Discusses "story grammar" strategies, such as self-questioning, story maps, character and plot development, and comparison and contrast of similar stories, which can be used to help elementary students with learning disabilities or low-achieving students improve their reading and writing skills. Activities are described for each…

Argues that it is possible for stories to both entertain the reader and teach reading techniques. Suggests that the apprentice approach to reading instruction, using good stories and with judicious intervention by teachers, can be rigorous. (MG)

Reviews several theoretical perspectives and presents data pertinent to what makes a story likable. Examines the contribution of two story characteristics to adults' and elementary students' ratings of story liking and storyhood: the importance of the goal the protagonist pursues and the difficulty of attaining that goal. (JAD)

Takes readers to a second grade classroom to see how children's meanings of a story grow as they engage in a variety of related activities. Discusses how the meaning of a story grows to become multifaceted as children use the story for different personal and social purposes in the classroom. (MG)

Elementary teachers can use folktales to teach story structure. After students read a folktale, they can brainstorm for story ideas, create and revise outlines and drafts, edit their stories in pairs, complete a final version, then construct and illustrate a book. A student page teaches how to plan a folktale. (SM)

Story grammar is a recent area of research related to an interactive conceptualization of reading. A study of 70 sixth-grade students studying English as a foreign language (EFL) suggests that direct instruction in story grammar helps students abstract a story's episodic sequence and metastructure. Sample texts are appended. (Contains 21…

Presents case study of one child, Scrap, as he uses play and experimentation within a facilitative classroom environment to resolve conflicts related to written language. Classroom practices are described. Shared journal entries are used to illustrate a conscious awareness of how words are written, morphosyntactic aspects of written discourse, and…

Flannelboards have been a storytime staple for years in school and public libraries. The flannelboard, or feltboard as it often is called, is a great tool to help children build early literacy skills. Reading research tells us that reading aloud is most effective when it is an interactive experience between the reader and the child. Flannelboard…

In this replication study, supplemental writing instruction in strategic planning was used to improve the story writing ability of young writers with learning disabilities (LD) and poor writing skills. Six 2nd-grade students with learning disabilities who experienced difficulty with story writing were taught a strategy for planning and writing…

This study examined the effects of pre-structuring discussion threads on group performance in computer-supported collaborative argumentation where students labeled their messages as arguments, challenges, supporting evidence, and explanations on a threaded discussion board. In the pre-structured group students were required to post supporting and…

A study involving three males (age 13) with learning disabilities investigated the effectiveness of using story mapping for teaching elements of the story form. The instructional procedure positively affected the number of story elements included in students' recall of stories when they were explicitly taught to use it in reading. (Author/CR)

Describes a technique that combines the use of a story grammar strategy with cooperative learning procedures to promote greater reading comprehension. Step-by-step instructions for cooperative story mapping are provided, along with an illustration of a story map. The implications for special and remedial education are also discussed. (Author/CR)

This article describes an intervention study designed to enhance the skills needed in the planning and writing of stories by an adolescent with autism who was using augmentative and alternative communication and working with a typical peer. Overall, the student's postintervention story was dramatically improved over his preintervention story.…

Two linguistic microstructures (propositions and cohesive devices) were analyzed in story recalls by 11 primary and intermediate level hearing-impaired students. When stories were very simple, students generated mostly complete propositions, however as complexity increased, semantic errors resulted in fewer complete propositions. (Author/DB)

The study of differences between 12 subjects with learning disabilities and 12 without, across 3 grade levels (intermediate, junior high, and senior high) and 2 story grammar tasks, found no developmental differences between disabled and nondisabled groups but did find significant differences in the amount and type of information recalled. (DB)