Narrative Reading By Lorie Sadler

Narrative Reading What Why When How

What is Narrative Reading  Tells a story expressing event-based experiences  “children develop sensitivity to narrative structure early and use it to comprehend simple stories before they enter school.” (Williams, 2005)  Comprehension instruction typically begins with narrative text.

Story Structure  Pertains to how stories and their plots are systematically organized into a predictable format  Provides a framework that helps students to discover what is most relevant for understanding a story  Includes  setting  characters  plot  theme

Strategy Application  Recognizing Story Structure  Being aware of story structure is an aid in summarizing text; it helps students identify which parts of the stories to attend to the most. Use of story maps are an effective tool in helping students to organize a story into its story elements.  Asking and Answering Question  Serves as an organizational guide, promotes active reading, helps students identify important information. Students need initial instruction in how to pose effective questions. Questions should spark a full range of thinking skills to encourage a deeper level of comprehension. (Bloom’s Taxonomy)

Strategy Application (Cont)  Monitoring Comprehension  Noting how well one’s understanding of a story is progressing Think – Alouds  Saying what you are thinking while you read  Allows student to better self-monitor their own comprehension  Connecting to World Knowledge  Integrating story information with previous life experiences Broadens and deepens literary understanding Enables students to understand, feel, value, and retain the depth of an authors meaning  Predicting  Making informed predictions or previewing before and during reading  Helps students to focus their attention while reading

Strategy Application (Cont)  Constructing Mental Images  Making pictures in your mind Through mental imaging students can learn to picture authors’ descriptions as a way to build and monitor their comprehension  Summarizing  Focuses on story elements Used to assess comprehension and to guide students toward a deeper understanding of a story  Emergent  Early Fluent  Fluent

Multiple – Strategy Instruction Program  Transactional Strategies Instruction (TSI)  Developed by Michael Pressley, et. Al. Multiple strategy instructions Understanding the text shares equal weight with learning the coordinated use of comprehension strategies Collaborative discussion with metacognition, motivation and reader response Embodies the full range of transactions-between reader and text, between readers, and between readers and teachers

Reader Response  Reader Response  How readers interact with stories and form personal responses that influence their interpretation (Rosenblatt 1978) Two ways to enhance reader interactions  Discussion-Oriented Instruction Supports students in the process of developing meaning  Writing in response to Literature Enhances students’ interactions with narrative texts before, during, and after reading

Why Narrative Reading  Teaching students to identify and represent story structure improves their comprehension of narrative text (RRSG, 2002)  Enhances students’ memory and recall of text and helps them organize and write stories “Story structure instruction shows positive effects for a wide range of students, from kindergarten to the intermediate grades to high school to special populations, and to students identified as struggling readers.” (Duke and Pearson, 2002)

When to Teach Narrative Reading  When to teach  As soon as students start to interact with text and should continue through high school Effective teaching balances explicit comprehension strategies instruction with the literary experience of a story  When to Assess and Intervene  Comprehension instruction should be accompanied by reliable assessment aligned with instruction  Retellings, student think-alouds, and other process-focused measures may serve as useful tools for diagnosing and remediating comprehension problems

How to Teach Narrative Reading  Lesson Models  Dialogic reading: Picture book read-aloud method Students become the teller Teacher become the listener and questioner Commonly used with Pre-Kindergartners using picture books (CROWD) Prompt Questions—Completion, Recall, Open- Ended, Wh-,Distancing PEER-Teacher helps students become tellers of a story through the sequence of: Prompt, Evaluate, Expand, Repeat

How to Teach Narrative Reading  Lesson Models (Cont)  Story Structure Teaches students to ask and answer questions about story structure elements with an emphasis on theme Incorporates instruction in story maps Direct explanation – explain use of story map Teach/Model – teacher models use of story map Guided Practice: Theme Transfer – students transfer and apply the generalized theme

How to Teach Narrative Reading  Lesson Models (Cont)  Transactional Strategies Instruction (TSI) Through teacher student dialog reading TSI emphasizes coordinated use of strategies to help students to build and monitor comprehension Strategies are first introduced individually Model for explicit instruction follows Over time, responsibility for strategy choices shifts from teacher to student

How to Teach Narrative Reading  Lesson Models (Cont)  Book Club: Writing in response to literature Provides instructions in three categories  Personal (emotion) – Share personal stories through journal entry or personal essay  Creative (imagination) – Engage with text and author through poems or dialogues  Critical (evaluation) – analyzing text through paragraph critiquing literary element or essay about author’s message

Narrative Reading  Provides an early structure in which to teach key reading strategies  Monitoring Comprehension  Connecting to World Knowledge  Predicting  Recognizing Text Structure  Asking Questions  Answering Questions  Constructing Mental Images  Summarizing