Read and Retell
A Read and Retell enables practice in a range of literacy skills including reading, writing, listening, speaking, thinking, interacting, comparing, matching, selecting and organising information, remembering and comprehending.
As an assessment tool, it provides information about comprehension, sequencing of ideas and writing skills.
Sharing and Discussing
In pairs or small groups ask students to discuss:
Ask students to write down any new learnings they have made during the session and/or any concerns they have. They could also write about what they would like to work on to improve their reading and writing skills.
Sample Text for a Read and Retell
Excerpt from Barbed Wire and Gold Bannisters by Kay Arthur
Jessie was fighting with the gate. It was heavy, and hard to drag back across the bumps and the dust. She pushed at it until there was just enough room to squeeze through without getting covered in too much rust and dirt, and without tearing her school dress on the bits of barbed wire sticking out. She grunted a bit, and swore a lot, as she struggled to push the gate closed after her. And then came the Jack Attack.
The Jack Attack was always the same. A big, strong streak of yellow labrador would race from somewhere out the back, belt around the side of the house, jump at her at full speed, claws and paws scratching as high as her shoulders. Jessie said all the ‘Down boy!...Easy...Okay’ things people say to dogs in such situations, but it always took a few minutes for the Jack Attack to subside.
Tonight she really wasn’t in the mood to fight with the gate, or to fight with Jack, but Jack wasn’t the kind of dog who understood these things. So, he clawed and slobbered his hellos until Jessie gave in and sat her bum down in the dust on the top step of the verandah. She untangled herself from the backstraps of her school bag and grabbed the soft, yellow ears between her fists and wrestled with Jack’s big grinning doggy head.
Brown, H. & Cambourne, B. (1987). Read and Retell. Australia: Methuen.
Arthur, K. (1997). Barbed Wire and Gold Bannisters. In Hyde, M. (ed.). The Girl Who Married a Fly and other stories. Adelaide: Australian Association for the Teaching of English.