Instructional Strategies

Story retelling is an easy strategy to use in the classroom and is particularly effective for deaf students. They can retell the story in ASL without having to translate their responses into English.

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• Tell the students that they will be asked to retell the story when they have finished reading.

  • Inform the students that they should include specific information about the

    • characters,

    • setting,

    • problem,

    • main episodes/events, and

    • resolution.

• After reading, ask individuals to retell the story as if telling it to a friend who does not know the story.

• The student tells the story, noting the important parts mentioned above.

• When the retelling is finished,

  • ask questions about any important parts that were omitted, or

  • ask the student to reread important information that was omitted.

• Retelling can also be adapted to small group or partner activities.

• Older students may sometimes write story summaries instead of retelling.