Paul Farbman

Language Arts Pictorial Retelling

Objective: Given the opportunity to participate in an interactive read aloud
of Spookley the Square Pumpkin by Joe Troiano, TSW will order three
main events in the story of Spookley the Square Pumpkin using illustrated pieces in order to
demonstrate retelling familiar stories, including key details.
Rationale: In order to measure the objective above, I developed a three-part rubric with the
following scoring levels: I did it, I almost did it, and not yet. In order to earn the I did it
rating, the student had to be able to order the three illustrations from the story provided in the
correct order of beginning, middle and end. In order to receive a rating of I almost did it, the
students pictures did not have to be in order, but they had to provide a plausible enough
explanation of their order to let the teacher know that they at least knew what the terms
beginning, middle and end meant. If the student received the ranking of not yet, the student
would not have had their pictures in order and would not have been able to provide any
explanation to justify their reasoning.
It was necessary to use a rubric for this scoring guide as opposed to a checklist because
this is the students first opportunity to learn about the concepts of beginning, middle and end. I
wanted to have a score level that let the students and myself know that they had a developing
understanding of the concept. It was also possible that students may have begun or ended with
the correct event and only forgot a few parts of the story.
This assessment was not differentiated because all of the students in the class have had
experience with retelling and should be able to order the pictures with teacher support as
necessary. There were numerous opportunities for students to receive formative assessment in
our whole group activities ordering the same illustrations on the interactive whiteboard. All
students received a score of I did it on this activity.