details from the story. She provides sentence starters to prompt students to “Tell Me More” by expressing their personal thoughts related to the story or other connections they can make to the story.
Students are then directed to write their retellings of the stories. When students are finished, they use the Retell Checklist to check their work against a list of requirements before the teacher reviews their work. The students give themselves a plus (+) or check mark in each square indicating they checked for that specific element. Students can give themselves smiley faces if they feel they've done a good job.
Students then use the red/green card system to indicate when they need the teacher to check their work. When the teacher notices that a student has turned the card to red to check the Retell step, the teacher reminds the student to be sure to use the Retell Checklist to self-evaluate the work before asking the teacher to check it. If the teacher starts to read and notices the student did not check for a certain element, the student is directed to correct it.
Lynette noted that she makes it a point to share good examples of how to retell a story with the group.
“It's great modeling for struggling students, and students are so proud when we ask to share their stories.” She went on to explain, “We make certain each student in the group gets group recognition for their good work on a regular basis. Someone is always getting their highest cold read or hot read, answering question #5 really well, reading with no errors, or retelling a story well.”
Important Note: The Read Naturally strategy is highly effective when it is implemented for at least 30 minutes per day, three to five times per week. The more students read, the better readers they become. Teachers who choose to put greater emphasis on the Retell step should plan to increase the allotted time for Read Naturally.