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Tips and Ideas
Prediction and Retell Steps
Reviewing the Student's Prediction
The prediction step teaches students to prepare to read by thinking about the topic in the story. This has been shown to aid readers’ comprehension; when students read the story, they learn to look for the information in the story.
Because of the importance of the prediction step, it can be beneficial for teachers to review the student’s prediction later in the process, for example, when the teacher is reviewing the retell that the student wrote. The teacher might ask the student if his or her prediction was accurate and why or why not, or the teacher might ask students to add a brief statement to their retells about whether their predictions were accurate.
If a student knows that their prediction will be reviewed or discussed, they will likely put more time and effort into it and thereby benefit from this good reading practice.
Dr. Timothy Rasinski [Kent State University]
Have students write a sentence that predicts what the story is about using at least two of the key words defined for the story. Then, after reading the story, have the student determine whether the sentence is true. If the sentence is true, the student writes "True" next to the sentence. If the sentence is false, the student writes "False" next to the sentence and rewrites it to make it true. Another prediction and retell activity is to ask the student to write a question before reading the story that asks something the student hopes to learn from the story. Then at the end of the story, the student must determine whether the information in the story answers the question asked. If not, the teacher could include an extending activity and ask the student to find the answer to the unanswered question.
Hiding the Story for Predictions and Retells
From Jean Albrightson [Minneapolis, MN]
To ensure that predictions truly reflect a student's topic knowledge, fold the paper to cover the story so it is not visible as the student writes the prediction. This ensures that students are not pre-reading and copying information from the story. Similarly, during the retell step, fold the paper to hide the questions so that students do not copy ideas from the questions and call them their own.
Graphing the Number of Words in the Retell
Set a time limit for the retell (e.g., five minutes), and have the students write everything they can remember from the story in the time available. Students then graph the number of words they wrote in the retell. As students move from story to story in a given level, the number of words they write should increase, serving as visible evidence of their progress and motivating them to keep improving.
Enhancing the Retell Step
Barbara Reed [Hayward, CA]
To make the retell more challenging for students who are able to retell information well, have them write an organized summary of the story. Have them copy the main idea statement from question 1 and then write three statements that support it.
From Lise Narath [Santa Rosa, CA]
Every second story, instead of writing the retell, have students divide a clean piece of paper into two columns, labeling one "Text" and the other "My Reaction." The students should then go back through the story and highlight two sentences that were interesting to them, either because it reminded them of something they had already learned or because it raised a question in their minds. Students then copy the highlighted sentences into the "Text" column and write their reaction to the sentence in the other column.
Carol Burchfield [Dalton, GA]
Have middle school and older students work on their retell right after they answer the comprehension questions. This give older students more independence and helps them make more productive use of the time while they wait for the teacher to listen to them read during the pass timing step.
Rewarding Quality Instead of Quantity for the Retell Step
Nicole Kent [Saline, MI] and Karen Hunter [Read Naturally Director of Curriculum and Professional Development]
If a student writes long retells that do not provide good summaries of the story,
award them 20 points for each good detail in their retells instead of graphing the number of words a student writes. For example, if a student includes five good details in their retell, they are awarded 100 points. You can also give students extra points for writing the retell in complete sentences, for correct use of periods and capitals, for correct spelling, and for using descriptive words.
Use Oral Retells to Save Time
From Gwen Koehler [Divide, CO]
After passing a story, the student retells it orally while you or an assistant take notes about the student’s progress on an adhesive label. You can then attach the label to the student's folder as a record of the student’s progress in comprehension, sequencing, and recall skills. This approach maximizes limited time and provides useful information for report cards.
