Narrative Affinity Group Summary

Protocol Possibilities

1.  Retelling of a tv episode

The student produces a retell of a favorite television show episode.

2.  Personal narrative

The student produces a narrative after a conversational mapping technique used by the clinician. The clinician produces a narrative model and then asks, “Has anything like this every happened to you?”
Older students may just be provided with a topic: “Can you tell me a story about a time you…”

3.  Retell a story that is presented with visuals via a book/tape combo or an animated selection (e.g. Tumblebooks)**

4.  Use of wordless picture prompt/ books (e.g., Mercer Mayer books, Complex Picture such as a Norman Rockwell painting)

The student produces a narrative to tell the story contained in a visual stimulus.

5.  Use of sequence pictures to create a narrative**

6.  Verbal summary of chapter in book (older students)

**for younger students

Ideas for Tumblebooks stories to use in your protocol:

K-2: Boomer Goes to School

3-5: He Came with the Couch

www.tumblebooks.com ideas: Paper Bag Princess, Pigs (Robert Munsch)

Tumblebooks can be accessed through:

http://www.sailsinc.org/tumblebooks.htm

Rubric Scoring Examples

This guide contains a number of examples of child-produced narratives and how they could be scored using the rubrics. Note that examples for the K-2 and 3-5 rubric are included, using the differentiated rubrics for those grade levels.

Each clinician is likely to have his/her own preferred method of formatting and reporting a narrative assessment. The rubric can be included in the report, or summarized, or both. It is likely to be helpful to parents and colleagues if at least one narrative sample is transcribed in paragraph form in your assessment, however, in more straightforward evaluations this may not be necessary.

Primary-Elementary Examples

Example Grade 1- Retell of He Came with the Couch on Tumblebooks

“They’re gettin’ a couches. They picked out the couch and person was stuck to it. And um mmm um and uh it just was stuck to the couch. And they called the doctor and they ta- they took him to the Grand Canyon, they took him to um the beach and they took him to Washington, DC. Then they went home and the girl was climbing up the tree and and and she falled on…they threw the couch out. And then they picked a chair with a lady on it.”

Grades K-2 Narrative Evaluation Rubric

1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Organization / Simple description of characters/setting, actions not in sequence / More detailed description of characters/setting, some actions in sequence / Story includes characters, setting and series of actions in sequence with use of temporal transition words (first, then, next) / Story includes characters, setting and sequenced actions, some cause-effect relationships and emerging references to feelings and plans are seen.
Sentence Structure / Speaks in short phrases; no complexity noted.
Grammatical errors that detract significantly from meaning. / Emerging use of complex sentences, mild grammatical errors. / Good proportion of complex sentences, some developmentally appropriate grammatical errors / Greater variety of complex structures, adequate grammatical usage
Details / Many omitted details, unclear, nonspecific or random references; simple vocabulary that lacks variety; inaccurate word choice that detracts significantly from meaning / Some omitted details, unclear, nonspecific or random references; emerging variety in vocabulary; inaccurate word choice that detracts slightly from meaning / Includes key relevant details, specific related vocabulary, appropriate and specific word choice / Includes elaborated details, advanced vocabulary, appropriate and specific word choice
Delivery and Style / Halting delivery, excessive pauses, repetitions, revisions, and use of fillers (like, uh), mazed quality that detract significantly from meaning / Mostly fluent delivery, some pauses, repetitions, revisions, and use of fillers (like, uh), that detract slightly from meaning / Fluent delivery, natural pauses, few revisions, and fillers (like, uh), that do not detract from meaning / Fluent delivery with some use of expression and inflection

This narrative was scored as a 5, significantly below age expectations.

Example Grade 2- Retelling of He Came with the Couch on Tumblebooks

“First he, first they were lookin’ for a couch. But they couldn’t find one just for her. And then, and then they went to see a guy, then they found a couch. But he never got off the couch. And then sh- the girl who, the little kid, she fell out her tree and then, and then the guy who was on the couch who never came off, he threw the couch and he saved them.”

