Chapter Graphic
 : Trend Task: Tell a Story
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Approach: Team Level: Year 4 and year 8
Focus:   Telling an imaginative story orally 
Resources: 7 pictures
4.3MB
Questions/instructions:
In this activity you’ll be choosing one picture to make up a story about. You are going to be telling the story to the others in your team. Try to make up a really interesting story that goes with the picture. It should be a story where you use your imagination and your own interesting ideas.

You can choose a picture now. If necessary, more than one person can use the same picture.

Each student chooses one picture.
You can start by having some time to think on your own about your story. Try to plan a story where you use your imagination and your own interesting ideas.

Allow students a short amount of time to prepare their stories.
Now it’s time for telling your stories to the others in your team. It’s important that you try to make your stories interesting for the others to listen to.

Teacher moves to the side, so that students focus on telling their stories to each other, rather than telling them to the teacher.

Start with Student 1, then Students 2, 3 and 4.
1.
 2.
 3.
4.
 5.
6.
 7.

% responses
2004 ('00)
y4
y8
Picture chosen:
1
20 (25)
20 (23)
 
2
10 (11)
20 (19)
3
14 (8)
8 (11)
4
21 (19)
11 (13)
5
15 (10)
16 (15)
6
12 (14)
12 (11)
7
8 (13)
13 (8)
Has the student told a story?
yes, complete story
31 (26)
48 (30)
 
yes, partial story
45 (50)
42 (52)
no, description of picture only
21 (21)
9 (16)
no relevant response
3 (3)
1 (2)
How well does the response fit with the main features of the picture?
 
very well
36 (31)
57 (42)
moderately well
52 (53)
36 (47)
poorly
12 (16)
7 (11)
How interesting does the story seem for other students?
 
very interesting
11 (8)
21 (11)
moderately interesting
51 (41)
55 (46)
not interesting
38 (51)
24 (43)
How imaginative does the story seem?
 
highly imaginative
14 (9)
24 (14)
moderately imaginative
40 (37)
44 (37)
not imaginative
46 (54)
32 (49)
Total score:
8–9
12 (9)
22 (11)
 
6–7
25 (17)
37 (28)
4–5
29 (34)
23 (25)
2–3
26 (33)
16 (31)
0–1
8 (7)
2 (5)
Commentary
About 20 percent more year 8 than year 4 students had a total score higher than 5. There was less difference in regard to the interest level or imaginative nature of the story than in meeting the basic requirements of telling a complete story that fitted with the picture. Between 2000 and 2004, there was a slight improvement for year 4 students and a substantial improvement for year 8 students.
 
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