Discussion of the findings:

Story Retelling Checklist: 

Videotaped student retellings as a method of assessment.

***click on the links to view individual sections or scroll down to view all of the findings.

General Results: 

Based on the scores obtained using the Story Retelling Checklist, the ability of all 3 students to retell stories improved.   

Student#1, Jonathan, initially received 14 points in September and ended with an improved score of 24 in March. An overall increase of 10 points. 

Student #2, Melissa, initially received 12 points in September and ended with an improved score of 24 in March. An overall increase of 12 points.  

Student #3, Ann, initially received 10 points in September and ended with an improved score of 22 in March. An overall increase of 12 points.

General trends: 

• All students did not give a setting during the first 3 story retelling sessions, despite direct instruction during whole group retelling and reminders to do so before retelling. 

• For most of the sessions, all students were able to tell a favorite part of the story and improved overall in their ability to elaborate on their answer. (Ann did not respond to the question during session 1.) However, they were not able to add more details aside from, “I liked it”, “It was my favorite”, and “I don't know” for the first three sessions. (Ann was not able to elaborate until the seventh session.) 

• Two out of the three students, Ann and Melissa, had difficulty throughout relating personal experiences to the text. The highest score obtained for each was a 1 indicating only a “somewhat complete response”.  Jonathan was able to share personal experiences in all 8 sessions. Five of which yielded a score of 3 points indicating a complete answer.

• Two out of the three students (Ann and Melissa) improved in the areas of using dialog from the story.  Jonathan maintained his level of competence throughout.  

• Clarity of expression assessed the student's ability to retell the story coherently using complete sentences in a fluent manner. Two out of the three students (Ann and Melissa) improved in the areas of clarity of expression. Jonathan maintained his level of competence throughout.  

• Length of student sentences during the retellings increased as the story progresses and throughout the course of this study.

 *partial transcriptions are included below in the individual student reports. 

Individual Student Reports:  

The peer retelling intervention most likely played a role in the student's overall ability to retell stories; it did not however result in significant increases in scores. See charts and descriptions below for individual student scores derived from the Story Retelling Checklist.

*Bold titles indicate peer retelling intervention 

Student # 1 Jonathan 

Student#1

Jonathan's peer retelling scores increased by 3 points, 1 point and 2 points, respectively. The peer retelling intervention resulted in a 6 point gain overall.

Jonathan's standard retelling scores increased by 2 points, 1 point, and 1 point, respectively. The whole group, standard retelling procedure resulted in a 4 point gain overall.

Results indicated that for Jonathan, the peer retelling intervention had a positive impact on his ability to retell stories.

Jonathan's overall retelling ability ranged from 14-24 increasing 10 points overall.

Clarity of Expression:   

In the story Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Jonathan's retelling included this phrase for a page in the story. “Mama Bear's bed too bouncy”. This was not a complete sentence yet was an accurate description of the page retelling.  In a later story, The Mitten Jonathan's response for a page was as appropriate although much more comprehensive, “Then a meadow mouse came and he couldn't squeeze in. There was no room, not one little bit, except on the bear's nose. 

Student # 2 Melissa 

 Student#2

Melissa's peer retelling scores increased by 0 points, 0 points, and 2 points, respectfully. 

The peer retelling intervention resulted in a 2 point gain overall.

Melissa's standard retelling scores increased by 5 points, 3 points, 2 points, respectfully.

The whole group standard retelling procedure resulted in a 10 point gain overall.

Results indicated that for Melissa, the whole group standard retelling procedure had more of a positive effect on her retelling ability than the peer retelling intervention.

Melissa's overall retelling ability ranged from a 12-24 increasing 12 points overall.

Clarity of Expression:   

In the story Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Melissa's retelling began with the words “Once upon a time” and then the page was turned with no further elaboration despite prompting. This was not a complete sentence or an accurate description of the page. In a later story, The Three Billy Goats Gruff, Molly's beginning was not only appropriate, but much more comprehensive, “Once upon a time there were three goats Gruff and they wanted to go to eat the grass.”  

Student #3   Ann 

Student#3

Ann's peer retelling scores increased by 1 point, 1 point, and 2 points, respectively. 

The peer retelling intervention resulted in a 4 point gain overall.

Ann's regular retelling scores increased by 2 points, 5 points, and 1 point, respectively.

The whole group standard retelling procedure resulted in an 8 point gain overall.

Results indicated that for Ann, the whole group standard retelling procedure had more of a positive effect on her retelling ability than the peer retelling intervention.

Ann's overall retelling ability ranged from 10-22 increasing 12 points overall.  