Prompt: “What was your favorite part of the story?”

“It was when, it was when the, it was when the girl who never came off the couch, they were drivin’ her.”

Grades K-2 Narrative Evaluation Rubric

1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Organization / Simple description of characters/setting, actions not in sequence / More detailed description of characters/setting, some actions in sequence / Story includes characters, setting and series of actions in sequence with use of temporal transition words (first, then, next) / Story includes characters, setting and sequenced actions, some cause-effect relationships and emerging references to feelings and plans are seen.
Sentence Structure / Speaks in short phrases; no complexity noted.
Grammatical errors that detract significantly from meaning. / Emerging use of complex sentences, mild grammatical errors. / Good proportion of complex sentences, some developmentally appropriate grammatical errors / Greater variety of complex structures, adequate grammatical usage
Details / Many omitted details, unclear, nonspecific or random references; simple vocabulary that lacks variety; inaccurate word choice that detracts significantly from meaning / Some omitted details, unclear, nonspecific or random references; emerging variety in vocabulary; inaccurate word choice that detracts slightly from meaning / Includes key relevant details, specific related vocabulary, appropriate and specific word choice / Includes elaborated details, advanced vocabulary, appropriate and specific word choice
Delivery and Style / Halting delivery, excessive pauses, repetitions, revisions, and use of fillers (like, uh), mazed quality that detract significantly from meaning / Mostly fluent delivery, some pauses, repetitions, revisions, and use of fillers (like, uh), that detract slightly from meaning / Fluent delivery, natural pauses, few revisions, and fillers (like, uh), that do not detract from meaning / Fluent delivery with some use of expression and inflection

This narrative was scored as a 6- significantly below age expectations.

Example Grade 1- Retelling of The Paper Bag Princess on Tumblebooks

Prince Arnold was gonna marry a princess and the princess was so excited and, and um uh then the dragon came and, and um flew away with Prince Arnold for dinner. Then the Paper Bag Princess came to the dragon’s home and knocked on the door and then the dragon putted his head out and then um he said um, “Come back tomorrow. I will eat you tomorrow.” And then, and then, the Paper Bag Princess got him to do four things that are, that dragons do, and he got tired and then he fell asleep. Then she rescued Prince Arnold and then-en he said um, “You’re, you smell like an ear, a dragon ear,” Then, um, the Princess said “You are a bum!” and then, and then they didn’t marry after all.

Grades K-2 Narrative Evaluation Rubric

1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Organization / Simple description of characters/setting, actions not in sequence / More detailed description of characters/setting, some actions in sequence / Story includes characters, setting and series of actions in sequence with use of temporal transition words (first, then, next) / Story includes characters, setting and sequenced actions, some cause-effect relationships and emerging references to feelings and plans are seen.
Sentence Structure / Speaks in short phrases; no complexity noted.
Grammatical errors that detract significantly from meaning. / Emerging use of complex sentences, mild grammatical errors. / Good proportion of complex sentences, some developmentally appropriate grammatical errors / Greater variety of complex structures, adequate grammatical usage
Details / Many omitted details, unclear, nonspecific or random references; simple vocabulary that lacks variety; inaccurate word choice that detracts significantly from meaning / Some omitted details, unclear, nonspecific or random references; emerging variety in vocabulary; inaccurate word choice that detracts slightly from meaning / Includes key relevant details, specific related vocabulary, appropriate and specific word choice / Includes elaborated details, advanced vocabulary, appropriate and specific word choice
Delivery and Style / Halting delivery, excessive pauses, repetitions, revisions, and use of fillers (like, uh), mazed quality that detract significantly from meaning / Mostly fluent delivery, some pauses, repetitions, revisions, and use of fillers (like, uh), that detract slightly from meaning / Fluent delivery, natural pauses, few revisions, and fillers (like, uh), that do not detract from meaning / Fluent delivery with some use of expression and inflection

This narrative was scored as a 9- adequate for age expectations.

