Chapter 14Narrative Reading
Joe Steele
Helping students to recognize the structure inherent in text – and match it to their own cognitive structures – will help them understand and produce not only text, but also spoken discourse.
Williams, 2005
What?• A narrative is a story• Story Elements:
Setting – when and where a story takes place;
sometimes includes flashbacks, flash-forwards
Characters – people, animals, creatures in the story; includes protagonist, antagonist
Plot – sequence of events, including conflict and attempts to solve conflict
Theme – big idea the author leaves reader with
Comprehensive Strategies
• Recognizing Story Structure – story maps• Asking Questions –student driven questions• Answering Questions – Bloom’s taxonomy• Monitoring Comprehension – Think alouds• Connecting to World Knowledge – life experiences• Predicting – what’s going to happen• Constructing Mental Images – picturing descriptions• Summarizing/Retelling – emergent/early fluent/fluent
These strategies can be taught and used before, during and after reading.
Multiple-Strategy Instruction Program
• Transactional Strategies Instruction (TSI)– Transactions (discussions) between:
• reader and text,• readers,• reader and teacher
TSI strategies
• Reader ResponsePersonal response based on experience
• Discussion-oriented InstructionTeacher- and student-directed discussionsOpen-ended questioning
• Writing in Response to LiteraturePersonal, creative, critical
Why?• Understanding story structure helps students to:
• Remember the story• Recognize “sameness” across texts• Develop frame of reference for processing
information• Organize and write stories
Assessment
• Traditional assessments are often inadequate– Confuses comprehension with vocabulary,
background knowledge, word reading ability– Fails to represent the complexity of
comprehension– Doesn’t distinguish specific comprehension
problems
• Traditional assessments should be combined with teachers’ ongoing informal assessment of comprehension
• Retellings and think alouds are useful tools for diagnosing problems and as assessments
When?• Comprehension instruction should begin
when students start interacting with text and continue through high school
• Comprehension strategies are applied to increasingly complex texts
How?• CROWD – teacher prompted questions
(Completion, Recall, Open-ended, WH-, Distancing)
• PEER – teacher helps students to retell story
(Prompt, Evaluate, Expand, Repeat)
* Scaffolding – teacher does less reading each time story is read
Comprehension Instruction Tools
• Story Maps• Theme Identification Questioning• Prediction Charts/Worksheets• Think-Pair-Share• Read Alouds• Book Club• Tripod Response Sheets• Writing Prompts
Conclusion
• Story elements provide the framework for applying comprehension strategies to narrative text
• Understanding story structure can enhance comprehension
• Traditional assessments need to be used in conjunction with ongoing teacher assessments for comprehension
• Comprehension should be taught from a student’s first contact with text through high school
• Comprehension skills should be taught in a variety of ways