Issue 25: Story Chats: Unpacking Children's Stories | Arti Shah

Deep reading is always about connection.

Have you been moved by children's stories you've read or listened to? Have you felt seen, heard, and/or represented in a way that is difficult to describe? Have you ever had wholesome conversations about stories that have helped in deepening a bond or simply building one? Stories have a way of connecting the heart, brain, and the spoken word across languages, ages, genders, and any other distinguishing factor. Maryanne Wolf, a renowned cognitive neuroscientist, reading expert, and author eloquently articulates, "Deep reading is always about connection: connecting what we know to what we read, what we read to what we feel, what we feel to what we think, and how we think to how we live out our lives in a connected world."

As a Speech Pathologist working in school settings, I have the privilege to work collaboratively on multiple aspects of individuals' communication skills particularly for those with difficulties in areas of speech sounds, language, literacy, social skills, and much more. Considering the wide range of skills and the intricate nature of communication, I have the opportunity to focus on students meaningfully engaging in their learning, participating in classroom discussions, and on the playground, ultimately helping them grow into contributing members of their school community. A part of the job I hold dear to my heart is engaging in conversations focusing on children's picture stories with students in a whole class setting, in small groups, and/or in individual intervention sessions. The purpose of this article is to explain the importance of having a conversation with students about picture stories and the process I undertake in preparing for these interactions.

Picture books provide opportunities to learn about different geographical locations, flora and fauna, people, foods, cultures, how things work, and much more. Additionally, these stories expose children to and help them understand complex vocabulary, a range of sentence structures, worldly concepts and themes, emotions, feelings and a suite of different social constructs that may be familiar/novel. The language used in picture stories is more complex than conversational language. It is represented by sophisticated word use, advanced grammatical markers, a range of sentences (types and complexity), decontextualised language (where the context is not shared as it is in a conversation), narrative complexity and more. These language elements lend themselves to enriching children's understanding of the words and world one book at a time.

When preparing for picture book conversations, I use the Language Comprehension strands of the Scarborough's reading rope as my primary model to help me understand parts that will require unpacking. The 5 strands include background knowledge, vocabulary, language structures, verbal reasoning, and literacy knowledge. Background knowledge generally refers to the topics, facts, concepts, themes, locations, seasons, and so forth. Vocabulary refers to sophisticated words selected with the intent to represent the breadth, depth, and precision of the story. Language structures are different types of sentences (simple, compound, complex, compound-complex) that represent the semantics and syntax of the story. Verbal reasoning refers to our ability to reason based on drawing from other higher-order language elements such as cause-effect, problem-solution, local and global inference, compare-contrast, etc. Literacy knowledge refers to knowledge about the text, such as the genre, text structure, understanding of types of sentences used for specific genres, etc.

Having a thorough understanding of the language comprehension strands, learning from personal experiences and other professionals (some of which include Dr Tiffany Hogan, Dr Molly Ness, Dr Mitchell Brookins, Cox Campus courses, Tim Shanahan, Dr Sonia Cabell, etc.), I have established a conversation routine with the students at a whole class, small group, and individual level. Our conversations can range from 10-20 minutes, depending on the students' age. This routine includes the following:

1. Reading the title and pausing to ensure students have understood it. In my experience, I have been amazed by the frequency of students not reading the title and subsequently finding it difficult to connect the information.
2. Pausing after the first couple of pages and/or 30-40 seconds of a read aloud to check in for students understanding. The first pause is to ask students a couple of closed questions to ensure they are following along. Closed questions are those where the answers are in the text, e.g., Who are the characters? Where have they gone? If students have difficulties with understanding the stories at the start, the rest of the story will be impacted, so it is important for the adult to provide an explanation if required.
3. The remaining pauses in the story are dedicated to the VIPs (Very Important Parts) of the story. In a webinar by Dr. Mitchell Brookins, Beyond Retelling: Navigating Complex Texts (youtube.com), one of my main takeaways was it is important to read the story in advance, know the parts that are the most important for the students to understand, and plan questions accordingly for these parts. This point was important for my sessions as it helped with focusing on the crucial parts and thus reducing the pauses (since multiple pauses may hinder students' attention).
4. These pauses offer opportunities to explicitly explain complex concepts, themes, vocabulary, complex sentences and how parts of the story are connected; ask open-ended questions focusing on higher-order language elements mentioned above; and recap the sequence of events that have taken place until the pause point if necessary. When explaining less familiar or complex parts of the text, using meta-cognitive techniques such as Think Alouds is highly effective. This is beautifully explained by Dr Molly Ness. [drmollyness.com]
5. At the end of the story, we collectively recap the sequence of events, and the students are encouraged to ask the adult questions about the story. It is important to encourage students to ask questions as this is another higher-order language skill and helps them think about the information and manipulate it into a question form. When needed, modelling (I do) and joint practice (We do) can be employed to teach students how to ask questions about the stories.

Other nuances considered during these conversations have included:

1. The pauses have worked well for students as they have helped to reduce the amount of information the students are required to listen to and process at any one time.
2. Selecting picture books that range in their themes, geographical locations, foods, cultures, complexity of problems, and much more. I am drawn to platforms such as Storyline Online [storylineonline.net], Stories with Star [youtube.com], Story Box [storyboxhub.com], school libraries, and yearly Speech Pathology Australia recommendation.
3. To build students' background knowledge, I consider elements of the book that could be related to real life and use YouTube videos to support my explanations. For example, if a story consists of a weather event (such as a cyclone) students may not be familiar with, showing them a YouTube video after the story may support their understanding.
4. The use of equity sticks to ensure most or all students have an opportunity to respond to questions.
5. In addition to background knowledge, another concept that has helped me carefully consider my questions is 'funds of knowledge'. This pertains to the skills and cultural understandings gained through personal and familial experience. For example, cultural norms (social constructs, foods, festivals, language, etc.) may be a part of many stories, and this could be added to the discussion. [podcasts.apple.com]
6. The students are encouraged to respond in complete sentences, but the adult recasts their response if it contains grammatical errors. These recasts are further considered to be models for grammatical structures the students need in their oral language to reinforce their message clarity.
7. To build on or deepen responses, the Strive for Five technique has been considered. This is where the adult asks the question and extends the conversation for five turns with one student. [onlinelibrary.wiley.com]
8. It is important to understand the types of sentences that may be difficult for students to understand. Four types of sentence structures that may be difficult to process are introduced and systematically explored: (a) sentences with passive verb constructions, (b) adverbial clauses with temporal and causal conjunctions, (c) center-embedded relative clauses, and (d) sentences with three or more clauses (Zipoli, 2017). [journals.sagepub.com]

Engaging in these conversations has provided me with deep insights into students thinking and understanding. It has assisted in creating beautiful memories about shared experiences and fears, as well as helped in developing an affinity for listening to stories that they get to discuss. Personally, learning from my mistakes and reflecting on good-quality conversations has helped me to strengthen my practice. I have learned to understand where students need simplified explanations, where they are likely to make errors resulting from confusion and/or misunderstanding, and how to gauge the increase in their cognitive load.

Arti Shah

Arti is an experienced Speech Pathologist with over 13 years of experience, driven by a passion for language, literacy, and promoting communication access and equity. She has dedicated her career and is a life-long learner in understanding the intricacies of communication and how we use it to access life. She is also the founder of Human Chapters, a platform dedicated to conversation and storytelling. Through this initiative, people are brought together to share, reflect, and connect through stories that highlight diversity, resilience, and growth. With a commitment to equity and understanding, Arti aims to inspire change by blending her professional expertise and her belief in the transformative power of communication and storytelling.

Extracts from Dystinct Magazine