Retelling Assessment

Kaelin Jernigan

For the assigned task, Aly and the teacher read the story The Three Billy
Goats Gruff. First, the teacher read the story to her from the front to the back of
the book. After finishing the story they went back and looked at all the pictures
and described what was happening in each picture. If the student was unable to
tell the teacher, she or he would assist her in her thinking to help her get the
correct answer. After doing this, the teacher retold the story using the figures
that were cut out telling all the elements of the story. After all of these steps had
been taken, the teacher asked Aly to retell the story to him or her using the
figures the teacher had cut out. As she was telling the teacher the story, the
teacher wrote down her responses and scored her accordingly.
Aly is a very quiet student typically. She is an ELL student and will usually
keep to herself unless speaking to other ELL students. When the teacher
showed her that there were figures cut out for her to use, she became more
interested in the activity. Aly told the teacher that she liked the Billy goats and
that Little Billy was her favorite. She was still a little hesitant when retelling the
story to the teacher verbally and spoke very quietly. She was happy that she got
to use the figures to tell the story and the teacher thought it calmed her nerves a
`little bit.
Aly received a score of 9: developing retelling. This was one of the first
times that the teacher had ever seen Aly do a story retelling activity. She was
able to hit all of the main concepts and tell the teacher the main characters,
however, was unable to retell some of the smaller details. Aly first told the
teacher who the characters were. She was able to identify Little Billy, Middle
Billy, and Big Billy, however, forgot to state the setting of where they were. After
she identified the characters, she told the teacher that Little Billy went across the
bridge and there was a troll. He said Stop Im going to eat you and Little Billy
said No eat bigger brother. Next she said, Middle Billy crossed the bridge.
Troll said Im going to eat you Middle Billy said, no. After this she explained,
Big Billy went across the bridge. Troll said, Im going to eat you and Big Billy
said no. Her final resolution was They all went to get some food. She was
able to understand all of the main points of the story and retell what happened in
them. Aly has a firm grasp on what retelling is. She is able to pick up on the
main details of a story, but isnt able to remember everything which can be typical
for kindergartners. Aly was able to identify the characters of a story, the main
points, and the resolution. For further instruction the teacher should continue to
reiterate what retelling is. The teacher believes that Aly can grasp the concept of
retelling, but with a little more practice can become a strong reteller.