Ann ended the story The Three Billy Goats Gruff with the sentence, “And they got fat.” Though this was accurate, it was not a complete ending to the story.  In a later story, The Mitten, Ann's ending was not only appropriate, but much more comprehensive, “The Grandmother was at the window and saw Nikki still had his snow white mittens. The Grandmother was confused because one mitten was stretched and one wasn't.”

Whole Group Retelling:

Observation as a method of assessment  

Additionally, student observations during whole group retellings were utilized as a method of assessment.  All three participants raised their hand to participate and were called on for each whole group retelling session. These lessons were videotaped and later viewed for accuracy in assessing participant responses.  Responses indicated improvement in retelling for all three students. Jonathan, Melissa and Ann all used longer sentences, and elaborated on their retellings as the sessions progressed. 

Student #1 Jonathan 

Jonathan's ability to retell stories improved as shown by his participation and elaborated responses during whole group retelling. During our second session, The Gingerbread Man, Jonathan raised his hand immediately to retell the first page of the story. His entire response for the page was “The old man and the old woman”. Prompting yielded no further response. During our 4^th session, Is This a House for Hermit Crab?, Jonathan again immediately raised his hand and began the story this way, “The Hermit Crab's house was getting too small for him and he wanted to find a new house”. Additionally he used dialog from the story by adding, “he went scritch scratch”.  

Student #2 Melissa

Melissa's ability to retell stories improved as shown by her participation and elaborated responses during whole group retelling.  During our first session, Melissa eagerly participated by offering this end to Goldilocks and the Three Bears, “Goldilocks ran all the way home. The End”. Although this was accurate, it was incomplete and brief. A major element was missing; Goldilocks learned her lesson and said she would never go into anyone's house unless she was invited.  During our 5^th session, The Mitten, Melissa retold a page with much greater detail and accuracy. “And then a badger came down and he saw the snow white mitten. And the animals didn't let him in right away because they didn't think there was enough room. But then they saw his diggers so they let him in.”

Student #3 Ann 

Ann's ability to retell stories improved as shown by her participation and elaborated responses during whole group retelling.  During our 2^nd session, The Gingerbread Man, Ann ended the story with, “The fox ate him.”  Although this was accurate, it was incomplete and brief. A major element was missing; the man and women didn't get to eat the gingerbread man after all their hard work cooking and chasing him. Additionally, Ann omitted the following dialog from the story “Snip, snap”.  During our 5^th session, The Mitten, Ann retold a page with much greater elaboration. “Once upon a time Nikki wanted some new mittens and asked Baba if she would make snow white mittens.”  Here Ann elaborated further and used dialog from the story “snow white mittens”.   

All participants' responses during whole group retelling improved over the course of this study. Data above show that their sentences became more complex as the sessions progressed.

Student Interviews:   

Reflection as a method of assessment 

Finally, student reflections were utilized as a method of assessing the appropriateness of Story Retelling in Kindergarten. Student responses were recorded during individual interviews after the final retelling lesson. The purpose of this method of assessment was to find out how the students viewed the process of story retelling. 

Student Reflections:

Student #1  Jonathan

Student #2 Melissa     

Student #3 Ann

Do you like to read?

Yes, (w/ prompting)… It's just my favorite. I always like to read with my Dad.

I don't know how to read. (Do you like listening to stories?) I like to have people read me books because I don't know how to read.

Yes, my sister she helps me read.

What is your favorite book?

At the Pond. (No further elaboration despite prompting)

My favorite book is _____(no response) I have it at home, I don't know I think… no response.

Rainbow Fish. (Why?) He has a lot of scales. They are so shiny.

How did we read stories in a different way today?

Once upon a time- (question rephrased) By telling the words. By looking at the pictures, I just read it.

The pictures.  I retell it.

We looked at the pictures. (Then?) No elaboration.

Did you like to retell the story this way? Why/why not?

Yup, It's my favorite. (why?) It just is? (Prompting did not yield elaborated response).

Yes, It's just fun.

Yes, because I don't know how to read yet.

Do you want to retell more stories at school? At home?

Yup, Yup, ‘cause it's fun. (what is fun?) Well learning…learning stuff.

Yes.  Sometimes I tell my sister stories at home.

Yes. Yes. I like to tell stories with my sister.

Do you think you are good at retelling stories? Why?

Yes, because I am always good at reading (why?) I tell it.

I think I do a good job.  I retell and look at the pictures.

Good. Because I practice at home.

All participants responded positively to reading in general, reported that they liked retelling stories at school and at home, and felt they were good at retelling.  All students were able to answer every question; however some answers were quite brief. Prompting did not yield elaborated responses.

return to top