Read and Retell: A Strategy for the Whole Language/Natural Learning Classroom

by Hazel Brown, Brian Cambourne

"Read and Retell" details a simple and easy-to prepare strategy that teachers can use in the whole language classroom. Brown and Cambourne have found that the retelling procedure is an excellent holistic way to help learners gain control of various genres they are reading and a powerful technique for assessing children's comprehension of texts and evaluating their control of language. Their book provides thirty-eight texts in a range of descriptive, persuasive, argumentative, explanatory, and instructive writing with detailed instructions for their use in the retelling context.

148 pages, Paperback

First published January 23, 1990

About the author

Hazel Brown is the senior elder of a large, extended family. She has worked as a rural labourer, was a member for WA’s first metropolitan Commission of Elders, and is a registered native title claimant.

Reviews

[Becky · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book records an experiment in which the two authors conducted in a fifth grade classroom in Australia in the 80s. The premise is that narration (or retelling) is an accurate and effective way of learning. Not only does it cause students to think and remember what they have read, but it also helps them in many other aspects of learning. In the case studies in the book, the teachers included in the narration process prediction, writing, and oral sharing.

The book begins by laying out what the retelling procedure is and its effects. In the following chapters, the authors give examples of how the retelling process can be used throughout a semester and recorded data from the classroom showing how the students grew and how they could be evaluated. I think this book was helpful in considering narration with our children. However, since the process is geared towards fifth graders, the actual procedure is probably not one I would use for a while. There seemed to be a lot of the children simply regurgitating what they had read as opposed to writing in their own words. I did appreciate that the authors stated that the retelling process should not necessarily always be an evaluation. It is helpful for children to have a natural process in which to retell the information they have taken in without the pressure of a grade.