In order to move along in our storytelling process, I had to assess where we were at this point. I had given my students a number of opportunities to practice speaking on their own and then to others. In the beginning, the students had spoken about personal experiences (our trip to the pumpkin patch) and then we shifted to retelling the story “The Tailor”. I had infused student practicing with scaffolding activities such as the Virginia Reel, Telling the Wall, Round the Circle Storytelling and Telling to a Partner. We also worked on creating a story map and practiced introductions/endings. These things gave structure and acted as prompts for the tellers. Finally, I purposefully choose the story “The Tailor” because it contained patterns and repetitive parts. I felt these were important scaffolds for first time retelling.