Example Grade K- Retelling of The Paper Bag Princess on Tumblebooks

Once upon a time there was a beautiful princess named Elizabeth. She lived in the castle. The dragon took away somebody. The dragon burned the man and he blew a breath that made all her clothes come off. And then she found a bag. She had no shoes on. Then she went to a castle where a dragon was. The dragon said, “I’m not hungry, come back tomorrow.” And Elizabeth said, “No I will not come back tomorrow. Show me how you can breathe fire.” He breathed fire. All of the forests got burned. Then he said, “I can fly over the world for five minutes.” And the princess said, “Will you show me?” “Yes.” And then he flew off and the she asked him again, “Will you show me?” He said, “No.” He was too tired. He went to bed. The end.

Prompt: What happened with Prince Ronald and Elizabeth?

Um he said, “Elizabeth look at you, you have no shoes on you have only a paper bag on. Come rescue me when you are all dressed and have shoes on.”

Grades K-2 Narrative Evaluation Rubric

1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Organization / Simple description of characters/setting, actions not in sequence / More detailed description of characters/setting, some actions in sequence / Story includes characters, setting and series of actions in sequence with use of temporal transition words (first, then, next) / Story includes characters, setting and sequenced actions, some cause-effect relationships and emerging references to feelings and plans are seen.
Sentence Structure / Speaks in short phrases; no complexity noted.
Grammatical errors that detract significantly from meaning. / Emerging use of complex sentences, mild grammatical errors. / Good proportion of complex sentences, some developmentally appropriate grammatical errors / Greater variety of complex structures, adequate grammatical usage
Details / Many omitted details, unclear, nonspecific or random references; simple vocabulary that lacks variety; inaccurate word choice that detracts significantly from meaning / Some omitted details, unclear, nonspecific or random references; emerging variety in vocabulary; inaccurate word choice that detracts slightly from meaning / Includes key relevant details, specific related vocabulary, appropriate and specific word choice / Includes elaborated details, advanced vocabulary, appropriate and specific word choice
Delivery and Style / Halting delivery, excessive pauses, repetitions, revisions, and use of fillers (like, uh), mazed quality that detract significantly from meaning / Mostly fluent delivery, some pauses, repetitions, revisions, and use of fillers (like, uh), that detract slightly from meaning / Fluent delivery, natural pauses, few revisions, and fillers (like, uh), that do not detract from meaning / Fluent delivery with some use of expression and inflection

This narrative was scored as an 11, proficient or advanced given age expectations.


The following samples and data provide another example of how rubric results could be presented in a report.

Second grade age 8-8 years

To look at her expressive language, Selena was asked to tell a story using a wordless picture book. Her story of Mercer’s The Boy, the dog and the frog is as follows:

A boy was on a tree, was looking through trees and then he ..a dog, his dog was looking out and then he was walking along and he came to a pond. And he found a frog. Then boy went running to catch a frog with a net and the dog was running too. And the boy trips over a branch and everything falls. And the dog is slipping down to go into the water and the boy falls inside the water and the dog does too. And their feet was sticking out. And his feet, and the frog is looking and the boy gets up and he has a bucket on his head and he sees a frog. And the m the frog jumps up and the bucket is on his eyes so he can’t see and the boy is getting mad and so, and the frog is on the branch that he tripped over and then, the boy says for his dog to go over there, and then the boy goes up to the branch and he has his net. And he was about to catch it and his dog and the dog was there too to keep him from going back and frong and he went to go throw it and the frog ended up going upside on the branch and he caught the dog . Then he..the doig is in the net and the dog is on the rock and the boy tries to get the frog to come over there but the frog doesn’t and they leave and the frog is still there. They leave the pond and the boy is mad. The frog is all sad and lonely. Then he starts to look at their footsteps and he follows the footsteps and gets and he finds and he is inside their house. They are washing in the bathtub and the frog sees that the boy is in the bathtub and he is smiling and the boy is about to come out and the dog is going in with him and the frog jumps into the water inside the tub and the boy is smiling and then and they end up talking, the boy, the frog and the dog.