Jane Singleton
CRIN X51
11/29/10
Read Aloud Reflection
Procedures:
I read aloud to the student, Miss Nelson is Missing, without any warning that there would be comprehension questions to follow. The next day prior to reading the second book Miss Nelson Has A Field Day, I gave AM a mini-lesson on story structure using direct explanation. On a white board I drew a box for the setting, and explained what the setting was (i.e. place, time) and then I asked him to give me an example of the setting from a book we read together. Next we reviewed the terms, characters, problem, sequence of events, solution and theme. I drew a box for each and together we came up with examples of each from the book Miss Nelson is Missing. After we reviewed each part of the story structure, I told him that we were going to read Miss Nelson Has a Field Day and that I was going to ask him to tell me all about the book afterwards.
Summary and Reflection:
The student’s retell was simplistic and did not include complex details or inferences. Regarding the emotions of the characters the students had difficulty coming up with the correct vocabulary, his first guesses were always happy or sad. Additionally, when he retold the story without prompts he tended to mix up the sequence of events slightly. For example when re-telling the second read aloud he skipped telling the mood of the characters and setting of the book and went straight to the point where Miss Nelson went into the teacher’s lounge and found the coach. He did not relate the coach acting crazy or “cracking up” to the fact that the football team was doing badly. He also initially left out the part when the principal tried to dress up like Mrs. Viola Swamp. Overall I would rate the student as giving a simple descriptive retell of the story as he did not make inferences about missing information or tell the events in exact sequence.
The retell of the first story by the student was a lot shorter then the second story. He never mentioned the detective as a character or his role in the first story retell. Additionally, he did not recall any of the creative ideas supplied by the students of reasons why Miss Nelson may be missing. So a lot of details were left out of the middle of the book, but he was able to infer that Miss Nelson was the one dressing up as Mrs. Viola Swamp in the end. Also he connected the idea that the students were better behaved and happier at the end of the book because Miss Nelson was back and she was much nicer than Miss Viola Swamp.
During the second retell, the student provided more details and remembered all the characters names with the exception of the coach. The student gave specifics regarding the exercises Mrs. Viola Swamp made the football team do. He also named specific of the types of food the students ate when they went to the café to celebrate the football team victory. As these books were very visual, the students remembered and retold a lot of information that was in the pictures, such as the burgers in the cafeteria, the types of food the students ate at the café and how the principal checked-in with Miss Nelson (there was a picture of him looking into her room). It could be inferred from this evidence that the student comprehends information better when supplied with visuals. Once prompted the student provided more information then he did with the first read aloud too. Based on the assessments the student benefited from the story structure lesson and being aware of the types of questions he should be able to answer when reading a story.
The student’s main focused surrounded the main characters, problem and solution of the story. The setting, theme and other characters received less attention during his retell of the story. Based on my experience working with the student he also tends to have difficulty remembering information, which could be due to his lack of vocabulary. Continuing to reinforce the story structure strategy to the student will be helpful overtime, emphasizing the events that happen in the middle of the story. Additionally I recommend supplying the student with a visual checklist/chart of key story structure items to look out for, so that he can check them off as he hears them read aloud or reads them himself.
Additional variables that could have effected the students ability to retell the story is his low vocabulary, especially in expressive language which makes it difficult for him to interpret how characters feel and how events relate. Additionally, given that English is his second language and Spanish is spoken a lot at home the child has less practice expressing himself in English and also has less Standard English modeled to him, which will effect all areas of his reading from decoding to comprehension.
Overall, the retell is an excellent assessment tool that can not only help a teacher evaluate a student’s comprehension of a passage, but also assess inference skills, vocabulary knowledge and expressive language as probing questions require students to explain how the characters feel at the end of a story. In order for retells to be effective I think educator’s need to let the child know in advance that they are going to be assessed for comprehension as well as make sure the students understands what the important elements of a story are. Also I think when educators are implementing the story structure strategy they need to supply visuals to students with low vocabulary knowledge as words like setting and characters may need to be broken down into simpler terms. I would also tell the instructor to specify to the student prior to the retell that you want them to tell you all about the story from beginning to end. I think being more specific in my instructions may have helped the student tell the events in a more complete sequential order.